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Group A

This first fixture at the iconic Azteca Stadium will replay the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's elimination stage record at the global tournament includes just one win, secured against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third quarter-final appearance as hosts. The South African side, coached by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial World Cup since they hosted, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a win over Lesotho given against them for fielding an suspended player.

This will mark Korea Republic's 11th successive finals qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came in third place in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. Hong is now their manager and guided them without a loss through a far from straightforward qualification group. The final side in Group A will be the winner of a UEFA qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have qualified for the global finals twice and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their first finals goal, it did not bring their first point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the best squad in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the group looks hinges largely on whether the Italian national team progress through the UEFA play-off (the remaining three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have navigated the group stage in four of the past five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have individuals hoping to feature at their fourth finals. Qatar, having ended up in fourth in their third phase qualification section, were handed a major 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 entire squad is drawn exclusively from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland's first finals in 28 years looks a lot like their last outing, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti take the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the elimination stage for the first time after 8 prior group-stage exits. Haiti’s sole prior finals, in 1974, was notable 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 beaten by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have limited traveling support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

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

Pool D

Early last year, the United States 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 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 friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their sixth finals. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a record that has resulted to both group-stage eliminations and a last-eight appearance. Their trademark defensive mindset hasn't changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australian side and their roster lacks clear stars, but despite an shaky beginning to the third phase 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 emerge from the winner of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following successive group-stage eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more progressive style has brought a vulnerability and the group initially looked like presenting a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualifying, finishing second behind Argentina in South America. While they netted only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, let in a mere five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of constant pessimism, where nothing is ever quite good as the glorious generation of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. Following an improbable continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, scoring 25 goals without none.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side maybe lack the star quality of past Dutch generations, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, always looks a more effective performer with his country's side than at club level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will play in their eighth successive finals, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third straight finals berth by dominating a manageable qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as defensive as certain previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 different goalscorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the UEFA play-off (against Ukraine in the semi, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will create a repeat of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Group G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are moving on from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, finding the net eight times but letting in 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 decorated side in African football history, but having failed to reach the finals during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defensive unit that conceded just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who cruised through qualifying, winning five games out of five, scoring 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. Team Melli, who were defeated only once in a difficult third phase qualifying group, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly