South Africa’s return to the FIFA World Cup ended in disappointment as Bafana Bafana suffered a 2-0 defeat to hosts Mexico at the Estadio Azteca.

Goals from Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez gave Mexico a historic victory in the opening match of the expanded 48-team tournament. While South Africa showed moments of determination, several factors contributed to their downfall.

Here are three reasons why Hugo Broos’ side lost their opening game.

1. Playing the Host Nation Was Always Going to Be Difficult

Facing the host country in a World Cup opener is one of the toughest challenges in football. Mexico had the advantage of playing in front of a passionate home crowd at the famous Estadio Azteca, with thousands of supporters cheering every attack and creating a hostile atmosphere for the visitors.

South Africa struggled to settle into the game as the crowd constantly backed Mexico and piled pressure on Bafana Bafana. The hosts fed off the energy from the stands and quickly took control of the contest.

2. South Africa Started the Match With Too Much Fear

The approach taken by coach Hugo Broos raised questions from the start. South Africa lined up in a defensive 5-3-2 formation, showing respect for Mexico but perhaps too much respect.

Rather than trying to impose themselves on the game, Bafana Bafana sat deep and allowed Mexico to dominate possession. The plan backfired when a defensive mistake gifted Quiñones the opening goal after only nine minutes.

Conceding so early destroyed South Africa’s game plan and forced them to chase a match they never looked capable of controlling.

3. The Red Card Made a Bad Situation Worse

South Africa were already struggling before Yaya Sithole was sent off in the 49th minute after bringing down a Mexican player as the last defender.

Playing with ten men against the hosts was always going to be a huge task. Mexico took advantage of the extra space and eventually doubled their lead through Raúl Jiménez.

Things became even worse when Themba Zwane received a second red card late in the game, leaving South Africa with only nine players. A team that entered the match cautiously was always likely to suffer after losing players.

In truth, the 2-0 scoreline was probably kind to Bafana Bafana. Mexico hit the woodwork and created several other chances that could have made the defeat much heavier.

Final Thoughts

Mexico deserved their victory and made history by winning a World Cup opening match for the first time. Quiñones’ early goal set the tone for the evening, while South Africa’s defensive mistakes, cautious approach and disciplinary problems combined to hand the hosts a comfortable win.

If Bafana Bafana are to progress in the tournament, they must play with greater confidence and avoid the costly errors that ruined their World Cup opener.

The first of 104 World Cup matches was won by the country that hosted the start of the tournament.

Mexico took down South Africa, 2-0, in Mexico City after Estadio Azteca played host to the World Cup opening ceremonies.

Mexico was the better team from the jump, scoring in the ninth minute after already having two corner kicks.

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Raul Jimenez celebrates with teammates after scoring Mexico’s second goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group A match against South Africa at Mexico City Stadium on June 11, 2026. (Hector Vivas/FIFA via Getty Images)

A pass from South Africa’s goalie got away from a teammate and was picked off by Erik Lira. The ball was then taken by Julián Quiñones, who took just one dribble toward the middle of the field and ripped a right-footed shot into the net, putting the crowd into a frenzy.

Hopes of a South African comeback took a hit when Yaya Sithole was given a red card in the 50th minute for bringing Mexico’s Brian Gutiérrez on what would have been a breakaway.

From then on, South Africa was playing with 10 men, making it an even larger mountain to climb.

Mexico players applaud fans during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group A match between Mexico and South Africa at Mexico City Stadium in Mexico City on June 11, 2026. (Angel Delgado/Getty Images)

MEXICO SCORES FIRST GOAL OF 2026 WORLD CUP ON HOME TURF AFTER EMOTIONAL NATIONAL ANTHEM IN OPENING CEREMONY

The dagger came in the 67th minute, when Raúl Jiménez scored a header on a perfect cross from Roberto Alvarado, making it a 2-0 game. Playing in his fourth World Cup, it was Jiménez’s first goal in tournament history, and he could not help but let out his emotions.

South Africa was hit with one more red card in the 84th minute, and Mexico was given one in the 92nd minute. South Africa’s Sithole and Themba Zwane, as well as Mexico’s César Montes, will each miss their next games against Czechia in Atlanta and Korea in Guadalajara, respectively.

In World Cup history, Mexico has now won 15 of the 23 matches in which it has scored first, drawing five and losing three.

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Estadio Azteca, renamed Mexico City Stadium for the tournament, held the tournament’s opening ceremonies, during which all 48 competing countries were represented. FIFA President Gianni Infantino was in the building with the FIFA World Cup Trophy.

Mexico’s forward Julian Quinones celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the 2026 World Cup Group A match against South Africa at Mexico City Stadium in Mexico City on June 11, 2026. (Rodrigo Oropeza/AFP via Getty Images)

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Mexico is coming off a disappointing trip to Qatar, as it was the first time since 1978 that it competed in a World Cup and did not make it to the knockout stage. Aside from its ban in 1990 and not qualifying in 1982, it had made it past the group stage in nine straight World Cups it played in.

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Ask Vikings coach Matt Daniels and there’s not much of an issue with Brett Thorson holding. Or, at least, with catching the snap from the long snapper.

The talented rookie punter is the underdog in his competition against veteran Johnny Hekker, who received a single-season deal worth $1.262 million on the cap (OTC). Every penny will stick around as dead money if he gets cut.

Still, Thorson was brought to town for a reason. He boasts a booming punt, capable of offering his team healthy field position. Thorson is operating under a UDFA contract that sees just $90,000 guaranteed. In other words, cutting him won’t be any hindrance to the cap if things don’t work out.

What’s working in his favor, though, is his youth, upside, and capacity to settle in as a holder.

Vikings Coach Matt Daniels Believes Rookie Punter Can Hold

Gone are the days of Tony Romo – and, more accurately, the currently playing QBs – holding the ball for PAT and FG. Rather, the job responsibility has shifted to the punter, the specialist who spends his days working with the other specialists. Giving him the added workload makes all the sense in the world.

Per Daniels, the Kirby Smart approach of not leaning on his punter is derivative of the Bill Parcells approach. Once upon a time, Mike Zimmer was the head coach of the Vikings. Notably, he’s a Parcells disciple. Every so often, Zimmer would make headlines for his comments on kickers. Did he ever oversimplify the kicking/holding operation?

More pertinent for right now: can Thorson overcome his inexperience as a holder to secure the P1 spot in 2026?

Check out what Matt Daniels had to say: “Obviously, coming out of Georgia, Kirby is really from a Parcells tree […] where the quarterbacks are the holders.” Not long afterwards, Coach Daniels noted Thorson’s “great hands” before describing that the focus is on placing the ball down cleanly and at the correct angle for Will Reichard.

Therein lies the key, folks: working in a way that makes Reichard comfortable.

Earlier in the same presser, Coach Daniels described how Reichard keeps “chasing” perfection. Doing so means adjusting his mechanics in an effort to drill the football perfectly straight rather than last year’s approach, one involving a “little baby draw.”

Any punter who can’t allow Reichard to thrive isn’t going to be employed by the Minnesota Vikings.

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“I watched over 300 snaps of this guy at practice and there’s no issue with the holding,” Daniels went on to say of Thorson.

Last year, Oscar Chapman competed with Ryan Wright to be the team’s starting punter. In all likelihood, Mr. Wright — somebody who offered an exclusive for VT — would have won the job no matter what, but Chapman appeared to bobble the ball at one point. That didn’t help, folks.

At this stage, Johnny Hekker appears to be a 99.9% certainty to handle the snap from long snapper Andrew DePaola cleanly. He is, like all of us, human, meaning he’ll make mistakes. What he nevertheless offers is a high degree of consistency. At no point will he be nervous about catching a heater from DePaola.

Brett Thorson has a longer runway in the NFL since he’s still a young fella. Quite possibly, he’ll be able to punt the ball for greater distance while offering better hang time, too. But then there’s the other aspect of the job: holding. That small does detail matters.

Put bluntly, the Vikings cannot chase upside at punter at the risk of undermining elite play from Reichard.

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Matt Daniels has a few months before needing to make a final call. The punter battle will get rolling in late July when the Vikings return for training camp.

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Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

Mexico ignited their FIFA World Cup 2026 party with a dominant 2-0 victory over nine-man South Africa on Thursday as the biggest ever edition of the global footballing showpiece kicked off at the iconic Estadio Azteca. Julian Quinones scored the opening goal of the tournament and veteran striker Raul Jimenez added a second as the co-hosts’ bid for qualification from Group A got off to smooth start. The match saw a total of three cards too; South Africa received two, finishing with only nine men after Sphephelo Sithole and Themba Zwane were sent off, while Mexico’s Cesar Montes also saw red in stoppage time. For the first time in FIFA World Cup history, three red cards were shown in the opening match of a World Cup.

The Mexican-colored red, green and white smoke from pre-game fireworks had barely dissipated before Quinones fired the hosts into the lead on nine minutes, drilling a low shot through the legs of South Africa’s goalkeeper and captain Ronwen Williams.

A deafening roar cascaded down from the stands of the Azteca, the footballing cathedral that became the only stadium to host games at three different World Cups.

South Africa coach Hugo Broos had warned his players to be ready for the intimidating atmosphere created by a capacity 80,824 crowd at the imposing concrete arena.

But South Africa’s players looked to have a bad case of stage fright as Mexico’s fans  greeted each completed pass with a raucous chorus of “Ole!” in the opening minutes.

Sithole seemed particularly affected, being caught in possession trying to play out of the back for Quinones’ opening goal.

Sithole’s miserable afternoon ended with a 49th minute dismissal after bundling over Mexico’s Brian Gutierrez when clean through on goal.

Mexico rammed home their advantage in the 67th minute, with a fine counter attack culminating in Roberto Alvarado crossing for Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Jimenez to nod home at the far post.

It got worse for South Africa in the 84th minute when Zwane was dismissed after a VAR review for flinging an arm into the face of Alvarado.

There was still time for late drama when Mexican defender Cesar Montes was shown a red card for a clumsy challenge on Khulisa Mudau on the edge of the penalty area.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Phil Mickelson has been accused of “inappropriate contact” with a female golf-club employee, according to a report from Golf Digest.

The publication reported Thursday that Mickelson’s membership from The Farms Golf Club in San Diego was revoked after a female staffer accused him of “nonconsensual and inappropriate physical contact” with her earlier this year. According to the report, which cites multiple sources with knowledge of the matter, Mickelson approached and made contact with the employee before he set out for a round of golf. The report says the employee rejected Mickelson’s advances and reported the incident to management.

According to Golf Digest‘s sources, the club immediately reviewed the incident and confronted Mickelson mid-round with the allegations. Mickelson was then asked to leave the property, which he did before the end of his round.

Mickelson, who is currently on leave from pro golf for a personal matter, declined to comment directly to Golf Digest, but a Mickelson spokesperson offered a brief statement about the alleged incident:

“Any misunderstanding has been cleared up. Phil continues to attend to a family health matter and is uncertain when he will be able to return to professional golf.”

Mickelson’s manager did not immediately respond to a text from GOLF.com seeking further comment.

In a statement to Golf Digest, The Farms confirmed that a member had been removed following an incident involving an employee but did not say whether the member was Mickelson. The statement read:

“The Farms Golf Club is committed to maintaining a golf club environment that is safe, respectful and reflects the highest standards of conduct. All members are required to adhere to our Code of Conduct, and any allegations of misconduct are taken seriously. Following a staff member report of member misconduct, the Club provided immediate and ongoing support to the staff member, conducted a thorough independent investigation of the incident and took decisive action. This individual is no longer a member of The Farms Golf Club.”

Mickelson missed the start of the LIV Golf season to tend to his personal issue. He returned for LIV’s South Africa event in March before announcing that he would be out for an extended period of time as he navigates a “family health matter.”

Mickelson, who is 55, sat out both the Masters and the PGA Championship this year. It was only the second time that Mickelson did not tee it up at Augusta National since 1995. Mickelson also missed the 2022 Masters after he made controversial comments about LIV Golf’s Saudi financiers.

Canelo Alvarez will make his ring return in September as he attempts to regain the WBC super-middleweight world title against Christian Mbilli, and boxing icon Roy Jones Jr has explained what he believes will prove to be pivotal in the outcome of the fight.

Alvarez suffered an injury when he lost his undisputed throne to Terence Crawford back in September and was left sidelined when all four titles were reassigned, due to Crawford’s retirement and subsequent relinquishment.

However, following a successful elbow surgery, Alvarez will jump back into an immediate title shot against Mbilli, who was elevated to full WBC world champion after defending the interim belt against Lester Martinez on the Canelo-Crawford undercard.

Whilst Canelo is undeniably a legend of the super-middleweight scene, the 35-year-old has shown signs of fading in recent outings, leaving fans questioning whether he still has what it takes to re-establish himself as the best 168lber on the planet.

Speaking with Boxing News, Jones Jr said that the bout against Mbilli will come down to how much hunger the Mexican has left, declaring that Canelo, at his optimum, will be too much for the best version of the new champion.

“That is a good fight to look at. I like Mbilli, but Canelo is still better than what people give him credit for, so I ain’t going to say that Mbilli is going to beat him.

“I know that Mbilli is a good fighter, but I haven’t seen Mbilli really prove himself [at the elite level] yet. I have seen what Canelo can do, so a hungry Canelo will beat Mbilli, but if he ain’t hungry, then Mbilli is gonna beat him.

“If he is hungry enough, he will win the fight, it all depends on what Canelo’s hunger level is.

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Alvarez vs. Mbill takes place on Saturday, September 12, topping a ‘Mexico vs. The World’ bill which takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

South Africa’s campaign at the World Cup 2026 got off to the worst possible start as they were beaten by co-hosts Mexico and ended the match with nine men following two straight red cards.

Both came in the second half with Bafana Bafana already losing 1-0 thanks to Julian Quinones’ goal in the eight minute of the game. Sphephelo ‘Yaya’ Sithole was the first player to be dismissed after catching Brian Gutierrez on the edge of the South African penalty area and denying a goal scoring opportunity.

That decision was a clear one but the second red card, which came in the 84th minute, was more controversial.

As Mexico looked to work their way into the box from the left wing, South Africa’s Themba Zwane got into a grappling contest with Roberto Alvarado. Zwane came round the back of the Mexican and forced his left arm into the face of Alvarado who went to ground clutching his head.

Referee Wilton Sampaio was called over to the pitchside monitor by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) and asked to look at replays of the incident.

He saw a slap from Zwane, which became clearer from the referee’s body cam footage later, and decided that the South African deserved a red card for violent conduct.

This was the first time a team had received two red cards in a World Cup match since Portugal and Netherlands both had two players dismissed against each other in the 2006 round of 16.

“I think the decision is extremely harsh,” claimed Ally McCoist on ITV’s coverage of the game with the commentator describing Zwane’s movement as natural from the position he was in.

In the US coverage of the game, former USMNT star Landon Donovan had a similar outlook and said: “That’s a harsh red card, I can’t see that being a red card.”

However, that wasn’t the final moment of controversy as Mexico found themselves reduced to 10-men in the dying stages of the match.

Left-back Cesar Montes cynically stopped a darting run from Khuliso Mudau as he attempted to drive into the penalty area from the right. Montes stuck out a leg and brough Mudau to ground and was amazed as the referee pulled out a third straight red card of the game.

ITV’s American rules analyst and VAR expert, Christina Unkel, explained that there wasn’t clear evidence for VAR to decide that the referee had made a mistake and, as such, Montes was dismissed for denying a goalscoring opportunity.

This was the seventh time there have been three or more red cards in a World Cup game and the first time in an opener.

All three players, Sithole, Zwane and Montes will now miss their nation’s next match but Fifa holds the right to extend the ban or add any other sanctions to the ban if they deem necessary.

That means that Sithole and Zwane will miss the next match against Czechia on June 18 and Montes will be unavailable for Mexico’s game against South Korea on June 19.