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Group A

This first match at the historic Azteca venue will mirror the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's elimination phase history at the global tournament includes just a single win, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third last-eight berth as tournament hosts. The South African side, coached by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, secured their place for their first finals since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin despite having a victory over Lesotho given against them for fielding an ineligible player.

It will mark Korea Republic's eleventh consecutive World Cup appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came in third place in the Best Player voting when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. Hong is now their manager and led them without a loss through a far from straightforward qualifying group. The final side in Group A will be the winner of a European qualifying play-off featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

The Canadian team have made it for the World Cup twice and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden finals goal, it did not deliver their first-ever 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 depends mostly on whether Italy progress through the European 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 got through the initial phase in four of the past five tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from probably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have individuals aiming to play at their fourth World Cups. The Qatari team, having ended up fourth in their third-round qualification section, were handed a major boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the final round and clinched progress with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected exclusively from the domestic league.

Pool C

Scotland first finals in 28 years looks a lot like their last outing, when they were defeated to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team take the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the elimination phase for the very first time after 8 prior group-stage exits. Haiti’s only 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 doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited traveling support due to travel restrictions from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying campaign that included a run of three consecutive losses, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a noticeable upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African nations, capable both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a perfect win record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a poor state, suffering defeats 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 message across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will begin against Paraguay, who are competing in their 6th finals. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group-stage eliminations and a last-eight appearance. Their familiar cautious approach has not altered: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most free-flowing Australia team and their squad is without clear superstars, but despite an shaky beginning to the third round of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their final two matches. The group’s final team will come from the victor of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following successive group phase eliminations, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The shift to a more progressive style has brought a fragility and the group initially looked like presenting a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualification, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although they scored 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 paltry five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever as successful as the glorious squad 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 success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, scoring 25 goals and conceding none.

The tiniest country ever to reach the finals, the Curaçao team, were the fourth team drawn, however, making the group look a lot far less intimidating than it might have appeared.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side perhaps lack the star quality of past Dutch generations, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, always looks a more effective player with his country's side than at club level. They open against the Japanese team, who will play in their 8th successive finals, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third straight finals berth by topping a straightforward qualifying section, 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 playoff (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 famous Cruyff Turn.

Group G

Belgium and Egypt are moving on from the legacy of their most talented 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 football history, but having failed to qualify during their peak 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 allowed just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively 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-ranked side to have secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated only once in a difficult third phase qualification group, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly