Mexico – South Africa

The hosts will start the World Cup with a win.

The Mexican national team did not participate in the 2026 World Cup qualification, having earned the right to represent North America as one of the tournament's co-hosts. In general, this role is more than familiar to Mexicans. It’s much easier to recall and list the World Cups they missed. The fact is that Mexico's best results — quarterfinal appearances in 1970 and 1986 — are long behind. Given that all group-stage matches of Javier Aguirre's side will be played on their home venues, and potential playoff encounters will take place in close proximity to Mexico, the team is ready to set its sights on the highest goals. South Africa has qualified for the World Cup for the fourth time in its history. Moreover, one of the three previous occasions did not require this team to go through qualification, as it was held directly in South Africa. The lack of achievements by this team underscores the fact that South Africa has never progressed to the knockout stage, always stopping at the group stage of World Cups. The underdog status of Group A, which also includes the Czech Republic and the Republic of Korea, stems not only from failures in previous World Cups. Experts and analysts doubt South Africa's prospects further because of a weak qualification. On the eve of the final round of the African qualifying stage, the team was in second place behind Benin. A win over Rwanda and Benin's defeat by Nigeria allowed South Africa to finish first. Bookmakers have made the hosts the favorites for the upcoming match, offering odds of 1.42 on their victory. A Mexico victory appears to be the preferred choice not only because of the venue of the match. The team led by the seasoned Aguirre has, in 2026 alone, played eight friendly matches, six of which were wins and two ended in draws. Moreover, their last opponent defeated on June 5 was Serbia — 5:1. South Africa underscored its level of play at the Africa Cup of Nations in January, being eliminated by Cameroon at the very first knockout stage. Of the following four friendly matches, the Africans won only the last, in which they managed to overcome Jamaica's resistance — 1:0. In front of their passionate fans, Mexico will begin the tournament with a convincing victory.