Mexico open the World Cup against South Africa on 11 June at a 2,240m Estadio Azteca. Javier Aguirre arrives off two clean-sheet warm-up wins (2-0 Ghana, 1-0 Australia) with Raúl Jiménez and Santiago Giménez up top and a goalkeeper question between 40-year-old Guillermo Ochoa and Raúl Rangel. Hugo Broos's Bafana — back at a World Cup for the first time since 2010 — counter with a compact, mostly home-based block led by captain-keeper Ronwen Williams and Burnley's Lyle Foster.
The tournament's first whistle blows 2,240 metres above sea level, and altitude is Aguirre's quiet twelfth man. Mexico go in sharp — two clean sheets in the send-off window, 2-0 over Ghana and 1-0 over Australia — with Raúl Jiménez (Fulham, 35, and third on Mexico's all-time scoring list) and AC Milan's Santiago Giménez the likeliest front pairing, Edson Álvarez screening midfield. The one genuine selection debate is in goal: Guillermo Ochoa, 40 and chasing a record-equalling sixth World Cup, against the younger Raúl Rangel.
Broos's South Africa are the opposite proposition — a tight, low-block side with nineteen of the 26 drawn from the domestic league, Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates supplying eight apiece. Lyle Foster of Burnley leads the line; the spine is built on organisation rather than stardust, and on a goalkeeper, Ronwen Williams, who is among the best on the continent. It is Broos's last job in management and Bafana's first World Cup since they hosted in 2010.
Openers are won by the side that settles first. At altitude, with a nation holding its breath, that is easier said than done.
The fuller scene-setter is in our Azteca curtain-raiser preview. Once the team news is digested, the Fantakick angle is how to build your opener lineup, and the three-host backdrop is our wider read.
Sources: Al Jazeera — Mexico preview · Olympics.com — Mexico squad · FIFA — South Africa squad · FourFourTwo — South Africa squad.