Team-by-Team Breakdown for the Upcoming Finals

Group A

This opening match at the famous Azteca Stadium will mirror the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's elimination phase history at the worldwide showpiece features just a single victory, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be aiming for a third-ever last-eight berth as tournament hosts. The South African side, led by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, secured their place for their initial finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite seeing a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for using an ineligible footballer.

This will represent Korea Republic's 11th successive finals appearance. Legend Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came in third place in the Golden Ball award when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their manager and led them without a loss through a far from straightforward qualifying group. The final side in Group A will be the winner of a European playoff featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have made it for the World Cup twice and, although Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden goal, it did not bring their first-ever finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the most talented squad in their history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the group appears depends largely on whether the Italian national team progress through the UEFA playoff (the remaining three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have got through the initial phase in four of the past five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from arguably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have individuals aiming to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having finished fourth in their third-round qualification section, were given a major boost by being selected as a host for the final round and clinched qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is drawn exclusively from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland's first finals in 28 years looks a lot like their previous appearance, when they lost to Brazil and Morocco; the Haitian team take the place of Norway. Their aim will be to make it to the knockout stage for the very first time after 8 previous group phase eliminations. Haiti’s only prior World Cup, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the fate that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited away support due to travel restrictions from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualification process that included a streak 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 look the best of the north African sides, capable both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter, securing qualification with a 100% win record.

Pool D

Early last year, the USA seemed in a poor state, 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 apparently begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their 6th finals. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase exits and a last-eight appearance. Their familiar cautious approach has not changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

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

Pool E

After successive group-stage eliminations, Die Mannschaft are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more attacking philosophy has introduced a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like presenting a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualification, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. Although they netted only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence including 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 constant pessimism, where nothing is ever as successful as the golden squad of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. After an improbable continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, netting 25 goals without none.

The smallest country ever to qualify, Curaçao, were the fourth team picked, however, 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 star quality of past Dutch eras, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, always looks a more effective performer with his national side than at domestic level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will participate in their 8th consecutive World Cup, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian nations in qualification, losing 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 World Cup berth by topping a manageable qualification section, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as dour as certain past Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 separate goalscorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European playoff (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

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are emerging from the shadow of their most talented 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 failed to reach the finals during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite fulfilled their potential on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defence that conceded only twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved 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 FIFA-ranked side to have booked their place in North America next summer. Team Melli, who lost only once in a tricky third-round qualification section, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly