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Pool A

This first game at the historic Azteca venue will replay the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's knockout stage history at the global tournament features just a single victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that squad and will be aiming for a third-ever last-eight berth as hosts. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial World Cup since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite having a win over Lesotho given against them for fielding an ineligible footballer.

It will represent Korea Republic's 11th straight 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 made the semi-final in 2002. He is now their manager and guided them without a loss through a far from easy qualifying group. The final team 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

The Canadian team have made it for the global finals on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their first finals goal, it did not deliver their first-ever finals point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of probably the best squad in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the group appears depends mostly on whether Italy progress through the UEFA play-off (the remaining three 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 past five tournaments 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 groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players hoping to feature at their fourth World Cups. The Qatari team, having finished fourth in their third phase qualifying group, were handed a major boost by being chosen as a host for the final round and secured qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected exclusively from the domestic league.

Pool C

Scotland's return to the finals in 28 years bears a lot like their last appearance, when they lost to the Seleção and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the knockout stage for the very first time after 8 previous group phase eliminations. Haiti’s sole previous finals, in 1974, was notable 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 assaulted by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have limited away support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualification process that featured a run of three successive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a clear upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African sides, capable both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a 100% win record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the USA 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 seemingly begun to get his message across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their 6th World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a record that has led to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final appearance. Their trademark cautious approach hasn't altered: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australia team and their roster is without obvious stars, but in spite of an iffy beginning to the third round of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two fixtures. The group’s final team will come from the winner of the European playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After back-to-back group-stage exits, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more attacking style has brought a fragility and the draw initially looked like posing a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualification, ending up in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although they netted 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, conceded a mere five.

Côte d’Ivoire exist in a state of constant pessimism, where nothing is ever as successful as the glorious generation of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge 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 clinical in qualification, netting 25 goals without reply.

The smallest country ever to qualify, the Curaçao team, were the final team picked, however, making the group look a lot less intimidating than it could have appeared.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side maybe lack the star quality of past Dutch eras, but they secured qualification without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, always appears a more effective player with his country's side than at domestic level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will participate in their eighth successive finals, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third consecutive finals appearance by dominating a straightforward qualifying group, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as defensive as some past Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 different scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the UEFA playoff (against Ukraine in the semi, 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 executed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Group G

Belgium and the Pharaohs are emerging from the legacy of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, scoring the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, scoring easily at times, but also struggling to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most decorated side in African history, but having failed to qualify during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite fulfilled their potential on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defence 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 the All Whites, who sailed through qualification, 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-round qualifying section, are on a travel ban, potentially