Published On 11/6/2026
This evening, the Mexican national team will cut the tape for the twenty-third edition of the World Cup, and it is set to set an unprecedented record in the history of the World Cup.
At ten o’clock in the evening Mecca and Doha time, the legendary Azteca Stadium will host the opening match of the World Cup between Mexico, one of the three host countries of the tournament, against South Africa.
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Mexico and South Africa match
This confrontation comes 16 years after the opening match that brought together the same two teams in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, so that the 2026 edition will witness an unprecedented event in the history of the World Cup, represented by holding an opening match in the true sense, between the same two teams from a previous tournament.
That match, which took place on June 11, 2010 at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, ended in a 1-1 draw, as Siphiwe Tshabalala opened the scoring for the hosts in the 55th minute with a powerful shot that landed in the top corner, before Rafael Marquez equalized for Mexico in the 79th minute.
The Mexican national team enters tonight’s confrontation to enhance its own record in the World Cup, as it is the team that has played the most opening matches in the history of the World Cup.
The Mexican national team is playing its eighth opening match in the World Cup, after 7 previous occasions, according to what the British newspaper “The Guardian” reported.
The Mexican national team did not achieve any victory in its previous opening matches, losing in 5 matches and drawing in two.
Results of the Mexican national team’s matches in the opening matches:
- World Cup 1930: Mexico 1-4 France.
- World Cup 1950: Brazil 4-0 Mexico.
- World Cup 1954: Brazil 5-0 Mexico.
- World Cup 1958: Mexico 0-3 Sweden.
- World Cup 1962: Brazil 2-0 Mexico.
- World Cup 1970: Mexico 0-0 Soviet Union.
- World Cup 2010: South Africa 1-1 Mexico.
Duplicate scenario
Meanwhile, The Guardian explained that Mexico was a party to the matches on the first day of some versions of the World Cup, in which the matches were held at the same time, just as happened in the 1934 World Cup when the tournament was held in a knockout system.
All 16 teams participating in the second edition of the World Cup began their matches at the same time, at 4 pm Central European Time, on May 27, 1934.
The 1962 World Cup, which Chile hosted, was the last edition to witness simultaneous opening matches, with the exception of the 1950 World Cup, in which an opening match was played.
The newspaper pointed out that the confrontation between Brazil and Mexico was the most frequent in the history of the World Cup with regard to simultaneous opening matches, in that era.
