For all the strife, greed, grift and grandstanding that has pockmarked the build-up to this tournament, for all the claims of betrayal and desecration its troubled cradling has provoked, the 2026 World Cup began with a blessing in the Azteca Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
All the controversy was swept away for a little while as the tournament dawned in a magnificent cathedral of football that has witnessed some of the World Cup’s most beautiful moments and provided the stage for some of its greatest heroes.
As Mexico and South Africa took to the pitch here just before 1pm, it was impossible not to stare down at that hallowed expanse of turf and imagine Pele standing on the edge of the area and playing the most exquisite simple square pass that has ever been played and Carlos Alberto running on to it and smashing it into the goal.
That was Brazil’s fourth goal in the 1970 World Cup final against Italy here, the greatest goal that has ever been scored. It was impossible, too, not to imagine Diego Maradona receiving the ball in the centre circle late in the 1986 final against West Germany and playing a brilliant first-time ball to set Jorge Burruchaga free for the winning goal.
It was here, too, where Maradona scored his infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal against England 40 years ago and so it was here where he scored the greatest individual goal in World Cup history when he dribbled past most of the England team before poking his shot past Peter Shilton.
The ghosts of those games whose magic is stamped on our memories were here to give their benediction to this World Cup of 48 teams and 104 matches and to begin the process of sluicing away the discontent that has preceded it.
Raul Jimenez scored emotional second goal for Mexico in their 2-0 win over South Africa in the opening match of the World Cup
Jimenez, 35, scored at the World Cup for the first time to cap an incredible career that has seen the forward battle back from suffering a career-threatening fractured skull
The forward’s effort helped turn the opening match into a party atmosphere at the Azteca
And if some had feared this match would be the beginning of a long lament stretching all the way to the final at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19th, Mexico had other ideas. They turned the lament into an uproarious party, a joyous manifestation of the emotions the game can unleash and the stories it tells.
This was a game of three red cards but that was not the story. This story was Raul Jimenez’s to tell. It is six years since Jimenez fractured his skull in a game for Wolverhampton Wanderers against Arsenal, an injury many feared he would never return from. But he did return and this is his fourth World Cup. But Jimenez had never scored a goal at the tournament and then at the Azteca, at the age of 35, in the opening game of a home World Cup, Jimenez put all that right with the header that made the game safe for Mexico.
And, if sometimes in the past months, some have regarded this tournament as something to dread, here in the Azteca, it felt as if there were, at last, a celebration. It was a celebration of fervour and of Mexico’s national pride and it was a celebration of the joy of football beyond the reach of bureaucrats.
This is the Mother Stadium of the modern World Cup, the only arena to have hosted the opening game three times and a place that creates legends and bestows a kind of immortality on those who excel here. Jimenez has his place in its history, too, now.
The place was alive with energy and anticipation for hours before kick-off. Fans carried cans of Corona up the wide, winding walkways that feel as if they are climbing to the skies. Food-sellers worked the concourses selling chimichangas and tacos. Before kick-off, the crowd flung thousands of paper sombreros down from their seats and they rained like confetti.
Mexico City is 7350ft above sea level and by the time you get to the top tier, you have added considerably to that total. The aisles that climb between the seats are so steep they make your head swim.
The Opening Ceremony, 90 minutes before the start, built the atmosphere even more and in the seconds before the start, the smell of cordite filled the air and the Mexican air-force performed a fly-past. The stadium was at fever pitch.
A great roar from the stands, where the steps are so steep they make your head swim and the altitude clutches at your chest, marked the moment that Jimenez, who has returned to Wolves from Fulham, took the first touch of this World Cup from the kick-off.
Mexico opened the scoring at the historic World Cup venue through Julian Quinones
Quinones had capitalised after Mexico won back possession on the edge of South Africa’s box
South Africa’s task became harder following a clumsy foul by Sphephelo Sithole in the second half
Sithole became the first player to be sent off in the World Cup’s opening match since 1994
The noise had barely subsided when Israel Reyes crossed for Jimenez who was unmarked 10 yards out. His shot was well-saved by Ronwen Williams but it was only a short reprieve for South Africa.
South Africa tried to play the ball out from the back but Mexico midfielder Erik Lira was on the defender in a flash and forced him into a mistake. Julian Quinones pounced on it. His fierce shot went through the legs of Williams and crashed into the back of the net. Another roar. Great showers of beer flew through the air.
It was a wonderful moment. Mexico and 80,824 fans celebrated as if they had won the World Cup. For hosts, there is a sense of catharsis when they score in the opening game of the tournament. It is a privilege to be one of the hosts but it brings great pressure and expectation, too.
I was at Soccer City in Soweto for the opening game of the 2010 World Cup 16 years ago, also between these two sides, when Siphiwe Tshabalala scored a spectacular opening goal for South Africa and joy and relief were unconfined then as well.
Gradually, the frantic pace of the game slowed. Clouds began to mass above the stadium ahead of a storm predicted for late afternoon and the atmosphere dulled a little. South Africa seemed to be coming back into the game but then Mexico nearly added to their lead.
Jimenez had a curling shot saved by Williams and a minute later the ball broke to Quinones 12 yards out. He sidefooted a precise shot past Williams but it cannoned off the foot of a post and bounced away to safety.
Quinones was full of confidence. He tried to chip Williams from just inside the half-way line early in the second half. He and his teammates looked accomplished and assured. Thomas Tuchel and his England players will have been watching closely. If Mexico win their group and England win theirs and both teams win their Round of 32 games, they will meet here at the Azteca at the beginning of July.
Themba Zwane was then sent off for an apparent act of violent conduct in the closing stages
Mexico’s Cesar Montes became the third player dismissed for denying Khuliso Mudau a goalscoring opportunity
Mexico nearly doubled their lead five minutes after the interval. Bryan Gutierrez raced clear. As he got to the edge of the area, he cut across his pursuer, Sphephelo Sithole and Sithole brought him down. Referee Wilton Sampaio showed him a red card. It was the only choice. Jimenez slammed the free-kick into the wall.
Sithole’s punishment was the first red card brandished in a World Cup opening match since Marco Etchverry for Bolivia against Germany in 1994. The opening game dismissal that lives longer in the memory is that of Benjamin Massing of Cameroon, who cleaned out Argentina’s Claudio Caniggia in the first match of Italia 90.
South Africa wilted. The crowd were energised anew by the arrival of Mexico wonderkid Gilberto Mora from the bench. Seconds after he came on, Roberto Alvarado swung over a cross from the right and Jimenez powered a thumping header past Williams as he met it at the back post to put Mexico 2-0 up. Jimenez turned away, tears running down his face.
Themba Zwane was shown a red card late in the game to reduce South Africa to nine men. Even later, Mexico’s Cesar Montes was also shown a straight red for a brutal foul that denied a goalscoring opportunity. But this day was not about red cards or shame. This was about tears of joy and the first glimpse of a tournament redeemed.
