How to watch today's Mexico vs South Africa World Cup game: Live stream, TV channel, and start time

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How to watch the World Cup match between Mexico and South Africa, as well as kick-off time and team news

Today's game between Mexico and South Africa will kick-off at Jun 11, 2026, 3:00 p.m..

Canadian viewers can watch Mexico vs South Africa live on TSN1 or stream the match via TSN+. The game is also available free-to-air on CTV, with the CTV App and RDS Apps providing additional streaming options for those watching on mobile or connected devices.

Mexico open their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign against South Africa at Mexico City Stadium, with the hosts carrying enormous expectation into what is the defining fixture of Group A's opening round.

Javier Aguirre's side arrive in fine shape. A 5-1 demolition of Serbia in their final pre-tournament friendly, after recovering from going a goal down, underlined the belief and depth running through this Mexico squad. Alvaro Fidalgo and Brian Gutierrez were among the standouts, and Aguirre now faces the welcome difficulty of choosing between players who have all pressed their case for a starting role.

El Tri extended their unbeaten run on home soil to 22 matches with that result, a statistic that speaks to the fortress Mexico has built under Aguirre ahead of a tournament they are hosting for the first time since 1986.

The FIFA World Cup 2026 is set to be the biggest edition of the tournament ever, featuring 48 national teams, hosted across three countries: the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Running from June 11 to July 19, 2026, this event promises to be a historic celebration of football.

The FIFA World Cup is coming to Los Angeles! ESPN+'s Graham Metzker says young superstar Lamine Yamal and Spain will take the crown, while Sporting Tribune's Alex Hutton has Kylian Mbappe and France getting revenge for their 2022 Final loss. Darren Haynes hosts, and asks how the USMNT will fair on home soil, in the latest Sports Central Showdown.

This guide covers the complete World Cup 2026 schedule, host cities, matchdays, and official broadcasting channels where fans can enjoy live coverage around the world.

Heavy favorites are littered across the 12 four-team groups for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Eight of the 12 group favorites carry odds of -200 or higher, including Spain, Germany and Brazil.

The United States men's national team is the only group favorite with plus-money odds. That's such an intriguing bet to make since the Americans will be playing on home soil.

Finding a good plus-money bet on a group winner is difficult because there aren't many challenging groups with the field expanded to 48 teams.

However, there is one Europe-versus-South America battle that could end up in the underdog's favor.

The United States men's national team is the only group favorite to sit at plus-money.

That's a little concerning if you're looking for positive signs about how far Mauricio Pochettino's side will advance on home soil.

The USMNT and Turkiye are only separated by five positions in the FIFA men's world rankings. Turkiye hasn't qualified for a World Cup since its magical third-place run in 2002.

Turkiye did make the quarterfinals at the last European Championships with a handful of key figures on the current roster, including Inter's Hakan Calhanoglu and Fenerbahce's Kerem Akturkoglu.

Real Madrid teenager Arda Guler is the playmaker for the European side. He could cause some damage in the USMNT back line.

The good news for the Americans is that center-back Chris Richards has extra time to heal before the showdown with Turkiye on Matchday 3.

You have to assume the Americans will be supercharged with emotion on home soil in Friday's opener against Paraguay and earn three points.

Australia is viewed as the weakest team in Group D. The Americans should pick up three points from Matchday 2.

The assumption is that Group D comes down to the U.S.-Turkiye clash on Matchday 3. The Turks beat the Americans 2-1 last June behind goals from Guler and Akturkoglu. Most of the top American attackers were not in the squad for that game, though.

With Christian Pulisic, Folarin Balogun, Weston McKennie and others on the field, the USMNT is either at an equal talent level, or higher, in comparison to Turkiye's top players.

The home-field advantage could be a real difference-maker for the Americans in a tight game.

All but one of the World Cup hosts dating back to 2002 earned at least four points in group play. That's the bare minimum expectation for the Americans, but in reality, they should record six or seven points and capture the group on home soil.

You'd be hard pressed to find a better group game than Portugal-Colombia.

The Cristiano Ronaldo-led Portugal is ranked fifth in the world and is viewed as one of the favorites to win the World Cup.

Colombia comes in with a No. 13 ranking and one of the best in-form attackers in the world in Bayern Munich's Luis Diaz. Diaz had 15 goals and 14 assists for the German champions.

Colombia scored 28 goals in 18 World Cup qualification games. Only Argentina outscored Los Cafeteros in South America.

Colombia beat Brazil and Argentina at home, tied with Argentina in Buenos Aires and lost by one to Brazil during qualification.

Portugal has a real fight on its hands on Matchday 3 in Miami. First place in Group K comes with a reward. A third-place team awaits the Group K winner in the round of 32. Then, the Group B winner, either Canada or Switzerland, is on deck in the round of 16.

Portugal needs to figure out how to not be entirely reliant on Ronaldo. It suffered disappointing exits at the quarterfinal or prior in each of its last three major tournaments.

Bruno Fernandes is more of a creator than a pure scorer, while Joao Felix has just 12 goals in 54 international appearances. Goncalo Ramos, who has 10 goals in 24 caps, is the best non-Ronaldo scoring option.

Colombia will rely heavily on Diaz, but it also should have some sort of home-field advantage in Miami. Another attacker does need to step up alongside Diaz to threaten a strong Portuguese defense, but it does have the quality to at least force a draw.

Scoring ability will be massive for both Colombia and Portugal in their first two Group K games against DR Congo and Uzbekistan. Goal differential is the first tiebreaker if the teams are tied on seven points.

Colombia's excellent record in qualification suggests it can run up the score and outpace Portugal over two games, in case the tiebreaker is needed to determine the Group K winner.

The Netherlands feel like an undervalued team at -125 to win Group F given their stature as the No. 8 team in the FIFA world rankings.

The Oranje will be without the injured Xavi Simons, one of the best attacking midfielders in the world, but there's still plenty of quality in the attacking third.

Cody Gakpo and Memphis Depay are the mainstay scorers for the Dutch, but keep an eye on Donyell Malen, who had a double-digit scoring campaign at Roma.

The Dutch defense is as strong as they come with Virgil Van Dijk leading the line. They allowed four goals during their eight-game UEFA qualification campaign. They also held France scoreless and reached the UEFA Euro 2024 semifinals by conceding one goal in the round of 16 and quarterfinals.

Japan had an equally as impressive finish to qualification with a +27 goal differential in the third stage of AFC qualifying.

But the Blue Samurai drew with Mexico and Paraguay, lost to the United States as part of their World Cup preparations last fall.

Sweden is the potential dark-horse in Group F because it has Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres up top, but it hasn't kept a clean sheet in 12 months.

If the Dutch find the perfect combination in attack, they should easily take Group F and be in a good spot to make a deep run in the knockout round.

The World Cup will officially kick off June 11 in Mexico City, where one of three opening ceremonies will take place. The first match of the tournament features Mexico and South Africa.

The final match will be held July 19 at MetLife Stadium, home of the NFL's New York Giants and New York Jets. The final will include the first World Cup halftime show, which is already drawing comparisons to the Super Bowl tradition. But we'll talk more about the halftime show and opening ceremonies in a few.

Matches for the 2026 World Cup are being held at 16 stadiums across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Many of the stadiums have been renamed by FIFA for the duration of the tournament because the companies that paid for the naming rights are not FIFA sponsors.

The format: How does the tournament work?

This is the first time the World Cup will feature 48 teams, so the format will be slightly different.

It starts with the group stage, then heads to knockout rounds.

Group stage: Each of the 48 teams has been split into 12 groups of four teams, decided by the World Cup draw in December. The teams in each group play each other once, meaning all nations will play a minimum of three games at the tournament. The top two teams from each group are guaranteed to advance, as will the eight best third-place teams. Teams finishing fourth in groups are eliminated.

Knockout stage: The 32 surviving teams after the group stage will enter a single-elimination tournament, with one exception: The teams that lose in the semifinals will advance to a third-place match the day before the World Cup final.

The 48 teams have been split up into the following 12 groups. Each group is a mini-league, with final rankings based on the number of points each team gets from its three matches. A win gets you three points, a draw gets you one and a loss gets you absolutely nothing at all.

The top two teams in each group will advance, as well as the eight best third-place teams.

Group A: Mexico, South Korea, Czechia, South Africa

Group B: Switzerland, Canada, Qatar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Scotland, Haiti

Group D: United States, Turkey, Australia, Paraguay

Group E: Germany, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Curacao

Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Tunisia

Group G: Belgium, Iran, Egypt, New Zealand

Group H: Spain, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Cape Verde

Group I: France, Senegal, Norway, Iraq

Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan

Group K: Portugal, Colombia, Congo, Uzbekistan

Group L: England, Croatia, Panama, Ghana

Tournament dates

The FIFA World Cup runs June 11 through July 19. Below is a breakdown of dates by stage.

Group stage: June 11-June 27

Round of 32: June 28-July 3

Round of 16: July 4-7

Quarterfinals: July 9-11

Semifinals: July 14 and 15

Third-place match: July 18

World Cup final: July 19

The last six World Cups have seen six different champions — Argentina in 2022, France in 2018, Germany in 2014, Spain in 2010, Italy in 2006 and Brazil in 2002.

Argentina is trying to do something that hasn’t been done in generations: win back-to-back World Cups. The only nations to achieve that feat were Italy (1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958 and 1962).

Spain (+450) is the World Cup betting favorite, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed closely by France (+550), England (+650), Brazil (+800), Argentina (+800) and Portugal (+1000).

The U.S. has odds of +4000.

The longest shots in the field? That would be Haiti and Curacao, both currently at +250000, meaning a $100 bet on either of those nations would return $250,000 if they were to win the World Cup.

Fox Sports is the English-language home in the U.S. for the World Cup, with 70 matches set to be aired on Fox and 34 more on FS1. All matches will stream live on Fox One and the Fox Sports app.

Spanish-speaking viewers in the U.S. will be able to watch on NBCUniversal’s Telemundo and Universo.

Peacock, FuboTV, Hulu, YouTubeTV and DirecTV Stream will also offer some matches.