Three Red Cards and a Party Mexico Finally Win a World Cup Opener in 2026
Eight attempts. Seven failures. On the eighth try, at home, they finally did it.
Mexico beat South Africa 2-0 at Estadio Banorte in Mexico City on June 12, 2026, in their Group A opener at the 2026 World Cup. Julian Quinones scored in the 9th minute and Raul Jimenez headed in a second in the 67th. South Africa finished with nine men after red cards for Sphephelo Sithole in the 49th minute and Themba Zwane in the 84th. Mexico then lost Cesar Montes to a straight red in the 90th+2nd minute for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity. Final score 2-0, final count 10 versus nine, three red cards in the tournament’s opening game.
Mexico had never won a World Cup opener in eight previous attempts. That miserable run ended quickly and chaotically, in front of 80,824 at a ground that shook from the first whistle.
Jimenez had an early left-footed shot saved by Ronwen Williams in the 5th minute before the opening goal arrived in the 9th. Erik Lira pressured Sithole on the edge of his own box and caught him in possession. The ball broke loose and fell to Quinones, who took one touch and drove a low right-footed shot through Williams’ legs from 19 yards. Williams could and perhaps should have done better. Quinones did not care either way.
Mexico kept pressing. Jimenez headed over from a corner in the 13th minute. Quinones hit the base of the right post from a Brian Gutierrez lay-off in the 42nd minute, the ball bouncing clear with Williams beaten. Four shots for Gutierrez across the half, none of them finding the net, but all of them causing South Africa serious problems. Mexico went into half-time 1-0 ahead with an xG of 1.46 to South Africa’s 0.07. That second number is essentially nothing. South Africa had barely threatened.
The second half lasted 35 seconds before it almost became a farce. Williams spilled the ball under minimal pressure from Gutierrez just outside his area, and only a scrambled recovery prevented a near-certain goal. Then, in the 49th minute, the match changed permanently. Gutierrez drove forward on the right and Sithole clipped him from behind just outside the box as the last defender. Referee Wilton Pereira Sampaio reached for the red card immediately. South Africa were down to ten men inside the first four minutes of the second half.
Mexico made them wait for the second goal. Jimenez had a free-kick saved in the 52nd minute. Gallardo went close from distance at the same time. South Africa dropped deep, stayed compact, and made it genuinely awkward for twenty minutes. Credit where it is due: nine-man South Africa defending against a full-strength Mexican side on home soil was not the walkover it should have been.
Roberto Alvarado solved it in the 67th minute. He got free down the right side, held his run to the byline, and stood a precise cross to the far post. Jimenez arrived two yards out and headed it down and into the bottom left past Williams. Jimenez was 35 years and 37 days old, the oldest goalscorer at a World Cup since Yahya Golmohammadi for Iran in 2006. He had waited a long time for this moment and he ran toward the corner flag with arms out wide, all of it genuine.
Then things got stranger.
In the 79th minute, Mexico brought on Alexis Vega for Quinones. In the 82nd minute, Alvarado went down after an incident with substitute Themba Zwane. VAR reviewed the footage. Zwane had caught Alvarado in the face with his hand while trying to shrug him off. The initial yellow was upgraded to red. Violent conduct. South Africa were nine men with six minutes left on the clock.
South Africa were not done. In the 90th+2nd minute, Khuliso Mudau broke forward with numbers, racing toward the box. Montes got across and clipped him from behind just outside the area, denying a clear goalscoring opportunity. Red card. Mexico down to ten. Three red cards in the 2026 World Cup’s opening game. The last time a single World Cup match produced three straight red cards, South Africa were also involved, in their game against Denmark in 1998.
Make no mistake, Mexico deserved this. They were dominant in every meaningful category, created the chances, won the duels, and ended the evening on top of Group A. The red cards were a sideshow. The football was the story.
For Jimenez especially. Thirty-five years old, playing his first World Cup as a starter on home soil, scoring with a header from six yards. Some things take a long time to arrive and are worth every year of the wait.