Mexico opened the World Cup with a victory against South Africa, in a game in which the home team took advantage of their rivals’ mistakes and turned the match in their favor right from the start.
Before the start of the match, a solemn opening ceremony was held at the stadium, and the flags of all 48 national teams participating in the tournament were brought to the field. The duel between Mexico and South Africa also had symbolic weight, because the same teams opened the World Cup in 2010, when the score was 1:1.
Mexico looked more dangerous from the first minute. Already in the fifth minute, the home team had a great opportunity, when Reyes broke through on the right side and played a return ball to Jimenez, but goalkeeper Williams reacted well to prevent an early goal.
Just four minutes later, Mexico took the lead. South Africa tried to build an attack from the back line, Sithole held the ball too long on the edge of the penalty area and Lira reacted quickly to win possession. The ball reached Quiñones, who scored with a powerful shot to make it 1:0.
The early goal further disrupted Hugo Broos’ selection. South Africa struggled to find a rhythm, and Mokoena was booked in the 12th minute after a poor performance in the final third. Mexico continued to threaten, and Gutierrez was given space in the penalty area in the 30th minute, but his shot was blocked.
The start of the second half brought another great chance for Mexico. Williams tried to start the attack with a short pass, but gave the ball away to Fidalgo. The Mexican footballer got into a great situation, went too far to the side and in the end failed to finish the action well.
South Africa then tried to stem the pressure with changes. Foster left the field in the 56th minute and was replaced by Mbatha, while a few minutes later Mwane entered instead of Adams. In that period, Mexico lost part of its rhythm, so after one bad ball by Vasquez, the whistles of the home fans could be heard from the stands.
The coach of Mexico reacted in the 66th minute, when Gutierrez and Fidalgo left the game, and Chavez and Mora entered. The home selection then increased the lead to 2:0, and South Africa found it increasingly difficult to control the game.
In the 73rd minute, Jimenez asked for a penalty after a duel with Sibisi in the penalty area, but the referee was close to the situation and immediately indicated that there was no penalty kick. Meanwhile, Sibisi received a yellow card, so South Africa had two cautioned players.
A minute later Mexico made two changes in attack. Jimenez finished the game and was replaced by Gonzalez. Quiñones, the scorer of the first goal, left the game and was replaced by Alexis Vega.
The biggest problem for South Africa came in the 82nd minute. After the VAR check, Zwane received a straight red card for contact with Alvarado, so Hugo Broos’ selection met the end with nine players. By the very end of the match, Mexico also received a red card. In the second minute of stoppage time, Montes was sent off, and the final score was 2:0.
Mexico’s next game is against South Korea on June 19, while South Africa play the Czech Republic a day earlier.
