Mexico opened the World Cup in style on Thursday with a dominant 2-0 win over South Africa in front of a boisterous home crowd at Azteca Stadium.
On Friday, the U.S. and Canada both get their opportunity for a fast start in front of their respective home countries.
Julián Quiñones scored the first goal of the World Cup in the ninth minute, booting a cross through the legs of South Africa goalkeeper Ronwen Williams. El Tri made it 2-0 midway through the second
half when veteran Raúl Jiménez delivered a header that found the back of the net.
It was an emotional moment for Jiménez, who had tears in his eyes as Mexico's crowd roared in approval. Jiménez suffered a fractured skull after a scary collision in 2020, but has rebuilt his career and now has his first World Cup goal.
South Korea and the Czech Republic will play the final game on Thursday in Guadalajara, Mexico, at 10 p.m. ET.
Fox is the exclusive U.S. broadcaster of the World Cup with all 104 matches in English on Fox or FS1. All matches are also available on the Fox One app. Telemundo and Universo will broadcast all of the matches in Spanish. Peacock is the streaming home for Spanish language broadcasts while Telemundo also has an app that includes all the matches.
1. Canada vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina, 3 p.m. ET in Toronto (FOX/Telemundo/Peacock)
2. United States vs. Paraguay, 9 p.m. ET in Inglewood, California (FOX/Telemundo/Peacock)
The Canadians are searching for their first World Cup win on Friday after going 0-3 in both 1986 and 2022. Canada has been a country on the rise over the past decade in the soccer world, moving to No. 30 in FIFA's world rankings after being ranked below 100 as recently as 2017. Forward Jonathan David — who plays for Italian club Juventus — is the country's all-time leading scorer with 39 goals in 77 matches.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is playing in its second World Cup and first since 2014, when the country was eliminated in the group stage.
The Americans — who enter the tournament ranked No. 17 in the world — hope that matches on their home soil can lead to a World Cup breakthrough. The U.S. has advanced to the knockout round in four of the last six World Cups its played, but hasn't been able to advance past the quarterfinals. Coach Mauricio Pochettino was hired in 2024 after successful stints at several European clubs. It's a big tournament for forward Christian Pulisic, who enters this World Cup in his prime and with high expectations.
Paraguay is the lowest-ranked team in Group D at No. 47 and back in the World Cup for the first time in 16 years. Ramon Sosa and the Julio Enciso are among the team's best players.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended World Cup ticket prices on Wednesday, saying “if we do something wrong, then probably everyone selling tickets in North America is doing something wrong.”
He also said FIFA was powerless to get the U.S. government to admit a Somali referee, and praised his ability to get Iran’s national soccer team into the United States.
FIFA priced tickets starting at $140 for group-stage games, but regular seats for the July 19 final outside New York were listed at up to $8,680 and hospitality seats at up to $73,200. It raised prices for the final to $10,990 and then $32,970.
After much criticism, FIFA offered $60 tickets to national federations for their regular supporters. Infantino said 130,000 tickets were offered in that category.
South Africa’s Sphephelo Sithole and Themba Zwane — along with Mexico's César Montes — were ejected from the World Cup opener after getting red cards.
Sithole interfered with Brian Gutiérrez as he raced in on goal early in the second half, drawing the first red card. Zwane was ejected late in the game after hitting Mexico's Roberto Alvarado in the face with his left hand.
The ejections meant that the South Africa had to play short-handed for much of the game. Both players are also suspended for the team's next group game against the Czech Republic next Thursday.
Mexico didn't escape without an ejection — Montes was shown a red card in stoppage time after a hard foul on Khuliso Mudau.
3. Netherlands arrives at the World Cup as arguably the best never to win, and reminders are everywhere
4. Haiti’s World Cup jersey deemed too political, echoing censure of its Winter Olympic uniform
5. FIFA President Gianni Infantino defends World Cup ticket prices, says fans ‘should chill’ about ref denied US entry
6. Shakira headlines the World Cup opening ceremony as Mexico faces South Africa, in photos
7. The three red cards in the Mexico-South Africa match were the most for an opening game in World Cup history. The record for most red cards in any World Cup game is four when Portugal and the Netherlands each had two players ejected in 2006.
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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup
