Section-by-Section Preview for the Upcoming Tournament

Group A

The initial game at the iconic Azteca venue will mirror the first game from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's elimination phase history at the global tournament includes just one victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously hosted in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that squad and will be aiming for a third last-eight berth as hosts. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial finals since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a victory over Lesotho given against them for using an suspended footballer.

This will mark South Korea's 11th consecutive finals qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished third in the Golden Ball award when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. He is now their manager and guided them unbeaten through a anything but easy qualification group. The fourth team in Group A will be the winner of a European qualifying play-off featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 brought their maiden goal, it did not deliver their first point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the most talented group of players in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which favorable the group appears depends largely on whether Italy make it through the UEFA playoff (the remaining 3 teams 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 past five World Cups and were last-eight participants at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from arguably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players aiming to play at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having finished in fourth in their third-round qualifying group, were handed a significant advantage by being selected as a host for the fourth phase and clinched progress with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected exclusively from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland's first World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their last appearance, when they were defeated to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team take the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the knockout phase for the first time after 8 prior group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s sole previous finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three losses than for the ordeal that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a doping test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have restricted away support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualification campaign that featured a run of three successive defeats, but there is little risk in South American qualification these days. He has overseen a noticeable improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African sides, able both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a perfect record.

Pool D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a dismal state, losing to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently begun to get his ideas understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their sixth finals. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a record that has led to both group phase exits and a last-eight appearance. Their trademark defensive approach has not altered: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australia side and their squad is without obvious stars, but despite an shaky start to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two matches. The pool's final team will emerge from the victor of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

Following successive group-stage eliminations, 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 huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualifying, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. While they netted only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever as successful as the glorious generation of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. Following an improbable continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, scoring 25 goals without reply.

The smallest country ever to qualify, the Curaçao team, were the fourth team drawn, though, making the group look a lot far less intimidating than it could have appeared.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe do not possess the galacticos of previous Dutch generations, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, consistently looks a more effective performer with his country's side than at domestic level. They open against Japan, who will play in their 8th successive World Cup, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian sides in qualification, losing one of their 16 games over the two phases, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third straight finals berth by topping a manageable qualifying section, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as dour as certain past Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 separate goalscorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European play-off (against Ukraine in the semi, 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.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are emerging from the shadow of their most talented 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 laboring 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 peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defence that conceded only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania essentially meant 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. Iran, who were defeated only once in a difficult third-round qualifying section, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly