Group A: Mexico Sink South Korea To Qualify…

Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images

Co-hosts Mexico became the first team to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup knockout stage with a 1-0 win over Korea Republic on Friday morning.

Fixture: Mexico v South Korea
Score: 1-0
Goalscorers: Romo (50′)

The co-hosts started their campaign with a 2-0 win over South Africa seven days ago and entered the clash top of the table, while the Koreans rallied from behind to secure a 2-1 victory over Czech Republic in their tournament opener last week.

Both teams knew that a spot in the Last 32 was at stake for the winner of the encounter, especially with South Africa and Czechia dropping points in the other Group A encounter on Thursday night.

The first half proved to be an evenly contested affair, although the Koreans did shade the possession statics without creating too many chances in the opposition box.

In face, veteran forward Heung-Min Son had the first half’s only big chance in the opening 45 minutes when he peeled away from his marker in the box before seeing his goal-bound effort blocked by a Mexican defender.

The Mexicans eventually broke the deadlock five minutes after the halftime break, when Korean goalkeeper Seung-Gyu Kim committed a huger by gifting the ball to straight Luis Romo , who needed no second invitation to fire into an empty net.

Korea responded with a double charge for the final 30 minutes as Hee-Chan Hwang came in for Jae-Sung Lee, before Son came off for Hyeon-Gyu Oh as they looked to get themselves an equaliser in the latter stages.

Seung-Gyu kept the Asian giants in the contest with 15 minutes to play, as he produced a superb save to keep out Raul Jimenez’s powerful effort from close range, before Mexico goalkeeper Raul Rangel showed his great reflexes at the other end to keep out Gue-Sung Cho’s point-blank header.

Next Fixtures:

Mexico: Czech Republic

Korea: South Africa