Baku, June 12, AZERTAC Mexico secured a comfortable 2-0 victory over South Africa on Thursday in the opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.Julian Quiñones scored the first goal of the tournament in the 10th minute to give Mexico an early lead. Mexico dominated the remainder of the first half, registering 10 shots, including two on target, while South Africa struggled to create scoring opportunities.South Africa's Teboho Mokoena received the first yellow card of the tournament, followed shortly by Mexico's Brian Gutierrez.Early in the second half, South African defender Yaya Sithole was sent off for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity to Gutierrez, reducing Bafana Bafana to 10 men.Sithole's dismissal was the first red card in a World Cup opening match since Bolivia's Marco Etcheverry was sent off against Germany in 1994.Substituted on in the 66th minute, Gilberto Mora, aged 17 years and 239 days, became the youngest player ever to represent Mexico at a FIFA World Cup.Mexico doubled its advantage a minute later when veteran striker Raul Jimenez headed home in the 67th minute.South Africa finished the match with nine players after Themba Zwane was shown a red card for violent conduct in the 85th minute. It marked the first time since the Portugal-Netherlands Round of 16 match at the 2006 World Cup that a team had two players sent off in a single World Cup game.Mexico's Cesar Montes was also shown a straight red card late in the match for denying South Africa's Khuliso Mudau a goalscoring opportunity, leaving Mexico with 10 players.Following the victory, Mexico moved to the top of Group A, while South Africa remained at the bottom of the standings.