Mexico beat South Africa 2-0: How the Azteca roared the FIFA World Cup to life | Football News
5 min readMexico CityUpdated: Jun 12, 2026 08:14 AM IST Sometime past noon in the bowels of Azteca, football took over the tournament, liberating the World Cup from the cynicism, disillusionment and anger that had stormed it in the build-up. By the time the game ended, Mexico shredding a tepid South Africa, the tiers dripping in sweat, tears of joy and beer, the sport had salvaged its centrality. The quality of the game was marginally modest, three red cards were brandished, a slew of fouls and discordant passes jarred, the game stuttering and stopping like a singer whose voice kept giving out, defences of both sides dotted with gaping cracks. But it would be remembered as a spectacle for the sheer atmosphere that Azteca whipped — an afternoon born just to enjoy, to take home as a lifetime’s memory, and not one to be preserved for its football. The hosts dominating the game from the first touch lent a raw, wild energy to proceedings. It took only five minutes for Raul Jimenez to register his …
