MEXICO CITY -- Mexico manager Javier Aguirre emphasized the emotional component of kicking off the 2026 World Cup at the Azteca on Thursday weighed on certain players, attributing careless errors on nerves in a 2-0 win over South Africa.
"It's a brutal setting, it makes your legs shake a bit. You come from the training center [CAR] to the stadium and that makes the players say, 'wow,'" Aguirre said after the match. "It's a very strong emotional state, that's what I attribute it to.
"Never in 25 games have we had players suffer from cramps and here we had three. It's an emotional issue; making mistakes on easy passes weighed heavily on them, but not on everyone. The atmosphere weighed on them a little, not on everyone, but it did on some. Fortunately, they calmed out. We kept possession, we got into the opponent's area, we never suffered defensively."
The players' emotions could be seen after each goal, particularly after Raúl Jiménez scored in the second half. Jiménez found the back of the net and immediately began crying during his celebration, dedicating the goal to his father who recently passed away.
Though Mexico won a game in which two South Africa players were sent off, Aguirre said the team could've scored more goals on a night when it had numerous chances, particularly in the first half.
"It was a 2-0 game. It could have been 4-0 and nobody would have said otherwise," Aguirre said. "4-0 was the scoreline. The fans have the right to boo. I didn't hear the boos. The fans are happy with the 2-0, but they would have been much happier with 4-0. The important thing is that we have the three points."
Aguirre's team will now prepare for the match against South Korea on June 18 in Guadalajara. The Mexico manager revealed he's not thinking about topping Group A at the moment, focusing instead on the next match.
"Right now, the match against Korea is the most important thing," Aguirre said. "Everything else is just a matter of adding and subtracting, but it's not our priority either. We're focused on Korea, on being better than them, step by step, seeing what the future holds."
Aguirre added that Edson Álvarez will likely step into the starting lineup for the upcoming match after César Montes received a red card in the second half of the game. Montes' card brought the total number of reds in the game to three, a record for an opening match at a World Cup.
"Edson will end up playing center back because of César's expulsion," Aguirre said. "I opted for [Erik] Lira because Edson arrived with only four minutes of playing time. We put a lot of pressure on him, so he arrived prepared. I spoke with him about César's red card, and it's likely that Edson will play center back."
Mexico rounds out group play against Czechia on June 24.
