Matchday Pundit | June 11, 2026
Well. If that is how the 2026 World Cup is going to feel for the next five weeks, every single one of us is in for the ride of our lives. Mexico 2-0 South Africa at Mexico City Stadium, the iconic ground officially renamed from the Estadio Azteca for this tournament. The first game of the greatest show on earth. Three red cards. A goal in the ninth minute from a Colombian born Mexican. Tears on the grass from a striker who nearly lost his life six years ago. And a 17 year old from Tijuana stepping onto the grandest stage in world football to the kind of roar that rattled the bones of 87,000 people inside one of the most iconic stadiums ever built.
I have been looking forward to writing about this tournament for months. And what a game to open with.
Let us go through every inch of it.
The Ceremony: Shakira, Burna Boy and the Azteca on Fire
Before a ball was kicked, the atmosphere inside Mexico City Stadium was something else entirely. The opening ceremony began ninety minutes before kick off, and FIFA did not hold back. Shakira headlined the occasion, performing the official song of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, “Dai Dai”, alongside Nigerian superstar Burna Boy. This is Shakira’s fourth World Cup performance, having also appeared in 2006, 2010 and 2014. The woman is simply made for these moments. The crowd was already on fire before she even opened her mouth.
She was joined by a lineup that felt like a celebration of North American culture in full. Mana, one of Mexico’s greatest rock bands, opened with a roaring performance of Oye Mi Amor. J Balvin brought the reggaeton energy. Danny Ocean, Belinda, Lila Downs, Los Angeles Azules and South African singer Tyla all performed. Mexican music legend Alejandro Fernandez sang the Mexican national anthem, and by the time the last note faded out, half the players on the pitch were in tears. Armando Gonzalez, who came on as a substitute later in the game, was weeping before the referee had even blown his whistle. 87,000 voices singing together inside the Azteca. The ground quite literally shook.
This is also the first World Cup in history to feature three separate opening ceremonies, one for each jointly hosting nation. Canada and the United States will have their own ceremonies on Friday, with Alanis Morissette and Katy Perry respectively headlining those occasions. But Mexico got to go first, and they made sure the world knew it.
The Historical Context: A Stadium Like No Other
Mexico City Stadium, known for generations as the Estadio Azteca, became the first stadium in history to host matches at three separate men’s World Cups tonight, having previously staged games in 1970 and 1986. Think about what those two tournaments meant to football history. The 1970 final between Brazil and Italy, one of the great games ever played. The 1986 tournament where Diego Maradona produced the Hand of God and then, four minutes later, the greatest individual goal in the history of the sport. Those things happened in this building. And tonight, it added another chapter.
This opening game was also a repeat matchup that came loaded with meaning. The last time Mexico and South Africa met in a World Cup opener was 2010 in Johannesburg, when South Africa hosted the tournament and the two sides drew 1-1. South Africa became the first host nation in World Cup history to fail to advance from the group stage that summer. Sixteen years later, same opponent, same opening game slot. Very different result.
The First Goal of the 2026 World Cup: Julian Quinones Makes History
Ninety seconds into my opening paragraph I promised you a Colombian born Mexican, and here he is. Julian Quinones, the 29 year old forward who plays his club football for Saudi Arabian side Al Qadsiah, scored the first goal of the 2026 World Cup in the ninth minute and became instantly iconic in the process.
The goal came from a moment of genuine pressing intelligence. Erik Lira pressed high up the pitch, suffocating a South African buildup move and forcing a defensive mistake. The loose ball fell to Quinones on the left side of the box. He cut inside, settled himself, and fired a low powerful strike that nutmegged goalkeeper Ronwen Williams and nestled into the corner of the net. The Azteca erupted. Nine minutes in and the tournament had its first goal, scored by a man born in Colombia who represents Mexico on the biggest stage in football.
It was the fastest goal in a World Cup opening match since Philipp Lahm scored for Germany in the sixth minute against Costa Rica back in 2006. That alone is a World Cup record to have your name attached to. Quinones arrived at this tournament carrying remarkable form, having won the Saudi Pro League Golden Boot this season with 33 goals in 31 league matches, finishing ahead of Ivan Toney and Cristiano Ronaldo. He entered the World Cup with just two goals in 22 international appearances for El Tri, which tells you exactly how productive his debut on the grandest stage has been.
Quinones had the ball in the net again in the first half, only to see it cannon back off the post. The Azteca groaned. Mexico were dominant, but the single goal scoreline kept South Africa alive going into half time.
The Second Goal: Raul Jimenez and the Most Emotional Moment of This World Cup So Far
Then, in the 67th minute, came the moment that had an entire nation weeping. Raul Jimenez, 35 years old, scored his first ever World Cup goal and collapsed to the ground in tears.
The goal itself was a striker’s goal. Roberto Alvarado, who had been excellent all evening, whipped in a cross from deep and Jimenez attacked it with perfect timing, heading the ball powerfully past Williams to make it 2-0. The technique was immaculate. But nobody was talking about the technique in the moments after it went in.
Jimenez suffered a serious skull fracture in November 2020 while playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers in a Premier League match against Arsenal. He fractured his skull. The recovery took the better part of a year. There were genuine questions about whether he would ever play at the highest level again. He came back. He fought his way back to Mexico’s squad. He was here in Qatar in 2022 but never scored. And tonight, on home soil, in front of his own people, in the first World Cup ever hosted in North America, he scored his first World Cup goal at the age of 35 and showed the entire world what it meant to him. The tears were streaming down his face before his teammates even reached him.
There is also a deeply personal layer to Jimenez’s story around this tournament. Raul was teammates with Diogo Jota at Wolverhampton Wanderers for two seasons. When Jota died in a car accident last July, Jimenez was among the most visibly affected. He scored in the Gold Cup final shortly after and honoured Jota by holding up his jersey and mimicking his video game celebration. Tonight’s World Cup goal will have had that same weight of grief and love attached to it. Football, when it reaches for the human stuff, gets you right in the chest.
The Red Cards: An Opening Game That Made History for All the Wrong Reasons
Right. Let us talk about the three red cards, because this also belongs in the history books. Tonight’s match became the first ever opening game in World Cup history to feature three red cards. The previous record was zero. One game. Three dismissals. More red cards than goals.
The first came in the 50th minute. South Africa’s Sphephelo Sithole fouled Brian Gutierrez just outside the penalty box, with Gutierrez clear through on goal and Sithole the very last man back. A stonewall red card. Sithole will now miss the next two matches of this tournament, which means if South Africa do not advance to the knockout rounds, he could end his entire World Cup having played just fifty minutes. He gave away the possession that led to Quinones scoring Mexico’s first goal, and then he gave away his place in the team for the next two games. One of those performances where everything that could go wrong for a player did go wrong.
The second red card arrived courtesy of a VAR review. South Africa’s veteran midfielder Themba Zwane, who had only just come on as a substitute, appeared to claw at the face of Mexico’s Roberto Alvarado off the ball. Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio initially missed it. VAR called him to the monitor, the review took around ninety seconds, and Sampaio produced the red card without hesitation. South Africa were down to nine men. In a World Cup opening game. Nine. The Azteca could not quite believe what it was watching.
The third red card, and the most controversial of the three, went to Mexico’s own Cesar Montes. The defender committed a full body tackle on South Africa’s Khuliso Mudau as he ran towards goal, and Sampaio decided it constituted denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity. The crowd were having none of it. A cascade of boos rained down from the stands. Watching it back, there is a reasonable argument that the challenge was clumsy but not cynical, and that Mudau was running at an angle that would have taken him away from goal anyway. But the referee made his call and it stood. Mexico finished with ten players, South Africa with nine, and Montes now misses Mexico’s next game against South Korea on June 18 in Guadalajara.
Three red cards. One game. A record that will stand for as long as they play football.
Gilberto Mora: The Boy Who Shattered a 96 Year Old Record
Now for the moment that had the entire world reaching for their phones to find out who this teenager is.
Gilberto Mora came on as a substitute in the 65th minute to a roar that nearly lifted the roof off Mexico City Stadium. He is 17 years old. He is the youngest player at this entire 2026 World Cup across all 48 nations. And by coming on tonight, he became the youngest Mexican player ever to appear in a World Cup, shattering a record that had stood for 96 years. The previous record was held by Manuel Rosas, who was 18 years and 88 days old when he played in the very first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930. Mora is 17 years and 240 days old. He will not even turn 18 until October.
He plays for Club Tijuana in Liga MX. He has already broken age records at every level of the game in Mexico. At 15, he became the youngest ever goalscorer in Liga MX history. In January 2025, he became the youngest player to debut for Mexico’s senior national team at just 16 years old. He was part of the squad that won the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup, starting all three knockout stage matches. Just two days ago, Club Tijuana signed him to a new three year contract, handed him the number 10 jersey, gave him a significant pay rise, and included a 20 million euro release clause to manage his inevitable move to Europe. Real Madrid, Barcelona and multiple Premier League clubs are all monitoring him.
When a journalist asked him at a prematch press conference what he would do to celebrate if Mexico won the World Cup final, Mora smiled and said: “An ice cream. Vanilla.” The kid is 17. He is already the most talked about teenager in world football. And he handled his World Cup debut with a composure and intelligence that most senior professionals would struggle to match. He pressed immediately after coming on, won tackles, moved the ball quickly, and played a sharp combination with Brian Gutierrez that almost created a third goal. He looked like he belonged. Not in an encouraging, patient with the youngster sense. He looked like he was born for exactly this kind of stage.
Pelé was 17 when he helped Brazil win the World Cup in 1958. Mbappe was 19 when he led France to the title in 2018. I am not putting Mora in that company yet because the boy has played one World Cup game and it would be ridiculous to do so. But the path he is on, and the stage he has just announced himself on, means those comparisons are going to follow him whether he wants them to or not.
The Brian Gutierrez Story: Born in Illinois, Playing for Mexico
While we are on the subject of fascinating backstories, Brian Gutierrez deserves his moment. Born in Berwyn, Illinois, Gutierrez represented the United States at youth level from under 16 through under 23 before switching his international allegiance to Mexico in January 2026. FIFA authorised the switch on the same day he made his debut for El Tri. He was excellent tonight, showing close control, intelligent movement and the kind of willingness to run at defenders in dangerous areas that South Africa could not handle. His foul by Sithole directly led to the red card. He was taken off in the 65th minute as part of the double substitution that brought Mora and Luis Chavez on. He gave everything he had and the crowd loved every minute of it.
South Africa: Brutally Undermined Before They Could Find Their Feet
It would be unfair to dismiss South Africa’s performance entirely, because the circumstances they found themselves in after Sithole’s red card in the 50th minute made a fair assessment of this game almost impossible. South Africa are appearing at the World Cup for the first time since 2010, and there was genuine quality in their squad before tonight. Ronwen Williams in goal was excellent. He made two sharp saves in the first half that kept the scoreline at 1-0. Lyle Foster, their striker who plays his club football for Burnley in the Championship, caused Mexico some problems before being substituted. In an eleven versus eleven game, South Africa could have made this very uncomfortable for the hosts.
Instead, Sithole gifted possession for the first goal, gave away the red card that left them with ten men from the 50th minute onwards, and then Zwane’s moment of madness reduced them to nine. You simply cannot play tournament football at this level with nine men. The real damage is that Sithole and Zwane both miss the next two matches. South Africa now face South Korea and Czechia with two players absent through suspension. Their tournament is in deep trouble before it has barely started.
What Mexico Can Expect from Here
Mexico needed this. They came into 2026 carrying the trauma of Qatar 2022, where they failed to advance from the group stage for the first time in 28 years. A country that grew up with “quinto partido”, the fifth game, the round of 16, as the standard expectation of every World Cup, had been robbed of even that. Tonight felt like an exorcism of those ghosts.
Javier Aguirre made some interesting selection calls that deserve credit. He started with Quinones and Jimenez in attack. He kept Santiago Gimenez on the bench as an impact option. He held Edson Alvarez back and brought him on as the game was controlled. He introduced Mora and Chavez together at the right moment. These are the decisions of a manager thinking across seven games, not just ninety minutes. The way he used his squad tonight suggests he has a clear tournament plan.
The concern going forward is Montes. Losing your first choice centre back to suspension before your second group game is a significant problem. Mexico face South Korea on June 18 in Guadalajara, and the Koreans are technically excellent and physically strong. Aguirre will need to find the right defensive combination without Montes and make it work quickly. The third game against Czechia follows on June 24, back here at Mexico City Stadium.
But tonight is not for worrying. Tonight is for the 87,000 people who sang until they had no voice left. For Raul Jimenez, weeping on the grass of the stadium that made him a hero. For Gilberto Mora, 17 years old, smiling as if the world is exactly what he always imagined it would be.
The 2026 World Cup is here. And if the rest of it feels anything like tonight, North America is in for the greatest sporting summer of its life.
Matchday Pundit | June 11, 2026
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