On one side the referee kept showing red cards and on the other side Mexican players kept scoring goals.Image Credit source: Getty Images
Amidst a wait of 4 years and huge controversies, the FIFA World Cup 2026 started with a bang. Mexico, one of the three hosts of the tournament, played its first match of this World Cup and started it with a win. In this Group A match, Mexico made thousands of fans happy in their home stadium by defeating South Africa 2-0. But this match will truly be remembered because of the strictness of the referee and the indiscipline of the players because in this match, 3 players were shown red cards and were sent out.
In front of more than 85 thousand spectators at the famous Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. world cup 2026 Had a great start. Before the start of the match, an excellent opening ceremony took place, in which famous pop singer Shakira also gave her performance on the anthem of this World Cup. After this, it was the turn of the players of Mexico and South Africa to perform, which was very strange.
Mexico’s dominant victory
As expected, the entire match was dominated by Mexico, which took the lead in the 9th minute itself. Mexico’s left winger Julian Quinones scored the first goal of the World Cup 2026 on a pass from Eric Lira and got his name written in history. Even after this, Mexico remained dominant and the team made many attacks, in which it was not successful.
After a 1-0 lead in the first half, it was the same story in the second half. Finally, in the 67th minute, the team’s star striker Raul Himinez scored the second goal to give the team a 2-0 lead. This lead continued till the end and Mexico won the match 2-0. Mexico fired 16 shots on South Africa’s goal in the entire match, out of which 5 were on target.
Record of red card in the first match
But this match will be remembered more for the indiscipline of the players than these goals or Mexico’s victory. A total of 23 fouls were seen in this entire match, in which host Mexico committed 12 fouls, while South Africa committed 11 fouls. But when it came to serious fouls, the referee got angry at the South African players. The first red card in the match appeared in the 50th minute, when South African midfielder Yaya Sithole was sent off.
After this, in the 84th minute, South Africa’s Themba Zwane was shown a red card, who had entered the field only in the 60th minute. Despite the victory being certain, Mexican defender Cesar Montes was sent off in injury time (90+2 minutes). In this way, a record was created for the most number of red cards in the first match in World Cup history.
