The 2026 FIFA World Cup began at the Estadio Azteca on Thursday, as Mexico gave their fans plenty of reason to cheer with a 2-0 win against South Africa, in an opening game marred by poor discipline, but also propped up by good goals from Julián Quiñones and Raul Jiménez.
In the second game of the day in Guadalajara, South Korea produced a stunning comeback to beat Czechia 2-1, after goals from Hwang In-Beom and Oh Hyeon-Gyu helped them recover from the blow of conceding an opener to Czech captain Ladislav Krejčí.
ESPN's By The Numbers brings you best stats from the World Cup action on June 12:
Mexico 2-1 South Africa
2
This was the second time a team had two players sent off in the opening match of a tournament, following Cameroon against Argentina in the 1990 World Cup, in a match that they still miraculously went on to win 1-0.
The two-goal victory margin for Mexico was the first time they've won a World Cup game by multiple goals since beating Croatia 3-1 at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
3
The three red cards shown in this match is the joint-second most in World Cup history, following the infamous "Battle of Nuremberg" between Netherland and Portugal in 2006, where both sides had two players sent off each.
3️⃣ players were shown red cards in the opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup ����
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���� X 1 pic.twitter.com/DGvyvRMEas- ESPN India (@ESPNIndia) June 11, 2026
To put these red card stats into context, the three red cards shown in the opening game of this World Cup are one less than the number of red cards shown in the entire World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
4
Raúl Jiménez became the fourth oldest player (at 35 years and 37 days old) to score for Mexico at the World Cup.
8
Mexico extended their unbeaten streak in their opening matches of the FIFA World Cup to eight games, winning six and drawing two of their last eight World Cup openers. The last time Mexico suffered an opening loss in the World Cup was in 1994 against Norway.
17y, 240d
Gilberto Mora came on as a second-half substitute to become the youngest ever player to represent a host nation at a FIFA World Cup. Overall, Mora is the sixth youngest debutant in tournament history.
35y, 37d
At 35 years and 37 days old, Raúl Jiménez became the oldest player to score on their first World Cup start since Yahya Golmohammadi for Iran against Mexico in 2006.
47
With 47 goals for the national team, Raúl Jiménez broke a tie with Jared Borgetti to become the outright fourth top-scorer in Mexican national team history, after Javier Hernández (52), Enrique Borja (50), Hugo Sánchez (48).
South Korea 2-1 Czechia
3
With wins over Germany in 2018, Portugal in 2022, and now Czechia in 2026, South Korea have now won three consecutive World Cup games against European opposition.
4
This was South Korea's fourth comeback win in their World Cup history, after 2-1 wins over Portugal in 2022, Togo in 2006, and Italy in 2002.
Look at what it means to South Korea after starting the 2026 World Cup with a 2-1 win over Czechia ❤️ pic.twitter.com/ZOfCwDKXTi
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) June 12, 2026
7
Seven of Czechia's last 14 World Cup goals -- dating back to 1990 -- have been headers.
8
Czechia have lost 8 games at the World Cup when scoring first - tied for the most of any team, alongside Sweden.
The goal by Oh Hyeon-Gyu was the eighth by a substitute in South Korea's World Cup history, which is the most for a nation outside of Europe and South America.
74y, 248d
At 74y, 284d old, Czechia's Miroslav Koubek became the oldest head coach in World Cup history. He surpassed the record set by South Africa's Hugo Broos from earlier today. Both Koubek and Broos, though, are set to be surpassed by Curaçao head coach Dick Advocaat on Sunday.
1/12
After another goalless first half in a World Cup game, South Korea have now scored just one first-half goal in their last 12 World Cup games.
31/39
In their 39 matches at the World Cup, South Korea haven't scored in the first half in 31 of those games.
(Stats courtesy: ESPN Stats and Information Group)
