🔗 Share this article

Group A

This opening game at the historic Azteca Stadium will mirror the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's elimination stage record at the worldwide showpiece includes just one victory, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third last-eight berth as hosts. The South African side, coached by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a win over Lesotho awarded against them for using an ineligible player.

This will represent Korea Republic's eleventh straight finals appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came third in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea made the last four in 2002. Hong is now their manager and guided them unbeaten through a far from easy qualifying group. The final side in Group A will be the victor of a European qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have made it for the global finals on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their first goal, it did not deliver their first-ever finals point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of arguably the best squad in their nation's history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the group appears hinges largely on whether the Italian national team progress through the UEFA play-off (the other three contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have got through the group stage in four of the last five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from arguably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have individuals aiming to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having ended up fourth in their third-round qualification section, were given a major boost by being chosen as a host for the final round and secured progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland first World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their previous appearance, when they were defeated to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti take the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the knockout stage for the first time after 8 prior group phase exits. Haiti’s sole prior finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three losses than for the ordeal that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have limited away support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualification process that included a run of three successive defeats, but there is minimal risk in South American qualifying 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 rivals 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, 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 message understood and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will begin against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their 6th finals. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final place. Their familiar cautious mindset hasn't altered: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their squad lacks obvious stars, but in spite of an iffy start to the third phase of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two fixtures. The pool's fourth team will emerge from the victor of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After successive group-stage exits, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more attacking style has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like posing a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualification, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. Although they netted 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, 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 assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. Following an improbable continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, scoring 25 goals and conceding reply.

The tiniest country ever to qualify, Curaçao, were the fourth team picked, though, making the group look a lot far less daunting than it could have been.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe do not possess the galacticos of previous Dutch generations, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, consistently looks a more effective player with his country's side than at domestic level. They open against Japan, who will play in their 8th consecutive World Cup, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games over the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third straight finals appearance by dominating a straightforward qualification section, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as dour as some past Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 separate goalscorers in qualification. 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 rematch of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium 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 letting in five in two wins over Wales, scoring freely at times, but also struggling to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most successful side in African history, but having not managed to qualify during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully fulfilled their potential on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defence that allowed just twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed through qualifying, 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 booked their place in North America next summer. Team Melli, who lost once in a tricky third-round qualification section, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially