Orlando Pirates product desperate to emulate Kaizer Chiefs legend Siphiwe Tshabalala in Bafana Bafana's 2026 FIFA World Cup opener against Mexico

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be held from June 11 to July 19 and co-hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada.  

Bafana Bafana are set to dine with the best in the world for the first time since 2010, when the country hosted the tournament.

In the draw conducted on Friday night, Hugo Broos' men were in Group A alongside Mexico, Korea Republic and the European Play Off Path D winner between Denmark, North Macedonia, the Czech Republic, and Ireland. 

The first match for South Africa will be on June 11 at Estadio Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, where they will come face with their hosts, Mexico. The venue will go down in history as the first one to host three World Cup editions. 

On June 18, Hugo Broos' men will then make a trip to Atlanta Stadium, where they will rub shoulders with either the Czech Republic, the Republic of Ireland, Denmark, or North Macedonia.

The final Group A game will be at the Estadio BBVA, Guadalupe, on June 24 against the Korea Republic. 

This will be the fifth meeting between the sides across all competitions. The first one came in 1993 in an international friendly, where the South Americans won 4-0.

In 2000, the duo met, once again, in the US Nike Cup, and it was Mexico who managed to beat South Africa 4-2.  

Five years later, Bafana Bafana were paired with Mexico in the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the former registered a 2-1 victory.

The most famous meeting was on June 11, 2010, in the World Cup's Group A opener that was played at Soccer City. Siphiwe Tshabalala's rocket gave the hosts a lead before former Barcelona star Rafael Marquez ensured it ended 1-1.

Former Orlando Pirates winger Mohau Nkota, who was just six years old when the Kaizer Chiefs legend was writing the history books, is now keen on scoring the first goal in the World Cup, 16 years later, against the same opponent. 

“For me, I just go there to score, I want to score the first goals of the FIFA World Cup," Nkota concluded.  

South Africa captain Ronwen Williams believes it is a fair draw and Bafana Bafana will do everything possible to deliver.

“It’s nice to play against the host nation because, of course the country will get behind them,” the Mamelodi Sundowns star stated.

“There are a lot of familiar faces that we will be up against. In South Korea, there are some players that we played against at the FIFA Club World Cup, who play for Ulsan HD.

“Yeah, I think it’s a fair group, a good group, one that we believe that we can go and get out of that group.

“You can never say where you're gonna get points and where you're gonna drop them," he continued.

 Every game has its own challenges; we will go out to each game believing that we can win it and get results.

“We don’t want to be there to just add numbers, we wanna see how far we’ve come as a country and believe that we can do wonders.

“We don’t want to put pressure on ourselves. This is our first time in a very long time to be part of that prestige tournament. We believe that we’re capable of getting out of that group," he concluded.