Mexico cruise past Czechia

Mexico cruised past the Czech Republic 3-0 in their Group A match at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on Wednesday, to make it three wins out of three at the FIFA World Cup 2026.

Mexico completed their group stage most convincingly, and this is only the third time in their history that they have won their first two World Cup games.

Czechia dominated the possession in the match, but Mexico had five shots on target in 11 attempts compared to the opposition’s one on target in 13 efforts.

The first half was a goalless affair, but Mexico’s Israel Reyes had a chance to score. He attempted an overhead kick from almost 18 yards out, and his effort went narrowly wide.

Czechia started the second half positively and had their first shot on target when Lukas Cerv’s close-range shot was thwarted by Raul Rangel.

Mexico’s Mateo Chavez broke the deadlock in the 55th minute of the match.

Luis Romo did all the hard work to hold up the ball on the halfway line before passing it to Chavez on his right, who made a bursting run, beat Michal Sadilek in the process, and fired a fine left-footed shot into the bottom-left corner.

Julian Quinones doubled the lead for Mexico six minutes later.
Gilberto Mora played a brilliant pass to Jorge Sanchez on the right wing.

Goalkeeper Matej Kovar rushed out and stopped the danger.

But Tomas Holes’s clearance hit Sanchez, and fell to Quinones, who tapped it in from close range to make it 2-0 to Mexico.

Avaro Fidalgo scored to give Mexico a 3-0 lead in the stoppage time.
Santiago Gimenez made a brilliant run into the box from the right before his attempt was saved by Kovar.

The ball fell to Roberto Alvarado, who found Fidalgo, and the substitute curled an absolute belter into the top-left corner.

The Czechs (0-2-1, 1 point) needed a win to have a strong chance of advancing to the last 32 in their first appearance since 2006, but they offered little going forward.

Their exit was confirmed when South Africa defeated South Korea 1-0 in the other Group A match in Guadalajara, Mexico.