FIFA World Cup 2026: Fans danced to Shakira’s songs, but the referee’s anger on the field created the most unique record in World Cup history.

The four-year long wait for the world’s biggest sporting event, Mahakumbh i.e. FIFA World Cup 2026, is finally over. No one had even thought that this year’s tournament would start with such a bang and be full of drama. Mexico, one of the three host nations of the tournament, has got off to a great start with a win playing on their home ground. In this very exciting match of Group A, Mexico gave thousands of its fans a chance to celebrate by defeating South Africa 2-0. But this match will be forever recorded in the pages of history for the indiscipline of the players and the harsh attitude of the referee, more than for the excellent football shots or the victory. In this only match, the referee had to show the players off the field by issuing red cards not once or twice, but three times. Shakira’s performance and the magic of Azteca Stadium. This great match started in the historical and famous Azteca Stadium of Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. A huge crowd of more than 85 thousand spectators was present in the stadium to cheer for their team. Before the match kick-off, a very beautiful and colorful opening ceremony was organized. The main attraction of this ceremony was the famous international pop singer Shakira, who set the entire stadium on fire with her live performance on the official anthem of the World Cup 2026. The entire ground was dancing to his tunes, but the drama that happened on the field after this caught everyone’s attention. Mexico’s dominance on the field: Scored two goals like this: From the beginning of the match, Mexico’s team looked completely dominant over South Africa. Mexico’s players played aggressively and achieved success in the opening minutes of the match: First goal (9th minute): Only 9 minutes had passed in the match when Mexico’s left winger Julián Quiñones put an excellent and accurate pass from Eric Lira into the goal post. With this goal, Hulian took the historic distinction of scoring the first goal of the World Cup 2026. Second goal (67th minute): Despite leading 1-0 in the first half, Mexico did not reduce its attacks. In the second half of the game, in the 67th minute, the team’s star striker Raúl Jiménez showed his class and scored the second brilliant goal and gave Mexico an unassailable 2-0 lead, which remained till the end of the match. Main statistics of the match and unique record of red card: There was a fierce competition between the two teams throughout the match. Mexico fired a total of 16 shots at the opposition’s goal post, 5 of which were exactly on target. But during this game, players of both the teams could not control their emotions and anger, due to which a lot of fouls were committed on the field. This high-voltage drama and record of the match can be easily understood from the table given below: For the first time in World Cup history: 3 red cards in the same opening match This is the first time in the history of the Football World Cup that 3 players have been suspended and sent out in the opening match itself. In the 50th minute of the match, South African midfielder Yaya Sithole received his first red card for a serious foul. After this, in the 84th minute, South Africa’s Themba Zwane, who had come on the field as a substitute just 24 minutes earlier, had to go out. The drama did not end here; Just before the end of the match, in injury time (90+2 minutes), Mexico’s defender Cesar Montes also lost his temper and was given a red card. In this way, with a total of 23 fouls and 3 red cards, this match has created a new record in terms of sports as well as discipline. Mexico may have made a strong start in Group A by scoring 3 points, but for the next matches, both the teams will have to work hard on the aggressive behavior and discipline of their players.