Bafana ready to test Mexico in World Cup opener, says Broos

Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos said his side are prepared to face Mexico’s quality and home-crowd advantage in Thursday’s World Cup opener, insisting they are ready to fight for every ball against the group’s “strongest team”.

“They play good football,” Broos told reporters on Wednesday. “They have very good players, players who can decide a match. And playing in front of 85,000 people gives them a boost.”

Broos said South Africa had done detailed work on Mexico and would not be overawed by the occasion, adding that his players had also adapted to the city’s altitude after arriving early.

“Because of the altitude, we had to be here a little bit sooner,” he said. “We had 10 days, and I think 10 days is sufficient. From that side, I think we are ready.”

South Africa are in Group A with Mexico, the Czech Republic and South Korea, and Broos said the opening match could be decisive for their hopes of reaching the next round.

“In a group like this, it is very important to win your first game,” he said. “If you don’t win, you are already in a difficult position.”

For South Africa, the fixture carries its own echoes. They opened the 2010 World Cup against Mexico in Johannesburg, drawing 1-1 after Siphiwe Tshabalala scored one of the tournament’s most memorable goals.

Broos also played for Belgium at the 1986 World Cup, where they faced Mexico in the group stage and went on to finish fourth.

The hosts face South Africa on Thursday still seeking their first victory in a World Cup opening match after seven previous attempts.

Midfielder Teboho Mokoena said South Africa wanted to embrace the occasion while giving themselves the best chance of reaching the knockout stage.

“We want to be competitive and see ourselves go to the next round,” Mokoena said. “We must be here to enjoy the experience. When you go home, you must not go home with regrets.”

Mexico ready

Mexico coach Javier Aguirre knows exactly what awaits his Mexico side when they face South Africa.

Forty years and one week ago, Aguirre played all 90 minutes of host Mexico’s impressive 2-1 victory over Belgium to open El Tri’s 1986 World Cup campaign, a match decided by a 39th-minute goal from legendary Mexico striker Hugo Sanchez.

Now in his third stint as the manager of the national team he once played for, Aguirre has tried to instil a family ethos – in part because he knows what they’re about to go through will be unparalleled in the rest of their playing careers.

“There’s nothing like playing in your home country,” Aguirre said in Spanish at Wednesday’s pre-match news conference. “There are a lot of people here who were not born yet the last time we had a World Cup here, and this is what I have told to them time and again.

“I think the message has trickled down, and I have convinced them, and they have used the word family organically. So this tells me that they feel very comfortable. It’s a very strong word.”

Aguirre took over the programme again after repeated losses to the US and others in continental competitions early in the 2026 World Cup cycle, and his return has coincided with a return to continental supremacy.

El Tri swept the 2025 Concacaf Nations League and Concacaf Gold Cup titles, defeating Panama in the former final and the US in the latter.

Striker Raul Jimenez – who took years to recover his full form after a scary head injury suffered playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers in November 2020 – scored six times across four matches between the semifinals and finals of those competitions.

The hope is that those experiences give El Tri the same feeling that Aguirre said they carried onto the Estadio Azteca pitch 40 years ago.

“I remember how confident we were when we went on the field,” he recalled. “We felt that the game was not going to go wrong.”

Full circle

It’s also a full-circle moment for South Africa. When it became the first African nation to host a World Cup in 2010, South Africa opened with a 1-1 draw against Mexico in Johannesburg.

They failed to qualify for the next three World Cups before surprising much of the world by besting Nigeria in Group C of Africa’s qualifying set-up. Even so, they enter as the decided group underdogs.

“We don’t have pressure,” said Mokoena.

“The pressure is on Mexico, the host. So for us as a team, we know what is expected of us, and we know how much we’ve prepared for this game and this tournament. So, of course, we’re just looking forward to the game tomorrow.” Reuters/DM