Refresh story for latest update7.31pm - Mamello Makha in the House ...7.30 pm - Machaka in the House ...WATCH | Bafana Bafana supporter Masilo Machaka says it's not going to be easy against Mexico in 2026 FIFA World Cup opening match. pic.twitter.com/Pf9FKgpVHJ— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) June 11, 2026
7.29pm - The fans are arriving, the usual suspects are descending on the Azteca ...Botha in the House ...7.25pm - To warm us up, here are some videos sent from Mexico by Mahlatse Mphahlele, with some of the pre-match interviews and footage of training for this huge, huge game:7.16pm - Here are some match facts, collated in an earlier story by your live update blogger:All you need to know about the Mexico v Bafana and World Cup opening:Kickoff time: 1pm in Mexico City, 9pm SA time.Venue: Estadio Azteca — also known as Mexico City Stadium (the official name for the World Cup) and Estadio Banorte (for sponsorship reasons).Capacity: 87,523.On TV: The opening ceremony and opening match will be televised on SABC 3 and SuperSport PSL [203] and streamed free on SABC+.Match officials: Referee: Wilton Sampaio (Brazil); assistant referee 1: Bruno Pires (Brazil); assistant referee 2: Bruno Boschilia (Brazil); fourth official: Juan Gabriel Benítez (Paraguay); reserve assistant referee: Eduardo Cardozo (Paraguay); video assistant referee (VAR): Nicolás Gallo (Colombia).2026 World Cup co-hosts: Mexico, Canada and the US.Opening ceremony start time: 11am in Mexico City, 7pm SA time (televised from 7.40pm on SuperSport PSL [203] and 7.30pm on SABC 3 and streaming on SABC+).Who will sing the SA national anthem: Tyla, SA’s Grammy Award-winning singerThe Mexico anthem: Mexican singer Alejandro Fernández Mexico opening ceremony performers: Shakira and Burna Boy will premiere the official tournament song titled Dai Dai; plus J Balvin, Tyla, Alejandro Fernández, Maná, Belinda, Danny Ocean, Lila Downs, Los Ángeles AzulesAdditional opening ceremonies: The first games in Canada and in the US on Friday will also have opening ceremonies.When is the 2026 World Cup final? July 19 (MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, US)Who to watch out for in Mexico’s ranks: Fulham centre-forward Raúl Jiménez is the star player and attacking fulcrum who is deadly in front of goal. Johan Vásquez (Genoa) and Lokomotiv Moscow’s César Montes are tough centre-backs. Full-backs Jesús Gallardo and Israel Reyes like to get forward on the overlap. Fenerbahce’s Edson Álvarez at anchor and box-to-box player Érik Lira are usually the central midfielders. Tijuana’s 17-year-old Gilberto Mora, the youngest player at the tournament; Brian Gutiérrez of Guadalajara, and Real Betis’s Álvaro Fidalgo are attacking midfield options who will look for space between the lines. Alexis Vega (Toluca) and César Huerta (Anderlecht) provide pace and width on the wings. Other striker options include Armando González (Guadalajara) and AC Milan’s 25-year-old striker Santiago Giménez.Mexico’s tactics: Coach Javier Aguirre wants his team to be resilient and uncomfortable to face. If you’re their opponents, you can expect Mexico to be rigid and frustrating to launch attacks against, and expect pacey, pointed, direct attacks back at you when you lose the ball in their territory. They play a flexible 4-3-3 formation that can become a 4-2-3-1 or even a 4-4-2 depending on the game situation and opponents.Who will be key for Bafana?: Ronwen Williams in goal, 20-year-old talent Mbekezeli Mbokazi and whoever he partners in central defence. Right-back Khuliso Mudau is a machine and left-back Aubrey Modiba hugely experienced. Teboho Mokoena is Bafana’s other major star player in central midfield, where he may partner talented Jayden Adams or the more physical Sphephelo Sithole. Orlando Pirates’ Tshepang Moremi and Oswin Appollis (another huge performer for Pirates and Bafana coach Hugo Broos) are likely to be the wide attacking players. Lyle Foster’s experience seems likely to get him the nod upfront, though he’s been a bit out of touch, so Iqraam Rayners and Evidence Makgopa are the striking back-up on the bench.A bit about the Azteca: Estadio Azteca is the only football stadium in the world to have both Pelé (1970) and Diego Maradona (1986) − regarded as the two best footballers of all time − win the World Cup there. Mexico hosted the 1970 World Cup, in which Pelé’s Brazil, regarded as perhaps the best team of all time, beat Italy 4-1 in a legendary final. The 1986 World Cup in Mexico is regarded as perhaps the best of all time. Maradona’s virtuous performance throughout, including his Goal of the Century in the quarterfinal against England, and probably the second-best goal of all time in the semifinal against Belgium, and two magical assists in the 2-1 final win against Germany, is the stuff of legend. It’s capacity then was 115,000 but that has been reduced by modernisation and renovations.A fascinating piece of trivia: Mexico beat Belgium 2-1 in the opening game in 1986. Mexico’s current coach Aguirre and Bafana coach Broos lined up against each other in that match and are now coaches in the 2026 opener, 40 years later, at the same venue.Trivia most people know: The 2026 opener is a rematch of the 1-1 opening game draw between Bafana and Mexico at FNB Stadium when SA hosted the 2010 World Cup.World Cup group: Group A.Other teams in the group: Czechia (Czech Republic), Korea Republic.Rankings of the teams in Group A: Mexico — 15; South Korea — 25; Czechia — 41; South Africa — 60.Next Group A game: Korea Republic v Czechia, Estadio Guadalajara (Thursday, 8pm in Mexico; 4am on Friday SA time).How teams progress to the last 32 and knockouts: Finish in the top two in the group or among the eight best third-placed finishers from the 12 groups.6.50pm - This is your captain speaking. Testing, testing.Fasten your seatbelts and get set for take-off... the 2026 Fifa World Cup takes off, or rather, of course, kicks off in just under two hours now! That’s kind of crazy isn’t it! Crazier still, Bafana Bafana, as they did the last time they kicked a ball at a World Cup finals a hosts in 2010, play the opening game.Crazier still, it’s the same two teams. Co-hosts Mexico will provide a stiff test for Bafana Bafana in this 2026 opener, 16 years after these teams drew 1-1 at FNB Stadium in the 2010 opener.I am Marc Strydom, TimesLIVE Sports Editor and Arena Holdings Digital Sports Editor and I am not your captain, but your LIVE UPDATES BLOG host for Mexico v Bafana Bafana at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City (1pm in Mexico City, 9pm SA time), and it’s ‘squeaky bum’ time now!I am not in Mexico City, but in my living room in Mevlille, Johannesburg. Th hugely experienced Arena and TiomesLIVE Senior Sports Reporter and Football Writer Mahlatse Mphahlele is in the fabled Azteca, and catch his match report at around 11.15pm. (More on Mahlatse’s excellent build-up coverage later in this blog). The butterflies have been disturbed by a swarm of bees in the stomachs, right? The anticipation is EXCRUCIATING!Hugo Broos’ Bafana really have no right winning this game. A draw would be an excellent result.Mexico have won six of their eight warm-up games in 2026 and drawn the other two. They have been to 17 of the 22 World Cups, and almost always in the modern era reach the last 16, then battle to go further. They are ranked 15th by Fifa. They thrashed Serbia 5-1 in their last warm-up last week.South Africa are ranked 60th, have exited in the group stage in all three of their World Cups and this generation are babes in the wood on a World Cup stage, let alone the huge viewership opener, let alone at the Azteca in front of its audiovisual wall of green and noise! They have not won a warm-up match this year and had an iffy Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco in January and Fenruary, exiting in the last 16.And yet! And yet ... and yet. Let’s tone this down a little with the exclamation marks. And yet ... this is football ladies and gentlemen. This Bafana have talent. They shoudl be hungry after such a lengthy absence.And Mexican supporters can be fickle. They can turn against their team, like when they booed them in a drab draw against Portugal in March. They have not all overly warmed to the conservative football of coach Javier Aguirre in his third stint. And yet, again, they have players at clubs like AC Milan. Id there is a hint of ordinary-ness to Aguirre’s Mexico, Bafana have to calm butterflies that make yours and mine, dear reader, seem like tiny bacteria, and somehow take the game to some extent to the co-hosts. That will take some doing.And yes, it’s football, so ‘some doing’ is always a possibility of being done.Pull up your popcorn, your lagers and pints if at the pub, get comfy in that lounge sofa - the world’s greatest sporting spectacle is about to begin ... and, for the next four hours, Bafana Bafana are at the centre of it! ... to follow: what you need to know about Bafana Bafana v Mexico. TimesLIVE
