The 2026 World Cup is here! Catch up on our play-by-play live recap of the opening two games, where Mexico and South Korea both registered victories in Group A.
Mexico 2-0 South Africa (FT)
South Korea 2-1 Czech Republic (FT)
06:20 CET – That's where we leave you for today after a thrilling opening day of World Cup football, with Mexico and South Korea leading Group A with three points each. Please join us shortly before 21:00 CET on Friday for Canada's opening game against Bosnia & Herzegovina followed by USA and Paraguay well into the evening. Goodbye for now.
Our team has wrapped both matches up into one daily highlights package, which you can expect throughout every matchday of the tournament.
06:10 CET – Lee Kang-in is our Player of the Match with a Flashscore rating of 9.0 out of 10. He made more successful dribbles (five), more touches in the opposition box (five), more accurate passes in the final third (17 at 100% accuracy) and won more duels (ten) than any other player from either side. One of his two 'key passes' assisted South Korea's equaliser.
Czech goalkeeper Matej Kovar did little wrong in his performance tonight, making four saves. There was not much he could have done to stop either goal, having been outclassed by Hwang and then let down by some poor marking from his defenders.
Here are the final player ratings:
06:07 CET – Read our comprehensive match report of South Korea v Czech Republic here.
06:02 CET – Phew. We needed a moment to catch our breath after that hectic second half. Both sides were lacking the incisiveness and accuracy to create genuine chances in the first half, but things very quickly changed after the main break – albeit not to our expectations. South Korea dominated the first 15 minutes of the second half but soon found themselves chasing an equaliser. They controlled the ball for 69% of the second half and were able to reward themselves for that possession with a couple of delightful goals. Just look at that sea of second-half blue below.
05:56 CET – Lee Gi-Hyuk receives the first booking of the match in the 96th minute. Czech Republic make one final push from the subsequent set piece but it's in vain. South Korea complete a remarkable comeback win.
05:52 CET – With what could be their final opportunity of the game, Sadilek takes a shot from the top of the box which is saved by Korean goalkeeper Kim to his right. The shot really needed more power.
05:49 CET – Six minutes of time have been added on.
05:48 CET – The South Korean substitutes have injected plenty of energy back into their attack. Czech Republic continue to look for an equaliser but fatigue is setting in.
05:44 CET – South Korea make their final two changes. Hwang In-beom and Paik Seung-ho are off for Kim Jin-gyu and Park Jin-Seob. Czech Republic bring Mojmir Chytil in for Alex Sojka. We are now into the 85th minute.
05:42 CET – Those set piece specialists from the Czech Republic almost do it again. An enormous long throw into the box from Coufal fell to the feet of Adam Hlozek, whose shot into the bottom right corner was saved.
05:39 CET – SOUTH KOREA LEAD 2-1! This time Hwang In-beom is the man in the middle of an excellent setup, whipping in a low cross from the right flank. The substitute Oh Hyeon-gyu gets in the right spot to put it away, with the ball deflected into the net off the body of Kovar.
05:37 CET – DISALLOWED GOAL! Tomas Soucek wheeled away in celebration after heading in an indirect free kick only for it to be ruled out on-field. It was only narrow but nonetheless the correct call.
05:28 CET – The hydration break is being taken with Son Heung-min and Lee Tae-seok being subbed out of play. Oh Hyeon-gyu and Eom Ji-sung come in.
05:26 CET – South Korea level the scores through Hwang In-beom! A quality play both on and off the ball. He lost his defender with an excellently timed run, received a pass inside the box, held it as the goalkeeper approached and, as Kovar fell to his right in anticipation of a shot, Hwang gently chipped it in the other direction. It bobbled into the box with Krejci chasing in vain. The goal followed a slow and calculated build-up.
05:21 CET – Hwang Hee-chan comes on for Lee Jae-sung in midfeld. Czech Republic are replacing their entire front three in the 64th minute – Patrik Schick, Pavel Sulc and Lukas Provod are off for Adam Hlozek, Tomas Chory and Michal Sadilek.
05:17 CET – CZECH REPUBLIC SCORE against the run of play and it's the captain Ladislav Krejci! South Korea were banging down the door repeatedly without result and, with just their second opportunity of the half, the Czech skipper gets onto the end of a long throw. He was unmarked inside the box and nodded it in from close range – certainly too close for South Korean goalkeeper Kim to have any chance of blocking it. The playoffs hero delivers again for the Czech Republic.
05:14 CET – Goalkeeper Kovar again comes clutch for the Czech after Lee Jae-sung unlocks another chance inside the box for Son. Son was too close to the keeper to get the shot past him. A corner ensues, delivered by Son, but it is cleared by a towering defender.
05:11 CET – South Korea are really attempting to bang the door down now with a fast and vigorous start to the second half. 65% of second half possession and two shots on target – more than they manageed in the entire first half. We are not yet ten minutes in. South Korea did not look especially likely to score in the first half, despite all of their efforts, but the feeling is rapidly changing.
05:07 CET – Vladimir Coufal's first corner after half-time doesn't find a teammate. Matej Kovar produces an excellent save shortly after to keep out a rare shot on target. Hwang In-beom comes up with one of the best chances of the match as South Korea look to regain their momentum from the end of the first half.
05:03 CET – The second half commences with neither team making half-time substitutions.
04:49 CET – The half-time whistle has been blown with neither team yet to score. As you can see below, both teams had lengthy periods of domination but have lacked that clinical final pass or shot to make the most of it. South Korea lead the shot attempt count 8-2 but only one of their eight shots was on target when Lee Kang-in had a go from outside the box in the 14th minute.
04:47 CET – Three minutes have been added on with the scores still level at 0-0 in the first half. South Korea create their most dangerous chance of the match as Son Heung-min links up one-two with Lee Jae-sung only to scuff a shot from inside the box.
04:45 CET – Three Czech crosses within a 60-second period are safely dealt with. The deliveries into the box from the Czech Republic have so far left a lot to be desired.
04:40 CET – The 39th minute sees South Korea breaking their shot-taking drought after nearly 25 minutes with two opportunities. Son took a desperate shot from outside the box, driving it well over the crossbar, and then squandered a much better opportunity from the top of the box when curling it to the left. Four of South Korea's six shots so far have been from their captain, but all four of his have been either blocked or missed the target.
04:36 CET – South Korea have now failed to register a shot in the last 20 minutes. With both teams playing 3-4-2-1 formations featuring crowded midfields, we're seeing a lot of tight man marking and both sides struggling to create space.
04:27 CET – Another brief interruption takes place at the 26-minute mark as Pavel Sulc has an enormous hole torn in his playing shirt! We don't see that often at the elite level.
04:22 CET – Czech pair Vladimir Coufal and Alexandr Sojka deliver two corners in the space of two minutes but neither are successful. The second leads to the first Czech shot of the game from Tomas Soucek but it was off-target. The players are taking their first hydration break. South Korea have had 55% of possession and have created four of the five shot attempts so far.
04:16 CET – PSG midfielder Lee Kang-in attempts to have his first say of the game, striking a powerful shot from outside the box that is saved by Czech keeper Matej Kovar to his left. The Czechs then manage to thwart a set piece training move from the corner before earning their own first corner from a quick counter-attack. It is clelared comfortably. South Korea win a free kick from their own counter following the clearance but Lee Kang-in sprays it to the left.
04:14 CET – South Korea win the first corner of the game but the delivery finds the Czech near post defender who makes a prompt clearance. The South Korea front three then combine in the 12th minute, leading to a blocked shot from Son and a misdirected header from defender Lee Han-Beom at the resulting corner. The Koreans have worked their way into the game and are stringing together multiple attacks.
04:07 CET – After spending the opening minutes off the ball, South Korea create the first opportunity when a dangerous cross from Jae-Sung Lee is deflected out of the box. Moments later, Son fails to find his target with the first set piece of the game. Czech Republic have held the bulk of possession without yet being threatening.
04:01 CET – There's no messing about this time – the whistle has been blown right on the turn of the hour! The second game of the 2026 World Cup is now underway.
03:54 CET – The teams are now out on the field in Guadalajara to settle their nerves and observe the pre-match ceremony. We are just minutes away from kickoff.
03:49 CET – A remarkable journey continues for South Korean legend and current captain Son Heung-min, who his appearing at his fourth FIFA World Cup. As their most capped player in history, he is just two goals away from matching Cha Bum-kun's national tally of 58 goals for the country and is highly fancied to make the record his own over the next fortnight or so.
03:45 CET – The Czech Republic are back at the World Cup for the first time in 20 years despite all the disruptions of a change of head coach and captain throughout the qualifying campaign and they come into the tournament in red-hot form, winning six consecutive games including the dramatic penalty shootout wins over Republic of Ireland and Denmark that booked their spot at this event.
03:32 CET – Welcome to our live coverage of match number two of the 2026 FIFA World Cup! The atmosphere is quickly building at Estadio Akron as South Korea and the Czech Republic look to join Mexico on three points in Group A.
Both managers have submitted their final lineups for today.
23:44 CET – The match started with Julian Quinones taking advantage of a mistake from Yaya Sithole, and the two went on to become its two defining figures.
The Mexican followed up his goal by playing a big part in the second, and had the highest Flashscore Rating on the pitch with an 8.6, while the South African picked up the first red card of the night and ended up with a 3.8.
Here are the full player ratings:
23:14 CET – All in all, that was an opener that was worth the wait, delivering a roaring atmosphere and plenty of drama in the form of two goals and three red cards.
Check out the match report here.
23:09 CET – The hosts will be frustrated that their day ended with a very questionable red card, but they can be very pleased with that performance on the whole.
They controlled the contest throughout, allowing just three shots that amounted to a mere 0.08 xG. At the other end, they scored an excellent team move that got their star striker off the mark.
23:06 CET – That's a wrap on the opening match of the 2026 World Cup! Mexico win it 2-0 to make the perfect start to their tournament.
23:01 CET – Another red card! The third of the match has gone to Mexico, with captain Cesar Montes being given his marching orders for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Given the South Africa attacker was outside the box and heading very much wide of the goal, that's a very harsh decision.
22:51 CET – This is becoming a disaster for South Africa, who have now gone down to nine men for Themba Zwane swinging a hand at the face of Alvarado.
22:44 CET – Mora, the youngest player across the 26 World Cup squads, has come on to become the tournament's sixth-youngest player ever.
22:34 CET – Raul Jimenez makes it 2-0!
Quinones takes a lay off from the 35-year-old in his stride and spreads the ball wide to Roberto Alvarado, who puts in a perfect cross for the striker to nod in!
A wonderful move on what is becoming a wonderful night for Mexico.
22:17 CET – South Africa go down to 10 men! Sithole's day has gone from bad to worse, with him being sent off for bringing down Brian Gutierrez when the Mexican was through on goal.
World Cup debuts don't get much worse than this.
22:13 CET – We're back underway in Mexico City.
22:02 CET – Quinones was the standout of that half, and not just because of his goal.
The winger had four shots, won two out of three duels, made three passes into the final third and has a Flashscore Rating of 7.8
Read more about Flashscore's new player ratings system here.
21:55 CET – The whistle has blown on a first half that the host nation will be very happy with.
South Africa grew into the game, but Mexico dominated proceedings on the whole, seeing more of the ball and going close to doubling their lead a few times.
21:47 CET – Raul Jimenez goes close to doubling Mexico's lead, flicking on a cross from deep but having his effort saved by Ronwen Williams.
21:32 CET – 25 minutes in, we have the first cooling break of the tournament.
South Africa have somewhat steadied the ship after a shaky start, but El Tri will be very happy with how this is going.
21:16 CET – Mexico make the dream start! They've pushed for the opener from the off, and Julian Quinones has got it nine minutes in!
South Africa's Yaya Sithole takes a heavy touch just outside his own box and the hosts pounce on it, winning the ball for the winger to send a lovely finish past the goalkeeper!
The Azteca goes wild!
21:07 CET – THE 2026 WORLD CUP IS UNDERWAY!
20:47 CET – The final part of the opening ceremony is now taking place, the raising of the flags of the 48 nations competing at the 2026 World Cup.
Kick-off is almost here.
20:36 CET – This South Africa side entered AFCON at the end of last year as one of the top sides in Africa having impressed in qualifying, but they've been on a poor run since losing in the round of 16 there, drawing three and losing one of their four matches in 2026.
That makes Bafana Bafana very much the underdogs tonight.
20:22 CET – Veteran striker Raul Jimenez gets the nod ahead of AC Milan's Santiago Gimenez up top for Mexico, who have quite the age range on their bench; 40-year-old goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa is looking to become the first player ever to play at six World Cups, while 17-year-old wonderkid Gilberto Mora will be his nation's youngest World Cup player ever if he comes on.
20:06 CET – There's quite the atmosphere building at the Azteca, where 80,000 fans are singing along to the performers of the opening ceremony.
Fittingly, one of those performers is Shakira, who also did the official anthem for the 2010 World Cup, which started on this very day with this very clash 16 years ago. This time though, it's out with the vuvuzelas and in with the guitars.
19:46 CET – The first set of team news for the FIFA World Cup 2026 has dropped, as we rapidly close in on Mexico's clash with South Africa at the Azteca Stadium.
Here's how both teams line up:
18:53 CET – We're only a couple of hours away from kick-off at the Azteca Stadium, as Mexico and South Africa prepare to lock horns in a fascinating curtain-raiser!
While we wait for the team news to drop in Mexico City, here are five key factors that could decide the outcome of the match.
17:18 CET – Co-hosts Mexico are considered by many as the favourites to win a wide-open Group A, and they'll be determined to lay down a marker when they take on Hugo Broos' South Africa in Mexico City later.
El Tri boast an impressive unbeaten record across their last seven tournament openers (W5, D2), including a 1-1 draw with Bafana Bafana at the 2010 World Cup.
As for Broos' men, they arrive in North America on the back of a five-game winless run; hardly ideal preparation as they look to advance to the World Cup knockouts for the very first time.
Read our in-depth preview of Group A here!
15:50 CET – Hello and welcome to Flashscore's live coverage of the 2026 World Cup!
The greatest show on earth is finally here, and one of its three host nations will be kicking it off today, with Mexico taking on South Africa at 21:00 CET.
The opening clash will be followed by one between fellow Group A nations South Korea and the Czech Republic, who will do battle at 04:00 CET.
We'll be providing live coverage of both matches, as well as all the build-up – bring it on!
The 2026 World Cup will be held from June 11th to July 19th in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The tournament will feature 48 national teams and will be played in 16 modern stadiums.
Match schedule and times | Group tables | Full squads for World Cup | How to watch the World Cup
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