Mexico’s head coach, Javier Aguirre, said Thursday that despite the nerves felt by several of the El Tri players—especially the younger ones—during the opening match of the 2026 World Cup at Azteca Stadium, the team came through and secured a 2-0 victory over South Africa, which was a much-needed win and allowed them to put their nerves aside.
“It was the start of the World Cup, so we’ve put our nerves aside and picked up these three points, which come at just the right time,” the coach said.
“My legs are shaking”
However, Aguirre acknowledged that several of his players felt the pressure of playing in the opening match.
“This World Cup is a brutal experience; it makes your legs shake a little, and that really makes you think.”
“The stage is huge. The emotional intensity is overwhelming. I think the stage weighed on some of them—though not everyone.”
“A home opener is a big deal, but they’re young and needed to go through the experience.”
Mexico defeated South Africa thanks to goals by Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez.
In a match they dominated throughout the 90 minutes, but in which they squandered several chances to increase their lead.
Aguirre analyzed Mexico’s offensive performance in their victory over South Africa, criticizing their lack of precision on the final pass.
El Vasco celebrates the victory, but calls for more decisiveness
“We didn’t play well in the first half, but we could have gone into halftime up 3-0 and no one would have said a word.”
“They only came by once. After that, things got complicated for us.”
“The second goal made us relax, and we stopped playing with such intensity, but for a first game, I think we put in a good performance,” he emphasized.
And he went on.
“We had 16 shots on goal and 12 crosses, but we weren’t very sharp in the final third.”
“We need to be more precise; that’s what we’re going to work on, because all the possession we’ve managed to gain isn’t enough.”
“We never struggled at the back, so if we had been more clinical, the situation would have been much calmer,” he noted.
The Mexican national team will continue its World Cup campaign on Thursday, June 18, when it faces South Korea at Akron Stadium in Guadalajara, Jalisco.
And they will wrap up their group stage matches on the 24th against the Czech Republic in Mexico City (Filed under: Javier Aguirre explains Mexico’s victory).
With information from EFE
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