What's next for Mexico without César Montes? Late red card mars stellar day for El Tri

Andrés Soto, USA TODAYFri, June 12, 2026 at 11:03 AM UTC

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MEXICO CITY — Mexico cruised to a comfortable 2-0 win over South Africa to open the 2026 World Cup in front of a raucous home crowd at Estadio Azteca on Thursday. Manager Javier Aguirre believes it could've been a blowout but chalked up the missed opportunities to the nerves that come with playing on the world's biggest stage in your own country for the first time.

Other than that, he says, they played just fine.

"We got 16 shots on our opponent," Aguirre said in Spanish. "We made a lot of passes, a lot of possession. Really, we never struggled on the back line. It was a 2-0 match; it could've been a 4-0 match."

One such missed opportunity came early in the first half when Brian Gutiérrez had a free run to the goal in the 49th minute, only to get dragged down from behind by South Africa midfielder Yaya Sithole just before he dribbled into the penalty box.

That, it turned out, would only be the first of three red cards given out by referee Wilton Sampaio, setting up a chaotic scenario for both national teams heading into their next matches.

Themba Zwane was booted from the game after running into Roberto "El Piojo" Alvarado and making contact with his face in the 83rd, leaving Bafana Bafana with just nine players on the pitch for the final seven minutes.

Mexico, however, didn't escape unscathed. In the first minute of stoppage time, César Montes was sent packing after clipping Khuliso Mudau, who was on the counter from the right wing, and denying a goal-scoring opportunity.

"Cesar's ejection was avoidable in many ways," Aguirre said. "But it's part of the game, and we're preparing now for what comes next."

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Bafana manager Hugo Broos, however, had a slightly different reaction to at least one of the calls against his team.

"The second (red card), we can discuss," Broos said. "It was the Mexican player who was blocking my player. It's the position of the referee, and we have to accept it also, but .... it was too soft to give that as a red card."

As for El Tri, however, questions now arise as to how they move forward into their next game against South Korea without the presence of Montes on the back line. Edson Álvarez seems like the most likely answer. He spent the opener on the bench after Aguirre told reporters he felt like the 28-year-old defender hadn't quite found his rhythm in his first few matches back from his February right ankle surgery.

"I spoke with him and he understood it perfectly," Aguirre said. "He's a very useful player and he'll surely be utilized down the line in this tournament."

Erik Lira is also a possibility, but he'll likely stay in the middle.

Montes' untimely suspension was a damper on an otherwise banner day for El Tri. They're still the best team in Group A, but Aguirre said finishing in first is not where the focus is.

"Right now, the only thing on our minds is the match against Korea," he said. "It's easy to make calculations, additions and subtractions, but in reality, it's not important. It's not our priority. Ours is to think about Korea, try to be better than them, try to win and keep going like that, step by step and see what the future holds for us."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: César Montes red card mars stellar day for Mexico: What's next?

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