Published on 6/19/2026
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Last update: 08:54 (Mecca time)
The Mexican national team became the first to qualify for the second round of the 2026 World Cup, after achieving a valuable victory over South Korea with an unanswered goal on Thursday evening, ensuring passage to the knockout rounds of the tournament.
The only goal of the match came after a fatal error by South Korean goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu, which gave Luis Romo the opportunity to score, giving El Tre a difficult victory in a confrontation that witnessed great excitement at the Guadalajara Stadium.
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New numbers
The Mexican national team achieved three consecutive victories in the World Cup for the first time: its final match in the 2022 tournament against Saudi Arabia, and then the opening two matches of the 2026 edition against South Africa and South Korea.
For the first time in the history of the World Cup, the Mexican national team has become the first team to qualify for the knockout rounds. It has qualified from the group stage in eight of its last nine participations in the tournament, and has only failed in the 2022 World Cup.
superior to Asians
Mexico has won all six of its matches against Asian teams in World Cup tournaments, however, this is only the second time it has kept a clean sheet against these teams, both at home, after a 1-0 win over Iraq in 1986.
Luis Romo became the second-oldest Mexican player to score a goal on his World Cup debut, at the age of 31 years and 13 days, bettered only by Ricardo Pelaez, who also scored against South Korea in 1998 at the age of 35 years and 91 days.
Three of the last four times Mexico scored the first goal in a World Cup match were against Asian teams. In addition to today’s match, it happened against Saudi Arabia in 2022 and South Korea in 2018.
Clean windows
Raul Rangel is the second Mexico goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in his first two World Cup matches, after Guillermo Ochoa in 2014.
This is the 13th time in a row that the Mexican national team has finished the first half of a World Cup match without conceding a goal. The last time it conceded a goal was in the 2010 World Cup, during its 3-1 loss to Argentina.
Javier Aguirre is the first CONCACAF coach to officiate 10 World Cup matches, with four matches in 2002, four matches in 2010, and two matches so far in 2026.
City of goals
This is the 19th World Cup match to be held in Guadalajara, with at least one goal scored in each match, the most World Cup matches played in a city that has never played to a scoreless draw, surpassing Montevideo (18 matches).
According to the Opta network, the South Korean team had 58% possession of the ball against Mexico and 61% against the Czechs. This is the second time since 1966 that the Asian team has achieved a possession rate of no less than 55% in its first two matches in the World Cup (also in the 2002 World Cup).
