After an opening ceremony with performances by Colombian singer and Nigerian singer Burna Boy, the 2026 World Cup ended the first day of group A disputes with victories for Mexico and South Korea over South Africa and the Czech Republic, respectively.
With the results, the Mexicans and South Koreans lead Group A with 3 points, leaving South Africa and the Czech Republic at zero.
In the first duel, the co-hosts confirmed their favoritism and beat South Africa 2-0 at the Azteca stadium, in Mexico City, with goals from strikers Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez. Quiñonez was voted best of the match.
The confrontation was marked by three red cards issued by Brazilian referee Wilton Pereira Sampaio and by the celebration of the Mexican fans in the Azteca stands.
The curiosity of the confrontation was that the Brazilian referee was one red card away from equaling, in one game, the total expulsions from the last World Cup. In Qatar-2022, four red cards were shown in total, a number that was repeated in 2018 and 1938. The record for expulsions is from the 2006 World Cup, with 28.
This was the first victory for the Mexican team in their eighth participation in a debut game in an edition of the World Cup. The team also played its first matches in the 1930, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1970 and 2010 World Cups, with five defeats and two draws.
South Africa returned to the World Cup after its last appearance in 2010, when it hosted, without ever having passed the group stage in three appearances (it was present in 1998 and 2002).
In the other game, which started on Thursday night and ended in the early hours of this Friday (12), at the Akron stadium, in Guadalajara, South Korea had much more difficulty in achieving victory.
The South Koreans dominated the game, with more technique than the top European players. These achieved their best shots in aerial plays.
When the ball went low, South Korean goalkeeper Kim Seung-Gyu saved his team with at least two great saves.
In the first half, Korea’s big name was captain Son Heung-min, who moved a lot to find space between the strong rival defenders.
In the second half, both teams went on the attack and heated up the duel. The Czech Republic opened the scoring with defender Krejcí heading in Coufal’s long throw-in into the box.
The South Koreans equalized with a great goal from midfielder Hwang In-Beom, who put a touch over the goalkeeper after leaving defender Hranác on the ground with a dry cut.
The Czech Republic scored again in the 32nd minute, with a header from Soucek, but he was offside.
Two minutes later, Korea turned the score around with Oh Hyeon-gyu, who had replaced star Son Heung-min, with a first touch after a cross from Hwang In-beom, who was named the star of the game.
In the next round of the group, on Monday (18), Mexico and South Korea face each other in Guadalajara, while the Czech Republic and South Africa duel in Atlanta (USA).
