June 12, 2026
5 min read
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The 2026 FIFA World Cup didn't bother easing anyone in. On opening day, co-host Mexico delivered a record-setting, emotionally charged win over South Africa, and just hours later, South Korea and Czechia turned in a Group A thriller that came down to an offside review and a goal-line save in the dying seconds. If this is the tone for the next month, buckle up.
It took all of nine minutes for the tournament to get its first goal. At a packed Estadio Ciudad de México — the rebranded Azteca, with roughly 83,000 fans roaring inside — South Africa goalkeeper Ronwen Williams played a pass into midfield that Mexico promptly stole. Julián Quiñones pounced, cut inside, and slid the ball through Williams' legs for a clinical nutmeg finish that will headline World Cup highlight reels for years.
"I'm happy and excited to score my first World Cup goal, in such a spectacular stadium with amazing fans," Quiñones said afterward. "It's important for me to acknowledge what my teammates did to secure the first three points. We've felt the support of the fans these past few days. We're united, and today it really showed."
If Quiñones' goal was the highlight, Raúl Jiménez's was the heart of the match. In the 67th minute, Jiménez rose to head home Mexico's second goal — and immediately turned the Estadio Ciudad de México into a moment that had little to do with the scoreline.
Jiménez's father passed away in March, just three months before the tournament. During Mexico's Copa Oro title run last year, his father had told reporters, "We're missing a goal at the World Cup." On Thursday, his son delivered on it. Jiménez raised both hands to the sky, found his family in the stands, made a heart with his fingers, and broke down in tears — his first-ever World Cup goal after three previous tournaments without one.
It was the kind of moment that reminds you why this sport, and this tournament, hits differently.
The match wasn't all tears and tributes — it was also chaos. By the final whistle, the referee had shown a record three red cards in a World Cup opener:
South Africa finished the match with nine men, and even Mexico didn't escape unscathed. It made for a wild, stop-start affair that overshadowed the football at times — but Mexico's 2-0 scoreline never looked in serious doubt once Jiménez doubled the lead.
The second match of the day, also in Group A, needed no help generating drama. Czechia and South Korea traded body blows for 90-plus minutes in a game that swung on a single offside call.
Czechia struck first in the 59th minute, when captain Ladislav Krejčí rose to head home a perfectly delivered throw-in from Vladimír Coufal — a quietly devastating set piece that gave the World Cup debutants a 1-0 lead. South Korea answered in the 67th minute through Hwang In-beom, who slipped behind the Czech defense and finished calmly to make it 1-1.
Then came the moment that decided the match. In the 77th minute, Czechia thought they'd retaken the lead when Tomáš Souček powered home a header from a free kick — only for the goal to be ruled offside after review, wiping what would have been a 2-1 Czech lead off the board.
South Korea didn't need long to make them pay. Just two minutes later, substitute Oh Hyeon-gyu — on for Son Heung-min, who had fired six shots without finding the net — ran onto a Hwang In-beom cross and finished left-footed for what proved to be the winner, confirmed after a brief VAR check.
It still wasn't over. In the 93rd minute, South Korean goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu flung himself to his right for a diving save to preserve the 2-1 lead and seal South Korea's opening victory.
One day into the tournament, and Group A is already fascinating. Mexico looks like a co-host with both the talent and the emotional fuel to make a deep run — Jiménez's story alone could carry a narrative all the way to the knockout rounds, assuming his body holds up after a 2-0 statement win laced with controversy. South Africa, meanwhile, will need to regroup fast; finishing with two men sent off is not how Bafana Bafana wanted to open their World Cup.
For South Korea, surviving a Czech side that pushed them to the final whistle — and to VAR — is the kind of gritty, unglamorous win that often matters most in the group stage. Czechia, in their first World Cup appearance in over two decades, will be left wondering "what if" about that 77th-minute offside call, but they showed enough in attack to be a threat to anyone left in the group.
One day down, dozens to go — and the World Cup has already delivered tears, records, and a finish that needed a goal-line save to settle. Strap in.