Group-by-Group Preview for the Forthcoming Tournament

Group A

This initial match at the iconic Azteca venue will replay the first game from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's knockout stage record at the global showpiece includes just a single victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be aiming for a third quarter-final berth as hosts. The South African side, coached by experienced Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial World Cup since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite having a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an ineligible footballer.

This will represent Korea Republic's 11th straight finals qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and finished in third place in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea made the last four in 2002. He is now their manager and led them without a loss through a far from easy qualifying section. The fourth side 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

Canada have qualified for the global finals twice and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden finals goal, it did not deliver their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the best group of players in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the draw appears hinges mostly on whether the Italian national team make it through the UEFA play-off (the other 3 teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the group stage in four of the last five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from probably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to play at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having ended up fourth in their third phase qualifying group, were handed a significant boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the fourth round and clinched qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected exclusively from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland first World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their previous outing, when they lost to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; Haiti occupy the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination stage for the first time after eight prior group phase eliminations. Haiti’s only previous World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the fate that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a drugs 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 coach in a qualifying campaign that featured a run of three consecutive losses, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualification these days. He has presided over a noticeable improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African sides, capable both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a perfect win record.

Pool D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a poor state, losing to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies. But over the last year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his message across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their sixth finals. They have secured one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group-stage eliminations and a last-eight appearance. Their trademark cautious approach hasn't altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australia side and their squad lacks clear stars, but despite an iffy beginning to the third round of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their final two fixtures. The group’s final team will come from the victor of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After back-to-back group-stage exits, 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 test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualification, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. While they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline including Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a mere five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever quite good as the golden generation of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, netting 25 goals and conceding none.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps lack the star quality of previous Dutch generations, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, consistently appears a more effective performer with his country's side than at domestic level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will participate in their 8th consecutive 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.

Tunisia made sure of a third consecutive finals appearance by topping a straightforward qualification group, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as defensive as some past Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 separate goalscorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the UEFA play-off (against Ukraine in the semi, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will create a rematch of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and the Pharaohs are moving on from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, scoring 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 successful side in African history, but having failed to reach the finals during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defensive unit that conceded just twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified undefeated.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially equated to a spot at the finals for the All Whites, 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 secured their place in North America next summer. Team Melli, who were defeated once in a difficult third phase qualification section, are on a travel ban, possibly