Section-by-Section Preview for the Forthcoming World Cup

Pool A

The opening match at the iconic Azteca Stadium will replay the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's knockout stage record at the worldwide tournament includes just one win, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be aiming for a third-ever last-eight appearance as tournament hosts. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite having a victory over Lesotho given against them for using an suspended footballer.

It will mark Korea Republic's 11th straight World Cup appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished in third place in the Best Player award when South Korea made the last four in 2002. He is now their manager and guided them unbeaten through a far from easy qualifying section. The fourth side in Group A will be the victor of a European qualifying play-off involving 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 yielded their first goal, it did not deliver their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably 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. How kind the draw looks hinges mostly on whether Italy progress through the European playoff (the other 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 last five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from arguably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players hoping to play at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having finished fourth in their third phase qualification section, were handed a major boost by being chosen as a tournament host for the fourth round and secured qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland's first World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their previous appearance, when they lost to Brazil and Morocco; Haiti occupy the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination phase for the first time after eight previous group phase eliminations. Haiti’s sole previous finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three losses than for the fate that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a doping test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited away support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third manager in a qualification campaign that featured a run of three consecutive losses, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualification these days. He has overseen a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African nations, capable both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter, qualifying with a perfect record.

Group D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a dismal condition, losing 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 seemingly begun to get his message understood and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against Paraguay, who are competing in their sixth World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has led to both group-stage eliminations and a quarter-final appearance. Their trademark cautious mindset has not altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian side and their roster is without obvious superstars, but in spite of an iffy beginning to the third phase of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their final two matches. The pool's fourth team will emerge from the winner of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After back-to-back group phase exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the feared force of old. The shift to a more attacking philosophy has brought a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like posing a massive challenge 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 defence featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of permanent pessimism, where nothing is ever quite good 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. After an implausible continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, netting 25 goals without none.

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

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side maybe do not possess the star quality of past Dutch eras, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualifying, consistently looks a more reliable performer with his country's side than at club level. They begin against Japan, who will play in their eighth consecutive finals, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualification, suffering one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third consecutive finals berth by dominating a manageable qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as dour as certain previous Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 separate goalscorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the UEFA playoff (against Ukraine in the semi-final, 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

Belgium and Egypt are emerging from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualifying, finding the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, scoring 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 golden 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 defensive unit that allowed only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed through qualification, winning five games out of five, scoring 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. Team Melli, who were defeated only once in a difficult third-round qualification group, are on a travel ban, possibly