Mexico Beats South Africa 2-0 in Opening Match at Mexico City Stadium

The commentators opened the broadcast at Mexico City Stadium, which was presented as the opener of the first ever 48-team World Cup. They described Mexico as the favourites, ranked 14th in the world, against South Africa, who were ranked 60th in the FIFA World Rankings.

The commentary noted that the stadium had been reimagined after a fresh coat of paint and that the atmosphere would be a major part of the occasion. Mexico were expected to take the initiative, with six of the starting players from the same team at home and several having played together before.

Former England left-back Andy Hinchcliffe, watching alongside the commentators, said the atmosphere was the best he had experienced as a commentator, and he hoped both teams could handle the pressure of the occasion. He expected South Africa, set up by coach Hugo Broos in a back five, to sit deep and absorb Mexico's pressure before breaking forward on the counter-attack.

The commentators noted that South Africa had limited time to acclimatise to the altitude of Mexico City, though they had trained at the stadium the previous day. Mexico dominated the ball early in the match.

Mexico scored the opening goal after nine minutes. The commentators described a well-worked move that started with Jimenez, who played the ball wide, pulled up on the overlap, and received a cross into the box. Jimenez then struck a decent shot that was saved, before the rebound was sent away and Mexico were eventually able to score.

The commentators said the goal came from South Africa's poor forward pass from the goalkeeper, which handed Mexico the turnover. The goal was described as the earliest first goal of a World Cup since 2006.

After Mexico's opening goal, the commentators said South Africa's coach Hugo Broos would be disappointed by the basic errors that gave away the goal, not by the formation chosen. They said poor passing into midfield, with midfielders not ready to receive the ball, had cost the team, and that the players needed to clear their heads to avoid going two goals down quickly.

The commentators noted that Broos has been in charge since 2021 and will retire after this World Cup, making him the longest-serving head coach of South Africa since Clive Barker in the 1990s. Mexico had not lost a competitive match at this stadium since beating Honduras there in 2013.

The commentators reported that Broos had said in his press conference the day before that the 80,000 Mexican fans in the stadium did not play, they only sang and shouted. The commentators said that it was natural for his side to feel the heat and pressure of the home crowd.

Shortly after, Mexico's goal came when Gutierrez struck from range. The commentators said the opportunity had come from the press and a poor forward pass by the goalkeeper, and noted that the strike went through the keeper's legs.

The commentators said South Africa's World Cup record was a major problem: they had conceded the first goal in a World Cup game, had never won a World Cup match, and had lost 60% of their games. They noted that South Africa had hosted the 2010 tournament, where they lost 2-1 to Mexico after Shalala's goal in the opener.

The commentators described the team's recent defensive lapses and suggested the match would be tough to claw back.

The commentators confirmed that a Mexico goal from a set play was good, and described the scorer being smothered by his teammates as the fans celebrated loudly. The commentators noted that over 80,000 people were inside the stadium and that the day was extremely warm and sunny.

The first hydration break fell at about the midpoint of the first half, which the commentators said happens in every match at the tournament.

The commentators said the next day marked exactly 60 years since Mexico's first game at the stadium, a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, with the goal scored by Scottish international Alan Gilzean. America had played their first game there 14 days later, against Torino of Italy.

The commentators described the stadium as the setting of many famous moments over the years, including goals associated with Pelé and Maradona.

The commentators noted that South Africa had not recorded an attempt on goal in the first 30 minutes of the match. They qualified that their sample size of nine World Cup games was small, but described it as the first time South Africa had failed to do so in the opening 30 minutes of a World Cup match.

By that point South Africa had only two attempts on target so far in the match, and the commentators said the team would have to be clinical when its chances came.

The commentators described an intelligent ball that found Jimenez's movement behind the defence. They raised the question of whether he had been offside, but noted that defenders were watching the ball rather than the runner. The commentators said that the defenders' failure to track the run was the cause of the problem, and the goal came after a firmer contact on the ball.

The commentators also said that Mexico's goal had come from a powerful strike that went past the goalkeeper, and that South Africa's passes had let the forward runs happen.

The commentators said Broos would be relatively pleased to be only one goal down after conceding such an early goal. They expected him to ask more from his players to raise the tempo and the quality, and to get the all-important second goal.

At the end of the first half, the commentators also praised the defensive work of Alvarado, who made two defensive recoveries and then tracked back to act as a defender.

Andy, speaking alongside the commentators, said South Africa would have to take a few more chances. He said they also had to stay defensively strong and could not afford to concede a second goal, which he felt they should have prevented in the first half. Mexico had missed good chances in the first half and still had opportunities to add to their lead.

The commentators said South Africa were again guilty of poor play in possession, which gave Mexico chances to strike, and that Mexico's press was high up the pitch to win the ball back.

Mexico had a free kick about six yards further back than expected, placing Jimenez in front of a large defensive wall. The commentators said this made the free kick too close to the target. They explained that it is very difficult to get the ball up and over a big wall from that range, which is why Jimenez chose power, and that is why he did not score.

The commentators also noted that a third of Jimenez's international goals had come from the penalty spot, and that he had scored 12 goals in his last 20 caps.

The commentators described South Africa as repeatedly losing the ball in their own defensive third, committing fouls and piling pressure on themselves. They said Mexico were dominating the game with eleven men against eleven and creating chances, but had not yet scored the key second goal.

The commentators said that Mexico would need to step on the gas and take the game away from South Africa, even with the extra man following later dismissals.

Mexico's head coach Hugo Bruce spoke about the pressure of the tournament in his press conference. The commentators reported his view that a team that does not win its first game is under extreme pressure for the remainder of the competition. Three points from the opener would give the team a base to build on.

The commentators noted the match was expected to be one-sided by the end, with Mexico looking to win by a comfortable margin.

The commentators said Bruce's first rodeo at the World Cup had come as Mexico's assistant coach under Miguel Mejía Barón at USA 94, when Mexico faced Bulgaria in round two and lost on penalties. This was his third spell as Mexico's coach.

After South Africa were reduced to ten men, the commentators said they would switch to a back four and throw everything forward to try to get a goal back. They said the attempt looked unlikely to succeed, with only one attempt on goal recorded since the earlier chance and an expected-goals figure of 0.02 for the team's chances.

The commentators also said the stadium had been described as a full house at maximum capacity, with around 83,000 people in attendance.

The referee first gave a foul, then reviewed the incident with VAR and sent off South Africa's Alvarado, who was shown a red card for raising his arm into an opponent's face. The commentators said that once a player raises an arm or hand into an opponent's face, they are in trouble, regardless of intent.

The commentators said losing another player to suspension would make things tricky for South Africa for the rest of the tournament. They noted that Alvarado, 36, had struggled with injuries over the last 18 months and that the sending-off might end his tournament.

Mexico's Montes was sent off after a last-ditch challenge in the penalty area, in which he took out the opposing attacker rather than playing the ball. The referee read the incident as a denied goal-scoring opportunity, which counts as a red card offence.

The commentators said the decision was fair, that the two red cards looked similar in nature, and that the sending-off came with only a few minutes of added time remaining. The match was now 9 versus 10.

Mexico held on to win 2-0 and take all three points in the opening game. The commentators noted that Reyes had been moved into a central defensive position, an area that was not foreign to him, and that Alvarado had moved to fullback. They said versatility like this was valuable to coaches.

The commentators said the three points would take Mexico a long way towards the knockout stage.