World Cup 2026 kicked off with two entertaining and eventful matches. After an opening ceremony with a performance by Shakira, the opening match between Mexico and South Africa at the iconic Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, a repeat from the opener of the 2010 World Cup (which Spain won) ended 2-0 for the local team, marking the first time since 1930 and seven previous editions that Mexico won the opening match of the tournament.
It also marked an incredible landmark: the first time an opening match in World Cup had three red cards, with South Africa also becoming the first team since 2006 to receive 2 red cards in the match at the World Cup.
Fans loved to see how Julián Quiñones gave Mexico an early lead and, early in the second half, they had number superiority when Yaya Sithole was expelled. Raúl Jiménez added a second goal to earn a comfortable victory to become Group A leaders.
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Four hours later, South Korea came from behind to defeat Czech Republic, with goals by Hwang In-beom and Oh Hyeon-gyuon, that match ending 2-1 in Guadalajara, part of the same group as Mexico and South Africa. However, while the opening match had over 80,000 filling the entire stadium, the second match had a reported attendance of 46,000, with multiple empty seats which already gave a poor image for the tournament, after the controversy of inflated tickets that have priced out fans and families.
Next, World Cup will celebrate its second opening ceremony, tonight at 21:00 CEST, 20:00 BST, with a match between Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Then, at 3:00 CEST, 2:00 BST of Saturday, United States will debut against Paraguay.