Group A
The opening match at the famous Azteca Stadium will echo the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's elimination stage history at the global showpiece includes just one win, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously hosted in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be targeting a third-ever quarter-final appearance as tournament hosts. The South African side, coached by experienced Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first finals since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a win over Lesotho awarded against them for using an suspended footballer.
It will represent South Korea's 11th consecutive finals qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished in third place in the Golden Ball award when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. He is now their coach and guided them unbeaten through a far from straightforward qualifying group. The fourth team 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 made it for the global finals on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 brought their maiden goal, it did not deliver their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the most talented squad in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the group looks depends largely on whether the Italian national team progress through the European play-off (the other three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).
Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the group stage in four of the last five World Cups and were last-eight participants at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from probably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players hoping to play at their fourth World Cups. The Qatari team, having finished fourth in their third-round qualifying section, were handed a significant advantage by being chosen as a tournament host for the final round and secured qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected exclusively from the domestic league.
Pool C
Scotland first finals in 28 years looks a lot like their previous appearance, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; the Haitian team take the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination stage for the first time after 8 prior group-stage exits. Haiti’s sole prior World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the fate that befell 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 took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying campaign that featured a run of three consecutive losses, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African sides, able both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a perfect record.
Group D
At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a dismal state, 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 across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against Paraguay, who are competing in their sixth World Cup. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has led to both group phase exits and a quarter-final appearance. Their familiar cautious approach has not changed: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.
This is not the most free-flowing Australia side and their squad is without obvious stars, but despite an shaky beginning to the third round 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 final team will emerge from the victor of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).
Group E
Following back-to-back group phase exits, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more attacking philosophy has introduced a vulnerability and the group initially looked like presenting a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualifying, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. While they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline 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 declinism, where nothing is ever quite good 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 inspirational. After an improbable continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, scoring 25 goals and conceding none.
The smallest country ever to qualify, Curaçao, were the fourth team picked, though, making the group look a lot less daunting than it might have been.
Pool F
Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps do not possess the star quality of previous Dutch eras, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, always looks a more effective player with his national side than at domestic level. They open against Japan, who will play in their eighth successive finals, and were by far the most impressive of the Asian sides in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.
The Tunisian side made sure of a third straight finals appearance by dominating a straightforward qualification group, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as defensive as some past Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 separate scorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European playoff (against Ukraine in the semi-final, 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 performed the iconic Cruyff Turn.
Group G
Belgium and the Pharaohs are moving on from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualification, scoring the net eight times but conceding 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 football history, but having not managed to qualify during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice 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 meant they qualified undefeated.
A guaranteed place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who cruised through qualifying, winning five games out of five, netting 29 goals, nine of them by Chris Wood, but they are the lowest-ranked side to have booked their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated once in a difficult third-round qualification section, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially
