Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams is excited to play host nation Mexico in the opening match of the 2026 Fifa World Cup in Mexico City.

The Citizen reports that South Africa was drawn in Group A at the draw conducted in Washington last night, where Bafana will also face South Korea and one of four European nations. Denmark, North Macedonia, the Czech Republic and Ireland will face off in a winner-takes-all play-off in March. 

Bafana-Mexico rematch

“It is a replay of the 2010 opening game (Bafana and Mexico drew 1-1 in the opening match of the 2010 Fifa World Cup at FNB Stadium,” Williams told SuperSport. 

“It will be nice to play the host nation even though the whole nation will be behind them.” 

Williams also expects to see some players from Korean club Ulsan HD, who Mamelodi Sundowns beat 1-0 in their opening match of the 2025 Fifa Club World Cup in the USA. Williams kept a clean sheet and Iqraam Rayners scored the winning goal for Masandawana. 

“South Korea have some of the players we played at the Club World Cup,” added Williams. 

The Bafana captain is confident Bafana can get out of the group and reach the knockout rounds. 

“You can never say where you will get the points. Every game will have its challenges. But we will go out believing we can get a result. We don’t want to be there to add numbers. We want to see how far we have come as a country.” 

‘We believe we are capable’

“That is not to put pressure on us, it is the first time in a long time that we have been at this prestige tournament. But we believe we are capable of getting out of the group.”

Bafana winger Mohau Nkota, meanwhile, wants to emulate Siphiwe Tshabalala in 2010 by scoring against Mexico in Mexico City. 

“For me it is to go there and score, I want to score the first goal of the World Cup!” Nkota told SuperSport. 

2010 Bafana deja-vu

In the opening match is a repeat of the opening match of the 2010 Fifa World Cup when Carlos Alberto Parreira’s Bafana hosted Mexico at FNB Stadium, The Citizen reports.

Siphiwe Tshabalala scored a famous goal with a wonderful left-footed strike, but Rafael Marquez equalised to earn Mexico a point. In the end, it was Mexico and Uruguay who qualified for the last 16 while Bafana crashed out. 

Bafana also played Mexico in the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the USA. Stuart Baxter was the Bafana head coach and South Africa won the match 2-1 with Philip Evans and Elrio Van Heerden getting the goals. 

This will be the first time that South Korea and Bafana have played a senior international match. 

While they will play Mexico in front of a passionate home crowd, on paper the draw is not too bad for Broos’ side, who avoided the likes of Brazil, France, Spain and Argentina. 

There are still six places at this expanded 48-team World Cup finals up for grabs at the World Cup play-offs in March, which is why Bafana’s third opponent is not known for now. 

DR Congo are the African side that could still claim their place in the USA, Canada and Mexico next year. 

Of the other African teams in the World Cup draw, 2022 World Cup finalists Morocco will take on Brazil in the opening match of Group C and have also been drawn with Haiti and Scotland. 

The Ivory Coast are in Group D with Germany, Curacao and Ecuador. Tunisia will play the Netherlands, Japan and a play-off winner in Group. F. Egypt will face Belgium in their opening Group G match. Iran and New Zealand make up the rest of that group. 

France v Senegal repeat

France and Senegal will face off in their first Group I match, a repeat of the opening match of the 2002 Fifa World Cup in Japan and South Korea, which Senegal won. 

Algeria will open their Group J campaign against reigning world champions Argentina, with Austria and Jordan the other teams in the group. 

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