Bafana Bafana‘s 2026 FIFA World Cup Group A opponents Mexico picked up an important 1-0 win over Australia in a friendly international at Estadio Banorte on Sunday morning.
With less than 10 days to go before the global showpiece, co-hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico, gets underway, El Tricolor have maintained a winning momentum.
In their past 15 matches, they won seven of those clashes, playing to six draws and losing just two.
The two draws recently came against powerhouses Portugal (0-0) and Belgium (1-1) while losing to Colombia and Paraguay.
Mexico have now won two matches on the trot – beating Ghana 2-0 and then the Socceroos 1-0, courtesy of Johan Vásquez’s 26th-minute strike.
Javier Aguirre’s charges look to be in perfect shape for their highly anticipated Group A encounter against South Africa on 11 June.
Bafana on the other hand have not had the best of preparations go their way. They are winless in four outings since beating Zimbabwe 3-2 at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. They then lost 2-1 to Cameroon in the Round of 16 at AFCON.
They have played to three draws with two defeats most recently. They were held to a 1-1 stalemate by Panama before losing 2-1 to the same opponent.
On Friday evening, SA were held to a 0-0 stalemate by lowly-ranked Nicaragua before they jet off to Mexico where they are expected to play one final practice match before the world cup starts.
Preparations for South Africa have already been chaotic after the South African Football Association (SAFA) announced that they had experienced visa issues which means they will leave a day later than initially scheduled, even though the matter has since been resolved.
Bafana’s other Group A opposition, South Korea, were in rampant mood as they thumped Trinidad and Tobago 5-0 in their friendly warm-up tie on Sunday as well.
Korea had beaten Ivory Coast 4-0 and then Austria 1-0. They take on El Salvador on 4 June in another warmup match.
Image credit: Mexico National Team FB
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