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Group A

The opening fixture at the famous Azteca venue will replay the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's elimination stage record at the worldwide showpiece includes just one victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be aiming for a third-ever quarter-final berth as tournament hosts. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial World Cup since they hosted, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after having a victory over Lesotho given against them for fielding an ineligible footballer.

This will mark South Korea's 11th straight finals appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and finished third in the Best Player voting when South Korea made the last four in 2002. Hong is now their manager and guided them without a loss through a anything but straightforward qualifying section. The fourth team in Group A will be the victor of a UEFA 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, while Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden finals goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the best group of players in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the draw appears depends largely on whether Italy progress through the European play-off (the other 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have navigated the group stage in four of the last five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to feature at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having ended up fourth in their third phase qualification section, were given a significant advantage by being chosen as a tournament host for the final phase and secured qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is drawn entirely from the domestic league.

Group C

Scotland's first finals in 28 years looks a lot like their last outing, when they lost to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination stage for the very first time after eight prior group phase exits. Haiti’s only prior World Cup, in 1974, was notable less for their three losses than for the fate that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a drugs test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have restricted traveling support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying campaign that featured a streak of three successive losses, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualification these days. He has presided over a noticeable improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the strongest of the north African nations, capable both of overwhelming opponents 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 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 ideas across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will begin against Paraguay, who are playing in their sixth finals. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has led to both group-stage eliminations and a last-eight appearance. Their familiar cautious mindset hasn't changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australian team and their squad is without clear stars, but in spite of an iffy beginning to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their final two matches. The group’s final team will come from the winner of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After back-to-back group phase eliminations, Die Mannschaft 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 presenting a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualifying, ending up second 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 mere five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of constant pessimism, where nothing is ever quite good as the golden squad of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, netting 25 goals without none.

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

Group 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 scored eight goals in qualifying, consistently appears a more reliable performer with his national side than at club level. They open against Japan, who will participate in their eighth successive finals, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualification, suffering one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third consecutive finals appearance by topping a straightforward qualifying section, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as dour as certain past Tunisian teams; they had a remarkable 14 separate goalscorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the UEFA playoff (against Ukraine in the semi, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will create a rematch of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are moving on from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, finding the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, finding goals 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 not managed to reach the finals during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite fulfilled their potential on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that conceded just twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for the All Whites, 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 secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who lost once in a tricky third-round qualifying group, are on a travel ban, potentially