Mexico and South Korea achieve their first victory in a group that includes South Africa and the Czech Republic

SadaNews - The Mexican national team opened the 2026 World Cup with an easy victory over South Africa, winning 2-0 at the Mexico City stadium.

The Mexican team did not wait long, threatening the "Bafana Bafana" goal with a powerful shot from Raul Jimenez in the fifth minute, but goalkeeper Williams made a brilliant save.

The attack from "El Tri" continued until they found the net in the ninth minute, thanks to Julian Quinones.

South Africa attempted to quickly correct the situation, but failed to equalize, ending the first half with Mexico leading 1-0.

At the start of the second half, South Africa suffered a painful blow with the red card shown to their player Yaya Situlo in the 49th minute.

Raul Jimenez managed to score the second goal for Mexico with a powerful header after a cross from Roberto Alvarado in the 67th minute.

The South African team failed to break Mexico's solid defense, only to suffer another painful blow with the sending off of Thabo Matlaba in the 84th minute.

In the 90+2 minute, Mexico played with 10 players after the expulsion of Cesar Montes, concluding the match with a 2-0 victory for "El Tri."

Mexico and South Africa are in Group A, alongside South Korea and the Czech Republic.

In the same group, South Korea achieved an exciting victory over the Czech Republic with a score of 2-1 in the first round of matches in the 2026 World Cup.

With this victory, the Korean team earned its first 3 points in Group A.

The first half witnessed a relative advantage for the Korean team, which created several dangerous opportunities, but goalkeeper Matej Kovar excelled in blocking attempts from Son Heung-min, Kang-in Lee, and Hwang In-beom. Son also missed a precious chance, ending the first half in a goalless draw.

In the 59th minute, the Czech Republic surprised its opponent with a goal from Ladislav Krejci, who took advantage of a stunning throw-in from Vladimir Sufal inside the penalty area, rising above everyone to head the ball into the net.

Despite being behind, the Korean team continued to apply pressure in search of an equalizer, with Hwang In-beom succeeding in leveling the score in the 67th minute after receiving the ball inside the penalty area and executing a brilliant touch over the advancing goalkeeper Kovar.

The excitement reached its peak in the final minutes when Tomas Soucek scored for the Czech Republic in the 77th minute with a powerful header, but Egyptian referee Amin Omar stopped the celebrations after reviewing the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), which revealed an offside incident in the buildup of the play, leading to the goal being disallowed.

The Czech team couldn't recover from the shock of the referee's decision, as the Koreans quickly seized the momentum, with Hwang In-beom sending a precise cross in the 80th minute, which was met by substitute Oh Hyun-kyu with a direct shot into the net, scoring the go-ahead goal that secured the three points for his team.

The Czech team tried to come back in the remaining minutes, with Adam Holzek and then Michal Sadilek nearing an equalizer, but the brilliance of goalkeeper Kim Seung-kyu prevented that, leading Amin Omar to blow the final whistle, announcing South Korea's victory 2-1.