Mexico’s head coach Javier Aguirre expressed pride in his team’s ability to shake off early match jitters following their 2-0 victory over South Africa in Thursday’s World Cup Group A opening game at the Estadio Azteca, though he acknowledged significant room for growth remains.
Julian Quinones put the co-hosting nation on the scoreboard with a well-executed finish, while Raul Jimenez added insurance with a header in the second period, thrilling the home supporters.
“This could have been a 4-0 match, but people were happy. It is the start of the World Cup, we left the nerves behind and we go with three points,” Aguirre told reporters. “Now we are thinking about what is next.”
The Mexican squad controlled significant portions of the match and enjoyed a player advantage for most of the final 45 minutes after South Africa’s Sphephelo Sithole received a red card just five minutes into the second half for fouling Brian Gutierrez.
South Africa’s situation worsened in the 84th minute when Themba Zwane was ejected for violent conduct, leaving them with nine players. However, Aguirre felt his team made the contest unnecessarily difficult.
“We didn’t play well in the first half. It could have ended 3-0 easily,” he said. “We were superior in the first part, but the score did not reflect that. We complicated things for ourselves.
“After the second goal we got overconfident, then came the sending-off. We need to improve, but it was a good game.”
Quinones found the net after Erik Lira gained control following Sithole’s defensive mistake, while Jimenez connected on Mexico’s second goal in the 67th minute off Roberto Alvarado’s well-placed cross.
The victory marked Mexico’s first opening-match triumph in seven World Cup attempts. Their next opponent will be South Korea in Guadalajara, while South Africa prepares to face the Czech Republic.
