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Pool A

The first fixture at the famous Azteca Stadium will replay the opener from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's knockout phase history at the global tournament includes just one victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously hosted in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be aiming for a third last-eight appearance as tournament hosts. South Africa, coached by experienced Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after having a win over Lesotho awarded against them for using an suspended player.

It will mark Korea Republic's 11th consecutive World Cup appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came third in the Golden Ball award when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. Hong is now their coach and led them unbeaten through a far from easy qualifying group. The fourth team in Group A will be the victor of a European 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 deliver their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the most talented squad in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the group looks hinges mostly on whether the Italian national team make it through the UEFA play-off (the other 3 teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the group stage 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 unbeaten from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having finished fourth in their third-round qualifying group, were handed a major boost by being selected as a tournament host for the final round and secured progress with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland's return to the finals in 28 years bears a lot like their last appearance, when they were defeated to the Seleção and the Atlas Lions; Haiti take the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the knockout phase for the very first time after eight previous group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s only previous finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a drugs test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited traveling support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that featured a streak of three successive defeats, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African nations, able both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter, qualifying with a perfect record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the USA seemed in a poor state, 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 seemingly begun to get his ideas understood and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their sixth 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 trademark defensive approach has not altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australia side and their roster lacks clear superstars, but despite an iffy start to the third phase of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two matches. The pool's final team will come from the victor of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After successive group phase exits, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more progressive style has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like presenting a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualifying, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although 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 permanent declinism, 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 inspirational. After an improbable continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, netting 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 daunting than it might have been.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe do not possess the star quality of past Dutch eras, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, always looks a more effective player with his national 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 dominant of the Asian nations in qualification, losing one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third consecutive World Cup berth by topping a manageable qualifying section, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as defensive as certain past Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European play-off (against Ukraine in the semi-final, 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 iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are emerging from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualifying, scoring the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, finding goals 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 failed to qualify 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 allowed only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially 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 FIFA-ranked side to have booked their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated only once in a difficult third phase qualifying group, are on a travel ban, potentially