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Group A

This opening match at the historic Azteca Stadium will echo the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's knockout phase record at the global tournament includes just one win, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third-ever quarter-final appearance as tournament hosts. South Africa, coached by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a win over Lesotho awarded against them for using an suspended player.

It will represent South Korea's eleventh successive finals qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and finished third in the Golden Ball award when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their manager and led them without a loss through a anything but straightforward qualifying group. The final side in Group A will be the winner of a European qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

The Canadian team have qualified for the global finals twice and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their first finals goal, it did not deliver their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of arguably the most talented squad in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which favorable the draw looks hinges mostly on whether the Italian national team progress through the UEFA play-off (the other three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the group stage in four of the last five tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players hoping to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having finished in fourth in their third phase qualifying section, were given a significant boost by being selected as a tournament host for the final phase and secured progress with a 2-1 victory 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 previous outing, when they were defeated to the Seleção and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team occupy the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination phase for the very first time after 8 previous group-stage exits. Haiti’s only prior finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three losses than for the ordeal that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have restricted away support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that included a run of three successive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualification these days. He has overseen a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the strongest of the north African sides, able both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a 100% win record.

Group D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a poor condition, 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 thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their sixth finals. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has resulted to both group-stage eliminations and a last-eight appearance. Their trademark defensive mindset has not altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their roster lacks obvious superstars, but despite 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 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 back-to-back group-stage eliminations, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more progressive philosophy has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like posing a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualification, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. While 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 exist in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever quite good as the golden squad of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an improbable continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, scoring 25 goals without reply.

The tiniest country ever to reach the finals, the Curaçao team, were the final team drawn, though, making the group look a lot less daunting than it could have been.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side perhaps do not possess the star quality of past Dutch eras, but they secured qualification without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, consistently looks a more effective player with his national side than at domestic level. They open against the Japanese team, who will play in their 8th consecutive World Cup, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third consecutive finals appearance by topping a straightforward qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as defensive as certain previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress 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 game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and the Pharaohs are emerging from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, 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 reach the finals during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defence 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 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. Team Melli, who were defeated only once in a difficult third-round qualifying group, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly