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Group A

The opening match at the historic Azteca venue will replay the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's knockout stage history at the global showpiece features just a single win, achieved against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be aiming for a third last-eight appearance as tournament hosts. The South African side, led by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since they hosted, ending above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a win over Lesotho given against them for using an suspended player.

It will represent South Korea's eleventh consecutive World Cup qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished in third place in the Golden Ball award when South Korea made the last four in 2002. He is now their coach and led them without a loss through a anything but straightforward qualification section. The fourth team in Group A will be the victor of a UEFA playoff involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have made it for the global finals twice and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden goal, it did not deliver their first-ever finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the most talented squad in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the draw appears depends largely on whether the Italian national team make it through the European playoff (the other 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have navigated the group stage in four of the past five World Cups and were last-eight participants at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat from probably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals aiming to play at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having finished in fourth in their third-round qualification section, were handed a major advantage by being selected as a host for the final round and secured qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected entirely from the domestic league.

Pool C

Scotland's first finals in 28 years bears a lot like their last appearance, when they were defeated to Brazil and Morocco; the Haitian team take the place of Norway. Their aim will be to make it to the elimination stage for the first time after 8 previous group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s only prior finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have restricted traveling support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that included a run of three consecutive defeats, but there is minimal risk in South American qualification these days. He has presided over a noticeable upturn in form. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African nations, capable both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a 100% record.

Pool D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a dismal condition, losing 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 across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their 6th World Cup. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a record that has resulted to both group phase exits and a last-eight appearance. Their familiar defensive approach hasn't changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australia team and their roster lacks clear stars, but in spite of an iffy start to the third round of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their last two fixtures. The pool's fourth team will come from the winner of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After successive group-stage exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the feared force of old. The shift to a more attacking style has brought a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like posing a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team 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, conceded a mere five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever quite successful as the glorious squad of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control 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 and conceding none.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps do not possess the galacticos of past Dutch generations, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, always looks a more effective performer with his national side than at domestic level. They open against Japan, who will participate in their 8th consecutive World Cup, and were by far the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualification, suffering one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third consecutive finals appearance by topping a manageable qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as dour as some past Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the UEFA play-off (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will set up a rematch of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are moving on from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, finding the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, scoring freely at times, but also laboring to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most decorated side in African football history, but having not managed to qualify during their golden 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 allowed only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania essentially equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed through qualifying, 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 booked their place in North America next summer. Team Melli, who were defeated only once in a difficult third-round qualification section, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially