Bafana Bafana‘s Group A opponents, Mexico and Czechia both secured huge wins as the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup closes in.
With less than five days to go before the global showpiece, co-hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico, gets underway, El Tricolor and the Czechs have maintained a winning momentum.
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Mexico have now won three matches on the trot – beating Ghana 2-0 and then the Socceroos 1-0, courtesy of Johan Vásquez’s 26th-minute strike.
On Thursday, El Tri were in rampant mood as they swept aside Serbia 5-1 to extend their unbeaten run to seven matches with five wins and two draws.
Two of Mexico’s most in-form stars Johan Vásquez and Raul Jimenez got their names on the scoresheet to bring El Tri back into the match after they had fallen behind in the 19th minute after Petar Stanic capitalized on a defensive mistake.
Vásquez levelled matters in the 34th minute before they took a 2-1 lead through Stefan Bukinac’s own goal.
Jimenez then found the net shortly after the second interval with an attempt stricking the post and then rebounding off the Fulham forward before crossing the line.
Another own goal handed the Mexicans a comfortable 4-1 lead when Adem Avdic turned the ball into his own net.
Luis Chavez then completed the rout just before the 90-minute mark for a commanding 5-1 thrashing.
Czechia also picked up a resounding success, thrashing Guatemala 3-1 with strikes from Patrik Schick, Tomáš Chorý and Denis Visinsky while William Fajardo netted the consolation for the Guatemalans.
Bafana on the other hand have not had the best of preparations go their way. They are winless in four outings since beating Zimbabwe 3-2 at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. They then lost 2-1 to Cameroon in the Round of 16 at AFCON.
They have played to three draws with two defeats most recently. They were held to a 1-1 stalemate by Panama before losing 2-1 to the same opponent.
Last Friday evening, SA were held to a 0-0 stalemate by lowly-ranked Nicaragua before they jetted off to Mexico where they are expected to play one final practice match against Jamaica before the world cup starts.
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