From The Sports Desk: The World Cup is finally here
Forty-eight teams. Three host countries. Sixteen stadiums. And 39 days long. The 23rd edition of the men’s World Cup is finally here, with the opening ceremony taking place at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium today ahead of co-hosts Mexico taking on South Africa. When Shakira and Bur
Forty-eight teams. Three host countries. Sixteen stadiums. And 39 days long. The 23rd edition of the men’s World Cup is finally here, with the opening ceremony taking place at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium today ahead of co-hosts Mexico taking on South Africa. When Shakira and Burna Boy perform the official anthem “Dai Dai” at the ceremony, FIFA will no doubt be hoping that after a bumpy run-up to the competition, the world can finally start talking soccer.
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Mexico — one of the three co-hosts with America and Canada — will bid to end its World Cup opening-day curse when it takes on South Africa in the tournament’s first game today at the recently renovated Azteca Stadium. It’s a repeat of the first game of the 2010 competition, in Johannesburg, which ended 1-1.
That was a relative success for a nation that has repeatedly failed to win its opening game. Coach Javier Aguirre told a news conference Wednesday: “We must break that trend.”
El Tri enters the tournament buoyed by a run of warmup victories, and hoping veteran forward Raúl Jiménez can help fire them to glory on home soil. Fans will also be pinning their hopes on midfielder Gilberto Mora , at 17 this World Cup’s youngest player and a potential breakout star.
Mexico has only made it to the last eight twice, both times when it hosted the tournament, in 1970 and 1986. Four years ago in Qatar, it didn’t make it out of the group stage.
Aguirre will be up against a familiar foe in the opposition dugout: South Africa coach Hugo Broos was in the Belgium team that lost 2-1 against an El Tri side featuring Aguirre in 1986. Broos has led South Africa to its first World Cup in 16 years.
The second fixture of the day sees the two other Group A sides, South Korea and Czechia, go head-to-head. South Korean star Son Heung-min , widely considered the best Asian player in recent times, comes into his fourth World Cup after a poor season with Los Angeles FC. South Korea should be wary of Czechia’s threat from set plays. In qualifying, the two-time runners-up (as Czechoslovakia, in 1934 and 1962) scored more set-piece goals — seven of them headers — than any other European team.
