World Cup recap: Mexico reminds everyone why we love soccer but hydration breaks spark uproar
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World Cup recap: Mexico reminds everyone why we love soccer but hydration breaks spark uproar

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The 2026 World Cup began Thursday with eruptions of joy in Mexico City.

At long last — after days, weeks, months, years of controversy over ticket prices, funding, visas and more — the grandest soccer tournament in human history started with pageantry, emotion and a few great human stories.

In the inaugural match, Mexico beat South Africa, 2-0. In the nightcap, South Korea came back to beat Czech Republic, 2-1. On Friday, attention will shift to Mexico’s co-hosts Canada and the United States; but before we look ahead, Thursday was worth savoring because it reminded us why we love the World Cup.

Throughout the the tournament, The Athletic will bring you daily recaps on the World Cup’s biggest talking points and highlight what you shouldn’t miss in the next 24 hours. This is what happened on Matchday 1.

Mexico’s timely pick-me-up

So much of the buildup to this World Cup had revolved around the United States. President Donald Trump took center stage at December’s draw. U.S. cities bickered with FIFA, soccer’s global governing body and the tournament organisers. American sports essentially set the ticket market. Eleven NFL stadiums will host 78 of the 104 matches, including every one from the quarterfinals onward.

Mexico, though, got the opener, and it put on the show that FIFA needed: a soccer show.

Mexico, much more so than its co-hosts, is a soccer country, una nación futbolera. It has hosted two men’s World Cups before (1970 and 1986) and, on Thursday, it stopped in its tracks for the third. Streets emptied. Living rooms and the mystical Estadio Azteca filled up. Nerves tingled, then trembled.

And then, in the ninth minute, Julian Quiñones washed away all that tension with the tournament’s first goal, eliciting a nationwide roar. The Athletic’s Jacob Whitehead heard it from the streets of Guadalajara. Mexican fans across the continent, south and north of the U.S. border, leapt skyward. Inside the stadium, beer and sombreros flew.

UK readers watch here:

U.S. readers watch here:

 

It was the moment Mexico had been waiting for. It was the moment FIFA, had been waiting for. It was the moment Quiñones dreamed of when he chose to play for Mexico, and even when he endured xenophobic criticism from some fans who felt that the Colombian-born attacker wasn’t Mexican enough.

On Thursday, he became the toast of his adopted country.

Around an hour later, World Cup nerves re-set in. Angst gripped the Azteca as Mexico struggled to find a second goal, even after Yaya Sithole received a red card, reducing South Africa to 10 men. (There would be three red cards, two for South Africa and one for Mexico, by the end of the match — making this officially the dirtiest opening game at a World Cup.)

In the 67th minute, though, Raúl Jiménez extinguished all concern, and wrote another remarkable chapter in this opening-day story. You could see it etched across his cracking face. Back in 2020, Jiménez fractured his skull; his career, it seemed, might be over. Six years later, at age 35, he scored his first World Cup goal.

UK readers watch here:

 

U.S. readers watch here:

You could see the emotion instantly, in his fist pumps and his tears. You could see it in teammates’ embraces. You could see it all around the famous stadium, and in the songs that echoed deep into the Mexican night.

It’s what makes the World Cup a peerless event, a national unifier, an enthralling spectacle. The 2026 edition needed only one game to jog the world’s memory.

Hydration breaks become commercial breaks

Perhaps the only stain on Thursday’s curtain-raiser were FIFA’s newly-mandated “hydration breaks.”

Previously, many soccer games have paused in extreme heat; now, irrespective of weather, even indoors, all World Cup matches are pausing for three minutes midway through each half. When FIFA announced the change, it said the breaks were for “player welfare,” but many fans saw through the spin and assumed the breaks would be used by broadcasters to show commercials.

On Thursday, Fox, which holds the English-language U.S. broadcast rights, confirmed those fears.

South Korea’s players receive instructions during a hydration break in their win over Czech Republic (Lars Baron/Getty Images)

It not only cut away to advertisements; during the second half of Mexico-South Africa, its commercials ran long and caused viewers to miss several seconds of action after play resumed.

The blunder sparked an uproar among longtime fans who, for decades, have been accustomed to soccer being a game of two uninterrupted halves. “I hate it,” former U.S. women’s national team star Carli Lloyd wrote on X.

The breaks essentially turn soccer into a game of four quarters, à la basketball or American football. They allow coaches to tweak tactics and deliver instructions to players that were once hard to communicate before and after halftime.

On Day 1, the commercials were the main talking point, but the sporting implications will be significant, too. Back in March, Portugal coach Roberto Martinez predicted: “The game is going to change.”

USMNT ‘relaxed’ ahead of glitzy opener

As one co-host opened the World Cup in style, another, the United States, prepared for its long-awaited moment.

The U.S. team, popularly known as the USMNT, will kick off Group D against Paraguay (2 a.m. BST Saturday, 9 p.m. ET Friday) in Southern California. Years of anticipation, expectation and preparation will collide at SoFi Stadium, an absurdly opulent, $5.5 billion palace. All of it will pile on pressure.

If U.S. players are feeling it, though, they haven’t shown it.

Christian Pulisic, 27, the face of the program since his teenage years, said Thursday that he was actually “more relaxed” than he was four years ago, on the eve of the last World Cup.

Christian Pulisic will be a key figure for the USMNT (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

He and his teammates, of course, know that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lift American soccer. But they’ve found strength, comfort and calmness in their togetherness. They seem and sound confident, and so does their coach, Mauricio Pochettino.

Pochettino said at his pre-match news conference that he would not deliver one last rousing speech before the opener. “They don’t need any external motivation or an inspirational speech,” he said. His reasoning was simple: it’s a World Cup. “If you are not ready,” he said, “I’m sorry.”

“They need to think tomorrow and play like they are a child,” Pochettino said of his players. “With no pressure, with no responsibility.”

Friday’s schedule

Before the USMNT steps into spotlights, Canada also plays its opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina. That match kicks off at 3 p.m. ET at BMO Field in Toronto.

Canada’s biggest star, Alphonso Davies, will not play as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury suffered last month. But the Canadians are favored, and are hopeful that they, like the USMNT, can make a run that leaves a lasting impact on soccer in their country.

Then, as 9 p.m. ET approaches, all eyes will turn to the Americans. There are no injuries to report; Chris Richards, the team’s top defender and only question mark over the past few weeks, is available, Pochettino said Thursday.

The only absence of note will be that of Trump. White House World Cup task force director Andrew Giuliani confirmed Thursday that the President will not attend. He will be the first leader of a host country to skip a men’s World Cup opener in the 21st century. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the U.S. government’s delegation, and will meet with Paraguayan president Santiago Peña.

Both the Canadian and American openers will be preceded by musical performances and ceremonies. And once they conclude, the 2026 World Cup will, finally, be in full swing.

  • Group B: Canada vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (8 p.m. BST, 3 p.m. ET)
  • Group D: USA vs Paraguay (2 a.m. BST Saturday, 9 p.m. ET Friday)



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