The World Cup is officially here with Raul Jiménez's emotional performance.

The build up to the 2026 World Cup has been chock full of pitfalls. 2025’s CAF referee of the year Omar Artan’s visa was denied last minute, Iran was forced to move their base camp as the US attacks critical Iranian civilian infrastructure abroad, FIFA’s general greed reached critical mass, visas have been cancelled last minute, Iraqi star Aymen Hussein was held at O’Hare for over 7 hours, unease regarding ICE’s activity in World Cup host cities, the general sentiment around a historically unpopular president who will no doubt make the World Cup about him at some point, and on and on and on.

Gianni Infantino had some thoughts at the FIFA opening press conference this week: "We try, we'll discuss, we'll see. Maybe sometimes it's good as well to chill, relax. We work on everything, we try to resolve everything.”

The unrest extends beyond the confines of the USA as well. Yesterday’s opener in Mexico City was scared by multiple protests around the grounds. Members of Mexico’s teachers’ union have been clashing with police while demonstrating to draw attention to the country’s education funding shortfalls. Meanwhile, family members of over 1000 missing people protested to bring international attention to the country’s apathy towards cartel violence amidst the World Cup preparations. That sentiment – focusing on putting forward a cleaner image while ignoring the long term implications – is certainly shared amongst all 3 host nations. 

Ok… well… let’s talk about the games. 

Mexico 2 - 0 South Africa

The kickoff at the Azteca was exactly what this tournament needed. The hosts looked dominant in front of an incredible crowd at one of this continent’s true cathedrals of the sport. Former Club América star Julián Quiñones smashed home the opener after Fidalgo picked the pocket of South Africa CDM Sphephelo Sithole, inspiring Érik Lira’s pass into Quiñones. 

Mexico will probably regret not pouring goals past a severely outmatched South Africa. Hugo Broos morphed his side into a 5-3-2 that attempted to play through Mexico’s press. South Africa didn’t take a shot on target until Mbekezeli Mbokazi’s 45th minute hopeful effort. 

Still, South Africa could have made adjustments at halftime and countered Mexico’s aggressive positioning.

That didn’t happen, and Sithole’s 49th minute red card ensured that el trí could keep possession and play safe with the lead. 

Mexico found a second thanks to Raul Jiménez’s picture perfect run to meet Roberto Alvarado’s cross to the back post. 

Jiménez was moved to tears as he celebrated his first World Cup goal. These are the moments that make this sport special, the emotion, the lasting memory of a striker who has been such a light for the Mexican national team at times, finally having this opportunity on the biggest stage.

After that moment, South Africa would go down to 9 men after Themba Zwane’s last man foul just outside the area. 

Javier Aguirre will be rueing his side’s inability to take advantage of their position, especially if goal differential comes into play later in the group. Mexico needs to win to keep the home advantage heading into the knockout rounds, and this performance has fans worried despite the otherwise dominant play. South Africa were never in this match, but they did enough to keep Mexico from pouring goals past them, and that might be enough to frustrate the co-hosts in the long run. 

Player spotlight

Érik Lira was incredible in this one. 

Outside of the assist on Quiñones's goal, he was 5/5 on duels through the midfield and completed ⅘ long balls. If Mexico is to make it far in this tournament, it’ll be as a result of the Cruz Azul players’ control through the midfield.

Korea Republic 2 - 1 Czechia

Hueng-Min Son has been THE topic of conversation heading into the tournament. Son was last in MLS in the dreaded G - xG stat through the first half of the season and didn’t exactly ease those concerns Thursday night. Son was influential. He generated over an expected goal and created a scoring chance on his own with some savvy dribbling in transition, but despite Korea’s general dominance, it wasn’t until he left the pitch – and Czechia pulled ahead when Ladislav Krejcí rose above the mixer to beat Seung-Gyu Kim – that Korea found their stride.

This was the true chaos match of the night. 

Korea started the comeback when In-Beom Hwang received the ball at the end of a great transition, deked Matej Kovár in front of goal, and cleanly chipped it over a desperate backline. 

It was almost for nought as Czechia thought they found another go ahead goal from a set piece, but the offside flag was there to remind the Czech’s that life is cruel.

Korea took that lifeline and ran with it when In-Beom Hwang centered a ball to Son’s 69th-minute replacement, Hyun-Gyu Oh. 

Korea will take a deep breath after this close call. This team is incredibly talented, but the tactics – complete control of the ball but the attacking movements are more often direct, often underlined by a lack of patience – leave fans wondering if they have what it takes to top the group and reach their full potential in this tournament. 

Player spotlight

There are so many play makers stuffed into Korea’s starting XI, but it was the Former Vancouver Whitecaps star, In-Beom Hwang, who led Korea in touches. His 12 defensive actions — and 4 “high” defensive actions — made it difficult for Czechia to find a rhythm in possession, and his 9 progressive actions helped Korea take complete control of the midfield.

If Korea can continue to control the midfield — and actually finish what they create (A free space on the Talkin’ Soccer Bingo Card) — then they’ll continue to be a tough out.

The Republic of Korea will face Mexico in Guadalajara next Thursday for what should be the match that decides Group A. Both sides won their opener, but neither looked entirely convincing in the process. 

Do you believe either of these managers can make the necessary adjustments? My money’s on Aguirre, but Korea’s direct play against the more aggressive Mexican press we saw on Thursday could spell disaster for the co-hosts.

Alright, check back in tomorrow after Bosnia & Herzegovina takes on Canada and the USMNT finally kick off their World Cup journey against Paraguay. 

I wrote about Bosnia’s St. Louis sendoff earlier this week for St. Louis Magazine.