It wasn’t pretty, the game distinguished by little other than its black v lilac colour scheme, but Mexico became the first side at the 2026 World Cup to secure their place in the knockout stage. They are sure to top their group and stay in Mexico City, opening the path for an apocalyptic meeting at the Azteca in the last 16. The question for Mexico and South Korea after their opening wins was whether they had been good or their opponents bad, and this offered a fairly clear answer: neither is over-blessed with creative edge.
The only goal came after 50 minutes and was a gift from South Korea. Kim Seung-gyu, the goalkeeper, came to claim a looping header, but did so over the top of Lee Ki-hyuk, jarring his elbow on the defender’s head and spilling the ball for Luis Romo, who hooked in his fifth international goal on his 64th appearance. Romo was one of three changes made from Mexico’s lineup for the opener, coming in for Álvaro Fidalgo as Javier Aguirre resisted the popular demand to hand a start to the 17-year-old Gilberto Mora. A remarkable double save from Raúl Rangel in the closing minutes preserved the lead as he got down to parry Cho Gue-sung’s header and had the core strength to twist and gather Yang Hyun-jun’s sliced follow-up.
