The 2026 FIFA World Cup is underway, and the Mexico national football team began its co-hosting duties with a 3-0 win over South Africa on June 11 at Mexico City Stadium.
It didn’t take long for the Mexican squad to open the scoring as Julián Quiñones opened the scoring in the ninth minute. The game went into halftime 1-0, with the home side leading. Nonetheless, coming out at halftime, the South African team would be reduced to 10 men after Yaya Sithole was sent off in the 50th minute.
Mexico would take advantage of playing with an extra man, as Raúl Jiménez scored to make it 2-0 in the 67th minute. Moreover, the red cards wouldn’t stop as Themba Zwane received a red card in the 84th minute. Meanwhile, César Montes would also get a red card in stoppage time.
After the win, former Mexico striker and FOX Sports analyst Javier Hernández shared his thoughts on the co-host nation’s win as they secured three points.
“It was crucial,” Hernández said postgame on FOX Sports. “I think this is the correct way to start this World Cup, with your people, scoring two goals and maintaining the clean sheet, even though that send-off with Montes is going to be difficult for the team.
“But anyway, I think it’s all positive from there. And then, yes, you can see all this fan base, we all can celebrate finally. And then yes, we’re thinking about the next game.”
Zlatan Ibrahimović Gives True Thoughts on Mexico Win
Meanwhile, Zlatan Ibrahimović expressed his thoughts on Mexico starting the World Cup not just with a win and all three points, but also with a clean sheet.
“Interesting first game,” Ibrahimović said on FOX Sports. “We had more red cards than goals. Funny enough, it’s the truth. But I’m happy for Mexico. First game on home field and they get the two goals. After the first red card, I saw them a little bit defensive, but then they got their moment back.”
Mexico will take the field again when they face South Korea on June 18. As for South Korea, they will face Czechia on June 11, and it will be interesting to see if they can get all three points in that contest.
Can the Co-Host Nation Top Their Group?
Furthermore, Mexico will have the home crowd behind them in all three group-stage matches, which is why the team feels obligated to top this group.
“[We want to] make history,” AZ Alkmaar defender Mateo Chávez said on June 9 (h/t Lizzy Becherano of ESPN). “That’s the goal [winning the group]. That’s the No. 1 objective: Winning the group. We’re favorites against South Africa because we’re playing at home.
Even with the home crowd and favorable group, Mexico manager Javier Aguirre is urging his squad not to pay attention to the outside noise regarding whether they are the favorite in this group or not.
“Javier [Aguirre] mentioned it, that in these types of situations you have to know how to play with [the pressures],” Chávez added. “Since the Gold Cup, he told us that everyone says we are the favorites.
“We also have to know how to maintain these types of situations, because many times we find ourselves on the other side, that we are not the favorites, that we face great teams, and when now you are the favorite you also have to learn to play with that, to propose and have the courage to be the one who goes forward and proposes.”
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