Mexico's Julian Quinones (right) celebrating his opening goal against South Africa on Thursday. — XINHUA/VNA Photos

Anh Đức

MEXICO CITY — Co-hosts Mexico opened their World Cup journey with a 2-0 victory against South Africa on Thursday, in a fiery first game that saw three red cards.

Goals from Julian Quinones and Raul Jimenez were enough to ensure three points for the hosts. However, the talking point of the match was the three dismissals in the second half, two for South Africa and one for Mexico – only the infamous 'Battle of Nuremberg' match between Portugal and the Netherlands in 2006 has had more red cards in the 21st century.

In the cheers of more than 83,000 fans at the Azteca Stadium, the venue that saw the late Diego Maradona crowned World Champions in 1986, it was evident that the hosts had all the mentality advantages on their side.

South Africa was clumsy, forced to scramble and chase for the ball, while El Tri were fluent in their play, creating chance after chance in the opening minutes. A Puskas-worthy volley in the 4th minute from Raul Jimenez inside the box could have been the perfect start to the World Cup, but Ronwen Williams' reflexes denied Mexico's No.9.

It was 16 years ago in Johannesburg that South Africa and Mexico opened the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and in that match Siphiwe Tshabalala opened the scoring for the hosts with one of the tournament's most iconic goal and celebration.

History tends to repeat itself in the most peculiar ways, as in the 9th minute, capitalising from a dispossession near the six-yard box, the home team found their opener through Julian Quinones.

The player, who was born in Colombia and is playing for a Saudi Arabian club, fired a powerful shot into the bottom right corner of Williams' net, and celebrated with the 'Bafana Bafana' dance just as Tshabalala did in 2010 when he scored against Mexico.

Brian Gutierrez (26) dancing with the ball under tight markings of the South Africa defenders.

Javier Aguirre's team had more chances go their way later on in the first half but could not capitalise as Williams' fantastic performance repeatedly cancelled Mexico's strikers.

More advantage came Mexico's way in the second half, as in the 48th minute, a great ball found 22-year-old Brian Gutierrez in a one-on-one with Williams. South Africa's Yaya Sithole was forced to foul Gutierrez just outside the box and received a direct red card from referee Cesar Sampaio for denying a goalscoring opportunity.

Mexico got their second not long after in the 67th minute, after a great cross from Roberto Alvarado found Jimenez inside the box, and the striker playing for Fulham finished with a textbook header.

More drama continued in the final ten minutes of the match. In the 80th minute, Alvarado went down outside South Africa's box, and Sampaio was signalled by VAR to look at the monitor. Replays then showed Themba Zwane punching Alvarado in the back of his neck, and the referee showed South Africa's No.11 the red card, and South Africa were reduced to nine men.

But Mexico, while they could not further increase their lead, could not even hold on to the two-man advantage for long, after centre-back Cesar Montes' dangerous challenge on Khuliso Mudau in the second minute of added time resulted in the third red card of the match.

With this result, Mexico got the opening victory and three points to their name, but both teams are at a disadvantage in future matches, as key players are suspended. As their remaining opponents South Korea and Czech Republic are the favourites to qualify for the Round of 32, Mexico and South Africa have to weather a storm. — VNS