Mexico opened its World Cup campaign with a 1-0 win over South Korea on Friday morning, using home-field advantage in Guadalajara to secure first place in Group A. Luis Romo scored the only goal in the 50th minute after capitalizing on a mistake by Sungyu Kim, sending the home crowd into celebration.
The result continued Mexico's pattern of doing best at World Cups when the tournament is played on home soil. With the three points, Javier Aguirre's team moved a major step closer to the round of 16, which has been a historic barrier for Mexico. In this case, the match also showed that the hosts could cope with a strong opponent even without suspended defender Cesar Montes, whose place was filled successfully by Edson Alvarez.
Tens of thousands of fans dressed in green filled Guadalajara, reinforcing the pressure Mexico has talked about ahead of the tournament, a pressure driven by the expectations of more than 130 million Mexicans. Rather than being held back by the occasion, the national team delivered the result it needed.
South Korea, which came in with confidence after a comeback win over Czechia, was again undone by its record against the North American side. The Koreans will need to finish the job in the final round if they want to advance to the knockout stage for a second straight tournament.
