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Group A

The first fixture at the historic Azteca venue will replay the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's knockout phase history at the worldwide showpiece features just a single victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously hosted in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third-ever quarter-final appearance as tournament hosts. The South African side, led by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a victory over Lesotho given against them for fielding an suspended player.

This will mark Korea Republic's eleventh consecutive World Cup qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and finished 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 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.

Pool B

Canada have made it for the global finals on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 brought their first goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably 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 favorable the group appears hinges mostly on whether Italy make it through the European playoff (the other three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have got through the initial phase in four of the last five World Cups and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from arguably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players aiming to play at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having ended up fourth in their third-round qualification section, were handed a major boost by being chosen as a host for the fourth phase and clinched qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected exclusively from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland's return to the World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their last outing, when they were defeated to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the knockout stage for the very first time after eight prior group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s only previous finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three losses than for the fate that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a doping test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited traveling support due to travel restrictions from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualifying campaign that featured a run of three successive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualification these days. He has presided over a clear upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African sides, able both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a perfect win record.

Pool D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a dismal state, losing to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendly matches. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his message across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their 6th World Cup. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final place. Their familiar cautious mindset has not changed: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their squad lacks obvious superstars, but despite an shaky start 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 group’s fourth team will come from the winner of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After successive group phase exits, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more progressive philosophy has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like presenting a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualifying, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. Although they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence including Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, let in a paltry five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever quite successful as the glorious squad of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. After an implausible continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, netting 25 goals and conceding reply.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe do not possess the star quality of past Dutch generations, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, consistently appears a more effective performer with his national side than at domestic level. They begin against Japan, who will participate in their eighth consecutive finals, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian sides in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third straight finals berth by dominating a manageable qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as dour as certain previous Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 different scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the UEFA play-off (against Ukraine in the semi, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will set up a rematch of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Group G

Belgium and Egypt are emerging from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualifying, finding the net eight times but conceding 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 history, but having not managed to qualify during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully fulfilled their potential on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defensive unit that allowed only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially 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-ranked side to have secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who lost once in a difficult third-round qualifying group, are on a travel ban, possibly