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Pool A

This initial fixture at the historic Azteca venue will replay the first game from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's knockout phase record at the global tournament includes just one win, achieved against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that squad and will be targeting a third-ever quarter-final appearance as tournament hosts. The South African side, led by experienced Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial finals since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin despite having a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an ineligible player.

This will represent South Korea's 11th consecutive World Cup qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished in third place in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. Hong is now their coach and guided them without a loss through a anything but easy qualifying group. The fourth side in Group A will be the victor of a European playoff involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

The Canadian team have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden finals goal, it did not bring their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the most talented 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 largely on whether the Italian national team progress through the European play-off (the remaining three contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the group stage in four of the last five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified without defeat from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having finished fourth in their third phase qualification group, were given a significant advantage by being selected as a host for the final round and clinched qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected exclusively from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland's return to the finals in 28 years looks a lot like their previous appearance, when they were defeated to Brazil and Morocco; Haiti occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the knockout phase for the 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 fate that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have limited traveling support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third manager in a qualification campaign that included a run of three successive losses, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a noticeable improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African nations, capable both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter, qualifying with a perfect record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a poor condition, suffering defeats to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his ideas understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against Paraguay, who are playing in their 6th World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a record that has resulted to both group-stage exits and a quarter-final place. Their trademark cautious mindset has not changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australia side and their roster lacks clear stars, but in spite of an iffy start to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their final two matches. The pool's final team will come from the victor of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After back-to-back group-stage eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more progressive style has introduced a fragility and the group initially looked like posing a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualification, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although they netted only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, let in a paltry five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever as successful as the golden squad 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 ruthless in qualification, netting 25 goals without reply.

The tiniest country ever to reach the finals, the Curaçao team, were the final team picked, however, making the group look a lot far less daunting than it could have appeared.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps do not possess the galacticos of previous Dutch generations, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, always appears a more effective player with his country's side than at domestic level. They open against Japan, who will participate in their eighth successive World Cup, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualification, losing one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia secured of a third consecutive World Cup appearance by topping a manageable qualification section, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps 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 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 executed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Group G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are moving on from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, scoring the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, finding goals easily at times, but also laboring to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most successful side in African history, but having failed to reach the finals during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully done themselves justice on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defence that conceded just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved 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 FIFA-ranked side to have secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated once in a tricky third phase qualification group, are on a travel ban, potentially