Will chaos reign? A red start to the World Cup

On any other day, the conversation would have centred around Oh Hyeon-gyu's winner for South Korea against Czechia or even the World Cup's opening goal by Julian Quinones for Mexico which had the majority of the Azteca stadium in raptures.

- Ashish Magotra

It is the start of the World Cup — everyone wants a celebration of goals and lovely little touches. It just makes for a great atmosphere.

But by the time the Mexico vs South Africa game ended with the hosts winning 2-0, the focus was on the red cards. South Africa's Yaya Sithole and Themba Zwane were sent off, and then Mexico's Cesar Montes was dismissed in stoppage time.

Referee Wilton Sampaio’s performance in the game has become a global talking point. Reason? This was the first red card brandished in a World Cup opening match since Marco Etcheverry for Bolivia against Germany in 1994 and it had been 20 years since three players were sent off in one match.

Since then the referees have been stricter or maybe the players have perhaps been a little kinder. Both the World Cups in Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022) saw just four red cards in the whole tournament. The 2026 tournament has nearly matched that already.

Sithole card in the 49th minute was for a clear foul. He was sent off for bringing down Brian Gutiérrez as the Mexican was racing through on goal.

The second red wasn't as clear a decision. Themba Zwane was sent off following a VAR review just 23 minutes after coming on as a substitute for violent conduct.