Group C

Live standings, every fixture and our model verdict on each match.

Brazil hired Ancelotti, their first foreign manager in living memory, off the back of the worst qualifying campaign in their history. The reward: a group with Morocco, who reached the 2022 semi-finals on merit and have kept the core together since. Half of North America's Moroccan diaspora will be in the stadiums. Some 'neutral venue'.

Scotland waited 28 years for this and on a flat night will fancy a result against anyone. Haiti are at their first finals since 1974. But the group boils down to one fixture: Brazil v Morocco, maybe the best game of the entire group stage. Lose it and your knockout draw turns ugly fast.

Verdict: Brazil and Morocco, with Scotland in the third-place mix.