Party at Azdeca, on the field with 2-0 and in the stands with 81,000 spectators, Mexico did in the first match of the Mundial 2026. Javier Aguirre’s team comfortably prevailed over South Africa, who finished the match with 9 players, and started their duties in Group A with the right hand. Orbelin Pineda of AEK and Jorge Sanchez of PAOK. The co-organizers ended the match with ten.
As expected, Mexico entered strongly, in 5′ after Reyes’ cross from the right, Jimenez made a strong left and Williams made an impressive intervention in the corner and in 9′ the score opened. In the attempt to play from the defense, Sitole made a mistake, Lira took it and passed it to Quiñones who with a powerful shot put Mexico in front of the score in a premiership for the first time in 7 matches.
Aguirre’s team then comfortably kept control, but without being as dangerous. A shot by the scorer from 30 meters and a turn from Gutierrez to no avail was all we saw, while South Africa had their first inkling of a good moment in the 38th minute with a Foster header well wide. 1-0 remained for the first half after in the 42nd minute Quinones had a crossbar with a long shot from inside the area after Gutierrez’s layup.
The second part started like the first. With a great chance for Mexico to win something too. In the 46th minute, Lira pressed again and stole high, but his turn was blocked at the last moment and in the 50th minute, ‘El Tri’ gained a numerical advantage when Gutierrez went off on his own and Sitole, who had made the mistake in the first goal, brought him down and saw a straight red.
In the next part of the match, Mexico “sat” too much in the situation formed in their favor to the point that the world disapproves. In the 66th minute, Akire brought on the 17-year-old wonderkid, Hilberto Mora, and in the next minute his team doubled their goals. Alvarado crossed from the right and Raul Jimenez headed into the corner for his 46th goal with the National Team.
The match had already been called and ended definitively in the 84th minute when, after examining the phase in the VAR, Juan, who had entered a few minutes before as a substitute, saw a straight red for hitting Alvarado in the face. Despite this, South Africa managed not to concede a third goal as the 2-0 lead was held until the final. El Tri finished the match with ten points due to Montes’ strict dismissal in stoppage time.
MEXICO (Javier Aguirre): Rangel, Reyes, Montes, Vazquez, Gaiardo, Lira (76′ Alvares), Alvarado, Quiñones (79′ Vega), Fidalgo (66′ Mora), Gutierrez (66′ Chaves), Jimenez (76′ Gonzalez).
SOUTH AFRICA (Ugo Bros): Williams, Mundo, Okon, Shibishi, Bokazi, Montiba (77′ Apolis), Sithole, Mokoena, Adams (61′ Zwane), Rainers (77′ Makgopa), Foster (56′ Bata).