The 2026 World Cup is finally underway, and here at Metro Philadelphia and Philly Sports Network, we'll be bringing you recaps of every single game throughout the tournament alongside all sorts of other content.
The opening day of the World Cup saw co-host nation Mexico play South Africa in a repeat of the 2010 World Cup opener, and then we move on to South Korea vs Czechia in Guadalajara.
General view during the opening ceremony before the match
Eloisa Sanchez
The opening game of the 2026 World Cup saw co-hosts Mexico start their campaign at home against South Africa, who were looking to recreate the magic of 2010 and go further, competing better in the Tournament.
Javier Aguirre named his starting eleven, and for the most part, it was the lineup expected from the Mexican coach, with Raul Jimenez leading the line for his country, Julian Quinones and Roberto Alvarado out on the wings, and the center-back pairing of captain Cesar Montes and Johan Vasquez.
Hugo Broos set up his South African side in a 5-3-2 formation, looking to continue their possession-based football while making it difficult for Mexico to find gaps going forward. Chicago Fire's Mbekezeli Mbokazi was one of three center-backs, while Siphephelo Sithole led the midfield trio, and Lyle Foster was the main forward supported by Iqraam Rayners.
The crowd inside the Estadio Azteca from both sides was incredible at the start of the game, and the Mexican contingent of fans inside the 85,000-seater stadium was bouncing to start the game as they watched Raul Jimenez almost open the scoring inside the first 5 minutes, but his half-volley from inside the area was well saved by Ronwen Williams.
Unfortunately for Williams, his good start to the game was quickly thrown out of the window when he made a horrible decision to try to play out of the back centrally, and the ball was picked up by Erik Lira before the midfielder put the ball across the box, and Julian Quinones slotted home to send the crowd into bedlam as Mexico took the lead within the opening 10 minutes.
Quinones and Mexico kept control of the match right after the opening goal of both the game and the tournament, and the Mexican winger was taking up all kinds of positions across the front 4 for Mexico. From that control over the game, Quinones went close again 20 minutes in, but his shot from outside the box failed to trouble the goalkeeper.
The first hydration break came and went, and the game seemed to struggle to find its energy coming out of it; even the fans went a little quiet. South Africa came into the game more and held possession more than they did in the opening 25 minutes, but it was Mexico who went close again, when Raul Jimenez just failed to get onto the end of a cross, which called Ronwen Williams into making a brilliant reaction save.
Just a minute later, Quinones was threatening again as his shot from inside the box struck the right-hand post, denying Mexico from doubling their lead. Mbekezeli Mbokazi had South Africa's first shot on target as he had a strike from very, very long range, which was a comfortable save for Raul Rangel.
Mexico had a golden chance right before the halftime break when Brian Gutierrez was sent through on goal, but he got caught between two minds of how he wanted to finish the chance and instead scuffed his shot wide, wasting a golden opportunity for the co-hosts.
The second half began, and Ronwen Williams made another big mistake passing out from the back, but the initial chance went begging, and then Gutierrez could only fire the ball over the bar with the follow-up chance.
Things went from bad to worse for South Africa, who were looking like they lacked any confidence or self-belief in themselves in the game, as Gutierrez was played through on goal again and Siphephelo Sithole ended up taking the Mexican midfielder out, just outside the box, resulting in a red card for the South African midfielder with him being the last man back and denying a clear goal scoring opportunity.
After surviving another 17 minutes down to just 10 men, Mexico then doubled the lead through a brilliant cross into the box from Roberto Alvarado, which Raul Jimenez met with his head to grab his first-ever World Cup goal, in likely his last-ever World Cup, in his home country of Mexico. A wonderful moment from someone who just a few years back suffered a head injury that was life-threatening.
A host of substitutions were made during the game for both sides, but the one I want to point out was Alvaro Fidalgo being replaced by 17-year-old Mexican wunderkind Gilberto Mora, someone I think everyone should keep a close eye on during this tournament as one of the next big things.
Seven minutes from time, the referee for the game, Wilton Pereira Sampaio, was called to the VAR Review Screen to review an incident off the ball where it was deemed that Themba Zwane, who had only come on just over 20 minutes before this, had slapped his opponent across the side of his face and was sent off for it. South Africa found themselves down to 9 men.
A third red card was then shown in added time after the 90 minutes when Mexico captain Cesar Montes took out a South African counterattack, and with him denying a goal-scoring opportunity, he was given his marching orders. The game ended 2-0, with Mexico getting off to a near-perfect start, aside from Montes' red card, while South Africa had an opening-game nightmare.
Five hours after the craziness that was the opening game of the World Cup in Mexico City, Guadalajara hosted the 2nd game of the opening day of the 2026 World Cup as the last two nations of Group A went to battle in hopes of joining Mexico in winning their opening game.
Myung Bo Hong named an expected starting eleven for the Korea Republic outside of the choice of Lee Tae-seok over Jens Castrop at left wing back. Setting up in a 3-4-2-1 formation, national hero and captain of his country Son Heung-min led the line-up top with PSG's Kang-in Lee and Mainz's Jae-sung Lee behind him as his attacking support. Bayern Munich's Kim Min-jae was the center-back of the back three for Korea, while Birmingham City's Seung Ho Paik partnered Feyenoord's Hwang In-beom in the center of midfield.
Miroslav Koubek also opted for a 3-4-2-1 formation for his Czechia side, with Bayer Leverkusen's Patrik Schick leading the line as expected, Lyon's playmaker Pavel Sulc, and Slavia Praha's Lukas Provod providing support for Schick up top. Jaroslav Zeleny of Sparta Praha and Hoffenheim's Vladimir Coufal would provide the width as the wing backs, while Alexandr Sojka of Viktoria Plzen was the choice of central midfield partner for the ever-present Tomas Soucek of West Ham.
The game started with the Republic of Korea looking to establish their possession-based football, and for the opening ten minutes of the game, they had most of the ball, and Kang-in Lee went close a couple of times, once from distance, which forced Matej Kovar into a solid save, and then from a header which just went over the bar.
Czechia came into the game a little more as the first half went on, with the biggest chance of the half for the European side falling to Tomas Soucek when a corner fell to him at the near post, but he couldn't sort his feet out and sent his effort wide.
Son Heung-min was out there trying his hardest for his nation up top, and he had several chances to put his country in the lead. His first chance came 37 minutes in when he had a long-range strike, but that sailed over the bar. Two minutes later, Son broke through the left side and tried to curl one into the left bottom corner, but sent his shot well wide of the post.
Right before the half-time break, Son went close once again. After some really good build-up play down the left side from Korea, the ball was slipped across the box to Son, but the Korean captain slipped as he went to shoot and failed to make any meaningful contact. The teams went into half-time tied at 0-0, with Korea looking the better of the two sides, just lacking the killer touch in the final third.
The second half kicked off, and it was Korea who started the half on top once again. They went close to opening the scoring just 3 minutes in, but Kovar in the Czechia goal pulled off a great double save.
Just a few minutes later, Son found his way in behind again, but as he tried to shift the ball onto his left, he took a slightly too heavy touch, and Kovar came off his line quickly to close the angle off and make a good stop.
Czechia built up a head of steam and went close to a goal just before the 60th-minute mark, but Soucek couldn't connect with his head. However, the resulting throw-in on the far side was launched into the box by Coufal, and captain Ladislav Krejci headed home to break the deadlock and put Czechia 1-0 up.
The lead lasted less than 10 minutes, however, as Hwang In-beom, who had been brilliant in midfield with his partner Paik Seung-ho, was slipped in with a wonderful ball from Kang-in Lee, before chopping both the keeper and the defender and then dinking the ball over the line to equalize for Korea.
Just ten minutes later, the game really opened up after a lackluster first half. Czechia thought they had the lead once more when Soucek headed home from a brilliant free-kick delivery, but the celebrations were cut short when the linesman's flag was raised for offside.
3 minutes later, just on the stroke of ten minutes remaining in the game, Korea had pulled off a brilliant and deserving comeback in the game as Paik Seung-ho played through Hwang In-beom brilliantly over the top. Hwang then put the ball across the box with an equally great delivery to substitute Heongyu Oh, who slotted home from close range to put Korea 2-1 up.
Czechia went close just a couple of minutes later with an Adam Hlozek close-range shot from another long throw-in, but an unbelievable stop on the goal line by keeper Kim Seung-gyu denied the Czechs from leveling the game.
Czechia had one last chance in added time after the 90 minutes when Michal Sadilek picked up the ball in space just outside the box, but a great save again from Korea keeper Kim Seung-gyu denied him, and Korea went on to win their opening group game 2-1.
It was certainly an eventful opening day of the 2026 World Cup, with 5 goals and 3 red cards in the two games that kicked off over a month of non-stop footballing madness. Mexico currently tops the group on goal difference, sharing the same points as fellow opening day winners Korea Republic, while South Africa sits bottom of the group, tied on 0 points with Czechia.
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Group A |
Mexico 3 points +2 GD |
Korea Republic 3 points +1 GD |
Czechia 0 points -1 GD |
South Africa 0 points -2 GD |
Tomorrow, the World Cup action continues, and we'll have all the content you could possibly want as Canada and the US both open their 2026 World Cup campaigns against Bosnia and Paraguay, respectively. All the buildup and recap of the action can be found right here at Philly Sports Network and Metro Philadelphia.
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Canada |
Friday, |
BMO Field, Toronto |
Fox, Fox One, Peacock, Telemundo, Universo |
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USA |
Friday, |
SoFi Stadium, Inglewood |
Fox, Fox One, Peacock, Telemundo, Universo, Tubi |
MORE: Philly Sport's Network's World Cup Coverage
