Hugo Broos is confident his South Africa side are as well-prepared as possible to beat Mexico in the 2026 World Cup curtain-raiser.
Bafana Bafana take on co-hosts Mexico in the opening match of the tournament, in what is a repeat of the first fixture of the 2010 edition in South Africa.
It is the first time an opening fixture has ever been repeated from the 19 previous single-match World Cup openers, and Broos’ side enter the competition in need of a win.
South Africa drew both their pre-tournament friendlies against Nicaragua and Jamaica, with this their first World Cup appearance away from home soil since 2002.
They finished top of their group in CAF qualifying for the World Cup, one point ahead of Nigeria.
Excluding a 3-0 awarded loss against Lesotho for fielding an ineligible player, South Africa trailed in only one qualifier, in a 2-0 defeat to Rwanda in November 2023.
They face a Mexico team that are unbeaten in their seven World Cup matches at the Mexico City venue (W5 D2), and Broos acknowledged the difficulties his side will face.
“We know what to do against Mexico. We know what to do when they have the ball and when we have possession. Everything is focused on this game,” said Broos.
“They are all dangerous, they are a very good team with a lot of movement and solidarity. You can see they really want to be world champions.”
South Africa are yet to progress beyond the first round at the World Cup, with their other Group A fixtures pitting them against South Korea and Czechia.
The Opta supercomputer has assigned Bafana Bafana just a 28% chance of finishing in the top two spots of their group, with their most likely position being fourth (44%).
Mexico won all three of their warm-up matches, which concluded with a 5-1 thrashing of 10-man Serbia, but Broos remained optimistic that his players could cause an upset.
“You can see that with the way Mexico play. We will have to be at our best level if we want to get a result. It is a very complete team,” Broos added.
“For us it will be very important to stick to the game-plan, and we don’t listen to what is happening in the stands.”
