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Pool A

This first fixture at the historic Azteca Stadium will mirror the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with Mexico. Mexico's knockout stage record at the global tournament features just one win, secured against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third last-eight appearance as hosts. The South African side, coached by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial finals since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a win over Lesotho given against them for fielding an suspended player.

It will represent South Korea's eleventh straight World Cup appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured 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 guided them without a loss through a far from straightforward qualification section. The final side in Group A will be the winner 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 global finals on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the best squad in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the draw looks depends largely on whether Italy progress through the European playoff (the other three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the initial phase in four of the last five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have individuals hoping to play at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having ended up in fourth in their third phase qualifying group, were handed a significant boost by being selected as a host for the fourth round and clinched qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn exclusively from the domestic league.

Pool C

Scotland return to the World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their last outing, when they were defeated to Brazil and Morocco; Haiti occupy the place of Norway. Their aim will be to make it to the knockout phase for the first time after 8 previous group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s sole prior finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the fate that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a drugs test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have restricted away support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that featured a streak of three consecutive defeats, but there is little risk in South American qualification these days. He has overseen a noticeable upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African nations, able both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter, qualifying with a 100% win record.

Pool D

Early last year, the USA seemed in a poor condition, 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 defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against Paraguay, who are playing in their sixth World Cup. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a statistic 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 is without clear superstars, 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 immense 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

Following back-to-back group-stage exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more attacking philosophy has introduced a fragility and the group initially looked like posing a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualifying, 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, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Côte d’Ivoire exist in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever as successful as the glorious generation of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. After an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualifying, netting 25 goals and conceding reply.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps lack the star quality of past Dutch eras, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, consistently looks a more reliable player with his country's side than at club level. They begin against Japan, who will participate in their 8th successive finals, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third straight World Cup berth by dominating a straightforward qualification group, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as dour as certain past Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 separate goalscorers in qualification. 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 repeat of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Group G

Belgium and the Pharaohs are emerging from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, scoring 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 successful side in African football history, but having failed to qualify during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully fulfilled their potential on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defence that conceded just twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who cruised through qualification, winning five games out of five, netting 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 only once in a difficult third-round qualification section, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially