The 2026 World Cup kicks off in Mexico City | OneFootball

The 2026 World Cup kicks off in Mexico City tonight when one of the North American co-hosts, Mexico take on South Africa after the opening ceremony.

Sixteen years ago, it was South Africa hosting El Tri in Johannesburg, treated to that unforgettable Siphiwe Tshabalala thunderbolt before a late equaliser from Rafael Márquez — who happens to be back on the bench today as assistant to Javier Aguirre. This time, the intimidating, high-altitude cauldron of the Estadio Azteca plays host, giving Mexico a colossal home advantage.

World Cup openers are notoriously cagey, tense affairs where the fear of losing the opening match overrides the desire to stream forward. However, the combination of a partisan capacity crowd and the brutal Mexico City altitude should slowly choke out South Africa's pressing game in the second half.

Team News & Tactics

Expect Mexico to use the wide areas aggressively, overlapping full-backs to stretch the South African shape while using their familiarity with the 2,200-metre altitude to wear the visitors down.

South Africa: Hugo Broos has constructed an incredibly resilient Bafana Bafana side built on collective cohesion rather than individual superstars. They will likely set up in a compact 4-2-3-1 deep block, looking to survive the early emotional onslaught from the home crowd.

Left-back Aubrey Modiba has shrugged off a hamstring issue to start, and Premier League-experienced forward Lyle Foster will act as the crucial focal point upfront, tasked with holding up the ball to trigger quick counter-attacks via wide-man Oswin Appollis.

Thursday 11 June 2026

20:00 Mexico v South Africa in Group A — ITV 1

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Brad Freidel has just said something about the altitude on TalkSport. Basically, if you're not conditioned to handle it, you're totally screwed. You'll never be able to get through it.

John Collins 2 Posted 11/06/2026 at 16:25:56

There are no right backs, who would improve EFC, available in world football we are informed on here.

Our first chance to look at the right backs playing in the WC tonight.

Andrew Ellams 4 Posted 11/06/2026 at 17:02:41

Jason @ 1. The altitude saw quite a few players off in 1986 in Mexico.

On the other hand, as the air is thinner up there we saw some cracking long range goals.