Group-by-Group Breakdown for the Forthcoming World Cup

Group A

This first game at the historic Azteca Stadium will mirror the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's elimination phase history at the worldwide showpiece includes just a single victory, secured against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. Their 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, led by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial World Cup since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite having a win over Lesotho awarded against them for using an suspended footballer.

It will represent South Korea's eleventh straight World Cup qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came third in the Best Player award when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their coach and guided them without a loss through a far from easy qualification group. The fourth side in Group A will be the winner of a UEFA playoff involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

The Canadian team have qualified 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 manager 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 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).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have navigated the group stage in four of the last five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have individuals hoping to play at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having finished fourth in their third-round qualifying group, were handed a major boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the fourth phase and clinched qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn entirely from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland's return to the World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their last appearance, when they lost to the Seleção and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the elimination phase for the very first time after eight previous group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s sole previous World Cup, in 1974, was notable less for their three losses than for the fate that happened to 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 restricted away support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that featured a run of three successive defeats, but there is little risk 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 nations, capable both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying 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 past year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their 6th World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has led to both group-stage exits and a quarter-final place. Their trademark cautious mindset has not altered: they managed only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australia team and their squad is without obvious stars, but in spite of an iffy beginning to the third round of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their final two fixtures. The pool's fourth team will come from the winner of Europe’s Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following back-to-back group-stage eliminations, Germany are no longer the bogeymen of old. The shift to a more attacking style has introduced a fragility and the draw initially looked like presenting a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualifying, ending up in second place behind Argentina in South America. While 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, let in a paltry five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever as successful as the glorious squad of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved transformative. After an improbable continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, netting 25 goals without reply.

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

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side perhaps lack the star quality of past Dutch generations, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, always appears a more reliable performer with his country's side than at domestic level. They open against Japan, who will play in their eighth successive finals, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third straight finals appearance by dominating a manageable qualification section, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as dour as certain past Tunisian sides; they had a remarkable 14 different scorers 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 repeat of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the iconic Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and the Pharaohs are emerging from the legacy of their most talented 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 decorated side in African football history, but having failed to reach the finals during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defence that conceded just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved place for Oceania essentially meant a spot at the finals for the All Whites, 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 secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated only once in a difficult third-round qualification group, are on a travel ban, possibly