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Pool A

This first fixture at the historic Azteca venue will echo the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's elimination phase history at the global showpiece features just one victory, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be targeting a third-ever quarter-final appearance as tournament hosts. The South African side, coached by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial World Cup since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite having a win over Lesotho awarded against them for using an suspended player.

It will mark Korea Republic's eleventh straight World Cup qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and finished third in the Best Player award when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. He is now their manager and guided them unbeaten through a far from easy qualification group. The final side in Group A will be the winner of a UEFA playoff involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have qualified for the global finals on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their first finals goal, it did not bring their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the most talented squad in their history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the draw looks hinges largely on whether Italy progress through the UEFA playoff (the other 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the initial phase in four of the last five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from probably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to play at their fourth World Cups. The Qatari team, having ended up fourth in their third-round qualifying group, were handed a significant advantage by being chosen as a tournament host for the final round and clinched qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn entirely from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland's first finals in 28 years bears a lot like their previous outing, when they were defeated to Brazil and Morocco; the Haitian team occupy the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the knockout phase for the very first time after 8 previous group phase eliminations. Haiti’s only previous finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the fate that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a drugs test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have restricted traveling support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualification campaign that featured a run of three successive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a noticeable upturn in form. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the strongest of the north African sides, able both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a perfect win record.

Group D

Early last year, the USA seemed in a dismal condition, suffering defeats to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendly matches. But over the last year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently begun to get his ideas understood and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against Paraguay, who are playing in their 6th World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final appearance. Their familiar cautious approach has not altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their roster is without obvious superstars, but in spite of an iffy beginning to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their last two fixtures. The pool's final team will emerge from the victor of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following successive group-stage exits, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more attacking style has brought a fragility and the group initially looked like posing a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualifying, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. While they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, let in a paltry five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever as good as the glorious squad of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved transformative. Following an improbable continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, netting 25 goals without none.

The smallest country ever to qualify, the Curaçao team, were the final team drawn, however, making the group look a lot less intimidating than it could have appeared.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe lack the star quality of previous Dutch generations, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, always appears a more effective player with his country's side than at club level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will play in their eighth consecutive World Cup, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualification, losing one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third straight finals appearance by dominating a manageable qualification group, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as dour as certain past Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 separate goalscorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European play-off (against Ukraine in the semi, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will create a repeat of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are moving on from the legacy of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, finding the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, finding goals freely at times, but also struggling to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most successful side in African history, but having not managed to reach the finals during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite fulfilled their potential on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defensive unit that conceded only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who cruised through qualification, winning five games out of five, scoring 29 goals, nine of them by Chris Wood, but they are the lowest FIFA-ranked side to have secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who lost only once in a tricky third phase qualification section, are on a travel ban, potentially