Mexico opens World Cup with 2-0 win vs South Africa

Raul Jimenez scored his first World Cup goal to lift Mexico to a 2-0 victory over South Africa in a chaotic opening match at Azteca Stadium, where three red cards were shown and Jimenez capped a remarkable return from a career-threatening fractured skull.

The World Cup’s build-up was tangled in strife, greed, grift and grandstanding. On Thursday afternoon at Azteca Stadium, all of that noise was pushed aside—at least for the length of one opening match—and replaced by the kind of roar that makes you forget the calendar.

Mexico and South Africa kicked off just before 1pm in front of 80. 824 fans in a stadium that carries the weight of football history like a living thing. Hours before kick-off. supporters carried cans of Corona along the steep walkways. food-sellers moved through the concourses selling chimichangas and tacos. and fans rained thousands of paper sombreros down from their seats. Ninety minutes before the start. an Opening Ceremony built the atmosphere further. and in the seconds before kickoff. the smell of cordite filled the air as the Mexican air force performed a fly-past.

Then Raul Jimenez—35 and playing his fourth World Cup—took the first touch of the tournament for Mexico. The day was meant to be a launch. Instead, it turned into a stage for something more personal, and more dramatic, than anyone could have planned.

Julian Quinones broke the deadlock first, giving Mexico the lead at the historic venue. Quinones capitalised after Mexico won back possession on the edge of South Africa’s box. His fierce shot slipped through the legs of Ronwen Williams and crashed into the back of the net. The celebrations were immediate and loud. a reminder that for hosts. scoring in the opening match brings a particular kind of release.

Jimenez’s story made the match feel bigger than a result. Six years earlier. Jimenez had fractured his skull in a game for Wolverhampton Wanderers against Arsenal—an injury many feared he would never return from. He did return. and he is back at a World Cup now. yet he had never scored at the tournament until this moment at Azteca.

Barely had the noise settled when Mexico struck again. Israel Reyes crossed for Jimenez, who was unmarked 10 yards out. Williams made a well-saved stop, but it was only a brief reprieve for South Africa.

South Africa’s resistance turned fragile in the second half after a clumsy foul by Sphephelo Sithole. Sithole became the first player to be sent off in a World Cup opening match since 1994. Mexico’s advantage turned into something safer five minutes after the interval when Bryan Gutierrez raced clear. cut across his pursuer—Sithole—and was brought down at the edge of the area. Referee Wilton Sampaio showed Gutierrez a red card. Jimenez then took the free-kick and slammed it into the wall, but Mexico’s control only grew from there.

The chaos spread beyond the field of play. Themba Zwane was shown a red card for an apparent act of violent conduct in the closing stages. and Mexico’s Cesar Montes was also sent off late in the match for denying Khuliso Mudau a goalscoring opportunity—becoming the third player dismissed in the opening game.

With South Africa wilting under the mounting pressure. Mexico found a second goal that felt like it belonged to the full afternoon. The crowd’s energy surged again when Gilberto Mora arrived from the bench. Seconds after he came on. Roberto Alvarado swung over a cross from the right. and Jimenez powered a thumping header past Williams at the back post to make it 2-0.

Jimenez turned away as tears ran down his face.

Mexico’s triumph didn’t come with the clean simplicity that fans sometimes want from opening nights. There were near misses. momentum shifts. and a storm threatening overhead as clouds gathered above the stadium ahead of predicted late-afternoon weather. Still, the match kept forcing itself into the category of “remember this.”.

Quinones nearly struck a third moment when his sidefooted shot from 12 yards out cannoned off a post and away to safety. Earlier in the opening period, Jimenez had a curling shot saved by Williams. In the second half, Quinones even tried to chip Williams from just inside the half-way line.

That confidence fed into the sense that Mexico were not just managing a game—they were sending a message.

South Africa, too, had moments. The opening was familiar in the way tournaments are: it carried echoes of past meetings between these teams. including the 2010 World Cup opening game where Siphiwe Tshabalala scored a spectacular opening goal for South Africa and joy and relief came in waves. But on Thursday. that memory only underlined what was different now—this time Mexico didn’t just respond. it absorbed the pressure and kept going.

By the end. South Africa were reduced to nine men when Zwane’s red came late. then even fewer when Montes was also dismissed. Even with three red cards defining parts of the match, this was not ultimately about shame or discipline. It was about the emotion of a first goal that arrives after years of recovery. and the kind of catharsis hosts chase when the competition finally begins.

Somewhere in the noise of Mexico City’s 7. 350ft elevation—where the aisles climb so steeply they can make your head swim—Raul Jimenez added his name to Azteca Stadium’s rich World Cup history. In the opening game of a home tournament. he wrote a chapter his younger self had never been able to finish.

And for a stadium full of believers who had been waiting through controversy and uncertainty, the tournament’s first act ended with tears of joy, a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard, and a clear sense that something had finally been redeemed.

World Cup 2026 Mexico vs South Africa Raul Jimenez Azteca Stadium Julian Quinones Sphephelo Sithole Themba Zwane Cesar Montes Gilberto Mora Ronwen Williams