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Group A

The first fixture at the historic Azteca venue will mirror the first game from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's elimination stage record at the global tournament includes just one victory, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be targeting a third-ever last-eight appearance as tournament hosts. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite having a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an suspended footballer.

This will mark Korea Republic's eleventh consecutive World Cup appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came third in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their coach and guided them without a loss through a anything but straightforward qualification group. The fourth team in Group A will be the winner of a European qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

The Canadian team have qualified for the global finals twice and, although Qatar 2022 brought their first goal, it did not deliver their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of probably the best squad in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the draw looks depends mostly on whether Italy make it through the UEFA play-off (the other 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have navigated the initial phase in four of the past five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having ended up in fourth in their third-round qualifying section, were handed a significant boost by being selected as a host for the fourth round and clinched qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is drawn exclusively from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland's return to the World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their previous outing, when they lost to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team take the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the elimination phase for the first time after eight prior group phase exits. Haiti’s only previous World Cup, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the fate that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a drugs test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have restricted traveling support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualification process that featured a run of three consecutive losses, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a clear upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the strongest of the north African sides, capable both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a 100% win record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a poor condition, suffering defeats to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his message understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their 6th World Cup. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has led to both group-stage eliminations and a quarter-final appearance. Their trademark cautious approach hasn't altered: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their roster lacks obvious superstars, but despite an iffy beginning to the third round of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their final two matches. The pool's fourth team will emerge from the winner of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following back-to-back group-stage eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more progressive style has brought a fragility and the group initially looked like posing a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualifying, finishing second behind Argentina in South America. Although they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline including Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, let in a paltry five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever as successful as the golden generation of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. After an improbable continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, netting 25 goals and conceding none.

The smallest country ever to reach the finals, Curaçao, were the final team drawn, though, making the group look a lot less intimidating than it might have been.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe lack the galacticos of past Dutch generations, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, consistently appears a more reliable performer with his country's side than at club level. They begin against Japan, who will play in their 8th successive World Cup, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third straight World Cup appearance by topping a manageable qualifying section, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as dour as certain past Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European playoff (against Ukraine in the semi, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will set up a repeat of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are emerging from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, scoring the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, finding goals easily at times, but also laboring to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most decorated side in African history, but having failed to qualify during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully fulfilled their potential on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that conceded just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who cruised through qualification, winning five games out of five, netting 29 goals, nine of them by Chris Wood, but they are the lowest FIFA-ranked side to have booked their place in North America next summer. Team Melli, who were defeated only once in a difficult third-round qualification group, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially