Mexico 2 - 0 South Africa
South Korea 2 - 1 Czech Republic

Well, there it is folks. Day one of the 2026 World Cup is in the record books, and it was a start to proceedings of mixed quality, both of play and refereeing. But we’ll get to that! 

The record books will also note some key milestones: 

• South Africa manager Hugo Broos (who we’ve previously described as sounding like a knock-off perfume from the local market), set the record for the oldest manager to manage a game at a World Cup at 74 years old.

• That record was almost immediately wrested from the grip of Broos by Czechia’s Miroslav Koubek.

• For the first time, we saw three red cards in an opening match (Mexico v South Africa), in a referring performance that has variously been described as a “joke” by Kevin-Prince Boeteng, and as an “absolute nightmare” by Gary Neville. 

We described Group A in our preview as one of the most potentially open at the tournament, and that seems to be the case so far, with South Africa appearing to be the side most likely to finish bottom, and the rest of the group wide open.


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How were the games? What did we learn?

A mixed bag! Mexico v South Africa had its moments, but it was Korea v Czech Republic that burst the tournament to life with everything we love from a World Cup - a massive contrast of playstyles. 

Mexico v South Africa

Let’s start with the positives: the Estadio Azteca provided the perfect backdrop to a World Cup opener. With the stadium packed to the rafters, it was every bit the iconic stadium we remember from previous World Cups, and the Mexico fans were in great form, starting with the “oles” in the first minute of play.

Mexico controlled the game well, but never really looked threatened by South Africa, who sat back in a 5-3-2 and offered a very poor performance, not really laying a glove on Mexico. 

Sithole’s individual rating may be one of the worst we’ll see at the tournament - he made an error that led to Mexico’s first goal (a shot through the legs of the keeper) and was then sent off for a separate incident where he denied a clear goalscoring opportunity. I’d like to be a fly on the wall in that dressing room. 

A second red card saw South Africa go down to nine men in contentious circumstances. Themba Zwane found himself on the end of a straight red for violent conduct after apparently “slapping” the head of the Mexico defender. 

We saw that moment played back on the entertaining ref cam. The ref had a clear view and decided not to act, but was talked into going over to the screen and ended up overturning his inaction to deliver the red. 

The game ended up being ruined by the first two reds, and the ref threw another spanner in the works knocking Mexico down to ten men after another contentious decision. With Khuliso Mudau brought down by Montes slightly wide of the area, it looked like a soft professional foul. But the ref decided it was a clear red, denying a goalscoring opportunity. 

I’m still on the fence with that one. If you look at the criteria for DOGSO: 

• distance between the offence and the goal

• general direction of the play

• likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball

• location and number of defenders and attackers

For me, Mudau was too far from goal, was slightly pointed away from a direct path to goal, was a bit loose in control and Mexico had defenders running back. 

But Montes was the last man, and the decision stood. No “obvious error”, no VAR intervention. 


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South Korea v Czech Republic 

A really good game.

This was an intriguing tactical matchup, as we predicted in our fixture preview back in May, where we expected it to be a tight match that could be decisive in who finishes second in the group. We thought set pieces would be important, and they most certainly were.

It was a bright start to the game from South Korea, who looked to get an early opener. However, Czechia held firm and started to get into the game, operating effectively with their high press. 

In our preview we described them as “Resilient. Defensive, physically imposing, solid and organised”, and so they proved to be in the early stages of this one.

The first half provided an engaging encounter, perhaps lacking some individual quality but offering an intriguing clash of tactics. South Korea looked to play into feet and operate quickly on the break and almost managed it on a couple of occasions. 

For Czechia, they kept the ball in the air where they could, looking for direct threats and ways to threaten with their aerial dominance. 

South Korea probed and played between the Czech lines and looked the better side, but couldn’t finish - Son having multiple opportunities and looking the most likely to score. 

But it was Krejčí who broke the deadlock from a long throw. Back in May we predicted it was always going to be a set piece that did it for Czechia. But could Son get Korea back into the game, as we predicted? 

No, but In-Beom could. 

His trickery in the box and delicate dink over the keeper into the corner of the goal was sublime. It seemed to take an eternity to creep into the net, and Krejčí couldn’t reach it.

And then it got worse for Czechia. First having a goal disallowed for offside from a textbook set piece, Oh Hyeon-Gyu then found the goal from a low cross to take the lead. Czechia had a late chance but couldn't make it count and after 6 minutes of stoppages, the ref blew for FT.

Hugely entertaining game and a great way to round out day one. We might have a decent tournament on our hands, you know.