Mexico beats Czechia to clinch top spot in Group A, South Africa stuns South Korea to earn knockout round spot
MEXICO CITY — Mateo Chávez and Julián Quiñones scored goals in a six-minute span early in the second half, and Mexico beat Czechia 3-0 on Wednesday night to win all three of its World Cup group-stage matches for the first time.
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The 22-year-old Chávez, in his first World Cup, opened the scoring in the 55th minute and Quiñones scored his second goal of the tournament in the 61st. Alvaro Fidalgo added a goal in second-half stoppage time.
Mexico’s previous best group-stage performance was two wins and one draw, done in 1986 and 2002 and both featuring Javier Aguirre, the first as a midfielder and the second as El Tri’s coach.
Already the winner of Group A, Mexico will play again at Azteca Stadium on Tuesday in a round-of-32 match against an opponent to be determined.
Czechia was eliminated, finishing with one point in three games.
The match included nods to Mexico’s past and future. Gilberto Mora became the youngest Mexico player to start in a World Cup at age 17. And 40-year-old goalkeeper Guillermo “Memo” Ochoa entered in the 77th minute, joining Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo as the only players to appear in six World Cups.
South Africa stuns South Korea, moves on
South Africa advanced to the knockout phase of the World Cup for the first time with a 1-0 victory over South Korea on Wednesday night in Guadalupe.
Thapelo Maseko scored in the 63rd minute off a precise cross from Tshepang Moremi and South Africa finished in second place in Group A behind Mexico, which won all three of its group-stage games.
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South Africa will take on Canada, the second-place finisher in Group B, in a knockout game Sunday at Inglewood, California.
Bafana Bafana had failed to advance from the group stage in 1998, 2002, and as host in 2010.
South Africa opened its World Cup with a 2-0 loss to Mexico before using a late goal to earn a 1-1 draw with Czech Republic. It entered its final group-stage game trailing Mexico and favored South Korea before shocking the Taegeuk Warriors.
South Korea opened this World Cup with a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Czech Republic and lost to Mexico 1-0 in its second game. The Taegeuk Warriors could still advance in the tournament, pending the results of other games this week.
South Korea became the first Asian team to reach the knockout round in 2002, when it finished fourth overall. The Taegeuk Warriors also advanced out of the group stage in 2022 and 2010, both times reaching the round of 16.
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