Historic opening for Bafana Bafana & Mexico: Sixth-ever World Cup game with 3 red cards

While the second Group A match between South Korea and the Czech Republic delivered excitement, chances, quality attacking play, three goals, a comeback, and a thrilling finish, the tournament opener between Mexico and South Africa was a far less entertaining affair.

The home team played just well enough to win, while Bafana Bafana's performance was quite subpar. Despite producing two goals, the match would not have been particularly memorable had it not been for Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio, who sent off three players.

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South Africa's Yaya Sithole was the first to be dismissed four minutes after the break for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity as the last defender. To make matters worse for the Tondela midfielder, his mistake directly led to Mexico's opening goal, with the red card merely capping off a miserable evening.

Thirty-five minutes later, Sithole was joined in the dressing room by teammate Themba Zwane, who was sent off just 23 minutes after coming off the bench for deliberately slapping the rival in the face. The VAR room reacted, and there was no dilemma for Sampaio.

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Given South Africa's overall display in the opening game, the two dismissals felt like a natural consequence of an undisciplined and underwhelming performance.

Ironically, Mexico's lone red card could prove more costly than South Africa's two. With the result already beyond doubt, captain Cesar Montes was sent off and will now miss the potentially decisive group-stage clash against South Korea on June 19 (04.00).

And even though last night's clash was by no means eye-catching, it still made history, as it became only the third World Cup opener to feature a red card, after the duel between Germany and Switzerland (1938) and Argentina and Cameroon (1990).

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At the same time, it was also only the sixth World Cup match ever to produce three dismissals, while the benchmark in this particular category remains the infamous "Battle of Nuremberg" between the Netherlands and Portugal at the 2006 World Cup - a Round of 16 match that produced four red cards and 16 bookings.

Finally, the last two World Cups produced only four red cards each. This tournament needed just one match to reach three.

Who knows what else is in store for us?

WORLD CUP - GROUP STAGE

First round

Thursday, 11.06.

Mexico - South Africa 2-0 (1-0)

/Quinones 9, Jimenez 67/

Friday, 12. 06.

South Korea - Czech Republic 2-1 (0-0)

/Hwang In Beom 67, Oh Hyeon-Gyu 80 - Krejci 59/

22.00: (1.85) Canada (3.70) B&H (4.25)

Saturday, 13.06.

04.00: (2.05) USA (3.35) Paraguay (3.80)

22.00: (12.0) Qatar (5.40) Switzerland (1.28)

Sunday, 14.06.

01.00: (1.62) Brazil (3.80) Morocco (5.80)

04.00: (6.80) Haiti (4.45) Scotland (1.47)

07.00: (4.50) Australia (3.50) Turkey (1.83)

20.00: (1.03) Germany (15.0) Curacao (50.0)

02.00: (2.10) Netherlands (3.45) Japan (3.50)

Monday, 15.06.

02.00: (3.60) Ivory Coast (2.90) Ecuador (2.30)

05.00: (2.00) Sweden (3.35) Tunisia (4.00)

19.00: (1.10) Spain (9.50) Cape Verde (27.0)

22.00: (1.70) Belgium (4.00) Egypt (4.75)

Tuesday 16.06.

01.00: (7.50) Saudi Arabia (4.20) Uruguay (1.47)

04.00: (1.95) Iran (3.35) N.Zealand (4.20)

22.00: (1.47) France (4.50) Senegal (6.75)

***odds are subject to change***