South Africa match Cameroon’s red card record in a World Cup opener
A 2-0 loss and red cards for two of Bafana Bafana’s players rank far from how South Africans planned their 2026 World Cup return would have panned out.
On their return to the global competition, Bafana Bafana endured a night to forget at the Mexico Azteca Stadium, suffering an opening defeat to the hosts, thanks to goals from Julian Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez.
Red cards history
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The encounter was dramatic and laden with history, both for good and bad reasons, with the losing side making the most of the latter after finishing the match with nine men after both Themba Zwane and Sphephelo Sithole received red cards
The hosts also ended the match with ten after an injury-time dismissal of Cesar Montes.
Here are some of the historical feats from the match:
The South African midfielder, Sithole, became the first player to be sent off in the World Cup’s opening game since 1994.
In a case of history repeating itself in the World Cup opening match, with two red cards for an African team, South Africa became only the second team in history to finish a World Cup opening match with nine players.
Joining Cameroon’s legendary match against Argentina on June 8, 1990, when both André Kana-Biyik and Benjamin Massing were sent off.
Unlike South Africa, Cameroon defied the odds and won at the San Siro thanks to François Omam-Biyik’s iconic goal.
The clash also saw a new record set by the triumphant hosts, who had Gilberto Mora become the youngest Mexican player and the youngest North American player ever to feature at a FIFA World Cup, aged just 17 years and 240 days.
Meanwhile, the start makes for a rather bizarre start to the tournament as far as bookings go. Whereas there were only 4 red cards at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and as many as four years before that, there have already been 3 at the 2026 edition.
Shabalala dance
The Mexico-South Africa clash also happened exactly 16 years after the two teams clashed in the 2010 edition in South Africa. The encounter, which ended on a 1-1 scoreline, remains historical as the first time the global competition came to African soil.
In another repeat of the events of the over-decade happenings, Quiñones, the Mexican scorer, hit the very same dance that Siphiwe Tshabalala of South Africa pulled back in 2010.
Hugo Broos’s team now shifts focus to their next clash against the Czechs on Thursday, June 18, 2026. The team faces a must-win encounter after South Korea came back from a goal down to outsmart the Czech Republic 2-1 in the other group. A clash on Friday, June 12, 2026
