Mexico gamers have fun after the match throughout Fifa World Cup’s Group A fixture between Mexico and South Africa at Estadio Azteca, Mexico Metropolis on June 11, 2026. — ReutersMatch options three crimson playing cards at Azteca stadium.South Africa obtain two crimson playing cards in match.Mexico defender Montes additionally despatched off late match.
Mexico acquired the World Cup get together began because the co-hosts swept away South Africa 2-0 on Thursday in an encounter with three crimson playing cards because the pyrotechnic smoke of the opening ceremony gave method to a cloud of crimson mist at a thrumming Azteca stadium.
The match fired the beginning gun for the quadrennial soccer extravaganza, but the scrappy encounter will probably be remembered not for its thrilling soccer however for its flurry of dismissals.
Julian Quinones’s early strike set the tone for a dominant Mexican show within the Group A encounter with Raul Jimenez’s header halfway via the second half eradicating any lingering stress for the house crowd.
But South Africa had been diminished to 10 males when Sphephelo Sithole was despatched off early within the second half, along with his teammate Themba Zwane following him off the pitch earlier than Mexico’s Cesar Montes was dismissed within the dying moments.
The ill-tempered encounter spoiled an in any other case get together environment, but the house crowd acquired to have fun a gap victory that can set them up properly to make it out of a bunch that additionally consists of South Korea and the Czech Republic.
“It’s a moment I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life,” mentioned Mexico midfielder Erik Lira. “The only thing I felt was that everything it took to get here had been worth it.”
Day of firsts
It was a day of firsts for the World Cup, as the primary 48-team version, and the primary to be held in three nations, acquired underway within the first stadium to host three World Cup openers.
South Africa gamers look dejected after their 2-0 defeat to Mexico within the Fifa World Cup 2026 Group A match at Estadio Azteca, Mexico Metropolis on June 11, 2026. — Reuters
It was becoming subsequently that the primary of a report 104 matches had Mexico clinch a primary win within the match’s opening match after seven earlier failures and naturally, it was the primary World Cup opener to characteristic three crimson playing cards.
The fixture was a repeat of the 2010 match opener, when South Africa held Mexico to a 1-1 attract Johannesburg, but this encounter was performed out in a stadium with World Cup historical past stamped throughout it.
The Azteca has witnessed a number of the match’s most iconic moments, from Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ and 1986 heroics to Pele’s all-conquering Brazil aspect of 1970.
Whereas there was none of that era-defining high quality on present on Thursday, it mattered little to the hordes of green-clad supporters, who had already been revved into frenzied pleasure earlier than a ball was kicked.
With the match performed in opposition to a backdrop of protests that had threatened to carry Mexico Metropolis to a standstill, supporters had been taking no probabilities, with many already hovering across the stadium almost seven hours earlier than kickoff.
Mexico get off to quick begin
A gap ceremony that featured Shakira and Burna Boy performing the World Cup anthem had pumped up the gang nonetheless additional earlier than Mexico swiftly acquired all the way down to enterprise.
A drone view reveals followers watching the match between Mexico and South Africa in the course of the 2026 FIFA World Cup at a public screening in Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico Metropolis, Mexico, June 11, 2026. — Reuters
The sport was barely minutes previous when Jimenez stung the fingertips of South Africa goalkeeper Ronwen Williams with a volley from 12 yards, however the match’s opening objective was not lengthy in coming.
Sithole was robbed on the sting of his personal field by Lira, most well-liked within the coronary heart of midfield to captain Edson Alvarez, and he rapidly fed Quinones who danced inside earlier than drilling a low end beneath Williams.
South Africa had been clinging on for expensive life as the primary half got here to a detailed and the second started in the same vein.
Brian Gutierrez drew the primary crimson card when his marauding run in the direction of the field was stopped in its tracks by Sithole, whose clumsy deal with from behind earned him his marching orders to finish a depressing afternoon’s work for the midfielder.
The gang had begun to get a bit of stressed at Mexico’s failure to show their numerical benefit into one other objective however that frustration was relieved when Jimenez bagged his first World Cup objective, with a strong downward header previous Williams from a devilish cross by Roberto Alvarado.
The sport’s finale was dominated by the dismissals with Zwane despatched off after a VAR test for a supposed arm to the face whereas Montes was despatched off for Mexico for denying a goalscoring alternative.
