Mexico defeated South Africa 2-0 on Thursday in the opening match of the FIFA World Cup in front of 80,824 fans at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. Mexico Fs Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez scored the two goals to secure Mexico its first opening match victory. Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said, “[It was] the start of the World Cup. It’s an intense atmosphere” (L.A. TIMES, 6/11). After an opening ceremony that featured actress Salma Hayek and musician Shakira, supporters “transformed into a wall of noise during Mexico’s national anthem.” They “booed as one when they spotted FIFA President Gianni Infantino" and they “greeted” rock band El Tri (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/11).
The security around Estadio Azteca was “strict,” as “large numbers of law enforcement officers held off groups of protesters before the leadoff match.” A one-mile radius around the stadium was “closed to vehicular traffic,” so many people with tickets to the match “walked the final portion, and tickets or credentials needed to be shown” (N.Y. TIMES, 6/11). Armed police “charged rioters after rocks and Molotov cocktails were thrown outside” the match. In “chaotic scenes at the gates,” police “clashed with hooded protesters shortly after kick-off.” The main clash was “prompted by rioters attempting to enter Gate Eight of the stadium.” Dozens of arrests are “understood to have been made,” after about 1,000 protesters “clashed with officers in various areas.” However, before Mexico-South Africa had finished, the Secretariat of Citizen Security said that the situation outside “had calmed” (London TELEGRAPH, 6/11). The fears that “protests would disrupt or delay the opening match evaporated in the face of an enormous security operation around the perimeter of the stadium,” with the various unions and pressure groups “persuaded to focus their main action in the city centre” (London TIMES, 6/11).
The London INDEPENDENT’s Ed Malyon writes soccer fans “needed this.” Malyon: “We needed an end to the gouging and the politicking and the shambles, to the power games and the bad faith actions of those who run the show. What we needed was the show. Thankfully that show has now begun and with the arrival of football the conversations can change a little” (London INDEPENDENT, 6/12).
