Mexico beat South Africa 2-0 at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on Thursday 11 June, the host nation's first win in a World Cup opening match across nine attempts spanning 74 years (their prior record read 0W-6L-2D) 1. Julián Quiñones turned in an Erik Lira cutback on nine minutes for the tournament's first goal, and Raúl Jiménez headed the second on 67 from a Roberto Alvarado cross 2. Mexico had carried this drought into every opener since 1958, and the win that 18 months of build-up pointed towards finally landed at the rebuilt Azteca.
The scoreline flatters the hosts. It was goalless until the 50th minute, when South Africa's Sphephelo Sithole was sent off for denying Brian Gutiérrez a clear run at goal, a DOGSO (denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity) red. Bafana Bafana, back at a World Cup after 16 years , then conceded twice against ten men and lost a second player in stoppage time. Mexico's two goals both came after the dismissal, which makes the historic first a statistic that stands regardless of how it was won.
The match set a World Cup opener record of three red cards 3, beating the two shown when Cameroon beat Argentina in 1990. Referee Wilton Pereira Sampaio upgraded Themba Zwane's 84th-minute yellow to red for violent conduct, the first competitive use of a 2026 rule from IFAB (the International Football Association Board, which writes the laws of the game) . Sithole and Zwane now miss South Africa's next match through suspension, and Mexico's César Montes was dismissed in stoppage time for a third DOGSO. Mexico top Group A on goal difference ahead of the day's other winners, South Korea, whom they meet next.
