Section-by-Section Analysis for the 2026 Tournament

Group A

This first game at the historic Azteca Stadium will mirror the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's knockout stage history at the worldwide showpiece includes just a single win, achieved against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third-ever quarter-final berth as tournament hosts. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, secured their place for their first finals since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after seeing a win over Lesotho given against them for fielding an ineligible player.

It will represent South Korea's 11th successive World Cup qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished in third place in the Best Player voting when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. Hong is now their coach and guided them unbeaten through a anything but easy qualifying section. The final team in Group A will be the victor of a UEFA qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have qualified for the global finals twice and, although Qatar 2022 brought their maiden finals goal, it did not deliver their first finals point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of probably the most talented squad in their history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the draw appears hinges mostly on whether the Italian national team make it through the European play-off (the remaining 3 contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have navigated the group stage in four of the past five World Cups and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to feature at their fourth finals. The Qatari team, having finished fourth in their third phase qualification group, were given a major advantage by being chosen as a tournament host for the final phase and secured qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected exclusively from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland's return to the finals in 28 years looks a lot like their last outing, when they lost to the Seleção and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team take the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to make it to the knockout phase for the very first time after 8 previous group-stage eliminations. Haiti’s only prior World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats 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 limited away support due to travel restrictions from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying process that featured a streak of three successive defeats, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a noticeable improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African nations, able both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a 100% record.

Pool D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a poor state, suffering defeats 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 defeated Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their 6th World Cup. They have secured one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has led to both group phase exits and a quarter-final place. Their familiar defensive approach has not changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australia side and their roster lacks clear stars, but in spite of an shaky beginning to the third round of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side made it by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their last two matches. The pool's fourth team will emerge from the victor of Europe’s playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

Following back-to-back group phase eliminations, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The transition to a more progressive philosophy has introduced a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like presenting a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualification, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. While they netted 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, let in a mere five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever quite good 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. Following an improbable continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, scoring 25 goals and conceding none.

The tiniest country ever to qualify, Curaçao, were the fourth team drawn, though, making the group look a lot less intimidating than it might have been.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps lack the galacticos of previous Dutch eras, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, always appears a more reliable player with his national side than at domestic level. They open against Japan, who will play in their eighth successive World Cup, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, suffering one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third consecutive World Cup berth by topping a straightforward qualification group, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as dour as certain previous Tunisian teams; they had a remarkable 14 separate scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European playoff (against Ukraine in the semi, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will create a rematch of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Group G

Belgium and Egypt are moving on from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualifying, finding the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, scoring easily at times, but also laboring 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 fulfilled their potential on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that conceded only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified unbeaten.

A guaranteed place for Oceania essentially meant a spot at the finals for New Zealand, 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 lost only once in a difficult third-round qualifying group, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially