Mexico scored the first goal of football’s biggest spectacle through Julian Quiñones following an assist from Erik Lira.
By Kehinde Okeowo
Mexico opened their 2026 FIFA World Cup account on Thursday with a 2-0 win over South Africa at the Mexico City Stadium.
El Tri combined early attacking intent with disciplined defending to secure all three points, while delighting a crowd of 80,824 spectators at the venue.
Julian Quiñones opened the scoring of the first match of football’s biggest spectacle as early as the 9th minute, following an assist from Erik Lira.
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Mexico then doubled their advantage in the 67th minute through Fulham forward Raúl Jiménez.
The encounter was, however, marred by multiple sending-off incidents in both halves of the game.
While South Africa’s Sphephelo Sithole and Themba Zwane picked up their red cards in the 49th and 84th minutes respectively, their Mexican counterpart César Montes received his marching orders two minutes into additional time.
The tournament, jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, is expected to continue on Friday with South Korea taking on the Czech Republic in Group A and Canada battling Bosnia-Herzegovina in a Group B match.
