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Back Mexico to hit the ground running with a win over South Africa on Thursday night. El Tri won the 2025 Gold Cup last summer and have been ticking along nicely since then.

In fact, Mexico are unbeaten in eight friendly matches since the turn of the year, winning six of them, the most impressive of which saw them thrash Serbia 5-1 last Friday. Therefore, Javier Aguirre’s side will head into this curtain-raiser brimming with confidence, and a passionate home crowd can spur them on to victory.

As for South Africa, they look the weakest side on paper in Group A and notably lost two of their four matches at the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year. Since then, Bafana Bafana have failed to win any of their subsequent four friendlies, which does little to inspire confidence ahead of the cauldron that awaits them at the Mexico City Stadium.

Not only am I expecting Mexico to win on Thursday night, but I also fancy them to score at least a couple of goals en route to victory.

Javier Aguirre’s side put five past Serbia last week and have demonstrated their attacking firepower throughout the year, as they also registered multiple goals in friendly wins over Ghana and Iceland. El Tri also netted twice in their Gold Cup final triumph over the USA last July.

South Africa, on the other hand, have looked vulnerable defensively for much of the calendar year. Hugo Broos’ side conceded two goals against both Zimbabwe and Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations, while their backline was also breached on multiple occasions in a friendly defeat to Panama at the end of March.

I’m keen to back Raul Jimenez to commit two or more fouls. The Mexico forward leads the line with plenty of aggression and physicality, which often results in him getting on the wrong side of the referee.

As one of the co-hosts, Mexico haven’t had any competitive fixtures for some time, but that hasn’t stopped Jimenez from picking up fouls at a steady rate. Across his three friendly appearances in 2026, he has averaged 1.45 fouls per game for Mexico. Notably, the veteran forward was penalised on no fewer than three occasions against Serbia last week, despite only featuring for the opening hour of the match.

That trend has also been evident at club level. During the recently concluded Premier League season, Jimenez averaged 1.88 fouls per 90 for Fulham, being penalised at least twice in four of his final six starts of the campaign.

Look for Julian Quinones to register a minimum of one shot on target on Thursday night. The Mexican winger is a player who likes to try his luck in front of goal at any given opportunity.

That is underlined by the fact that Quinones has averaged a whopping 4.46 shots per game across his last four appearances for his country. In terms of his shots on target output, the 29-year-old worked the opposition goalkeeper during last week’s 5-1 thrashing of Serbia, while he also registered two on-target efforts against Belgium earlier this year.

Those trends have also been evident on the domestic scene this season, with Quinones averaging 4.46 shots per 90 and 1.94 shots on target per game for club side Al-Qadsiah.

I’m more than happy to back Lyle Foster to be fouled at least once on Thursday night.

The Burnley forward is expected to lead the line for South Africa, meaning he should come in for plenty of close attention from Mexico’s centre-backs. Foster was fouled a combined total of three times across his four appearances at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations.

The 25-year-old also drew free kicks on a relatively consistent basis in the most recent Premier League season. In fact, Foster was fouled an average of 0.92 times per game for Burnley in the English top-flight this term, which only strengthens the case for him to earn his side a minimum of one free-kick here.

What’s more, Mexico’s expected centre-back pairing of Cesar Montes and Johan Vazquez have committed respective averages of 1.01 and 1.66 fouls per game over their last four appearances for their country.

Raul Jimenez undoubtedly represents Mexico’s biggest attacking threat, and I think he looks well placed to either score or assist against South Africa on Thursday night. The 35-year-old forward has racked up a quietly impressive return of 45 goals in 126 appearances for his country, alongside 16 assists for good measure.

The most recent of those goals came against Serbia last week, meaning he has now scored 10 times on the international stage since the beginning of 2025. It should also be noted that the experienced frontman found the net in last year’s Gold Cup triumph, underlining his knack for delivering in big moments on the biggest occasions.

The fact that Jimenez registered 12 goal involvements across his 36 appearances for Fulham in the Premier League last season adds further weight to siding with this selection.

Lyle Foster looks too big to ignore when attempting two or more shots. He is likely to spearhead South Africa’s attack on Thursday night, so he should have ample opportunity to register at least two efforts on goal.

Moreover, Foster fired two or more shots in three of his four appearances at AFCON earlier this year, including four against Cameroon and three against Angola. The Burnley forward has since delivered at least two attempts in South Africa’s friendlies against both Panama and Nicaragua.

Foster also averaged 1.31 shots per game in the Premier League last season. That return is far from poor when you factor in that he was playing in a struggling Burnley side, with a number of his appearances coming from the substitute bench.

Back Teboho Mokoena to commit two or more fouls on Thursday night. The all-action South African midfielder is likely to find himself right in the thick of the midfield battle in this Group A opener.

Mokoena’s combative streak was on full display at the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year, where he racked up a combined total of seven fouls across his four appearances. South Africa have since played Panama in a pair of friendlies, with Mokoena overstepping the mark on multiple occasions in each of those two fixtures.

He also featured at last summer’s Club World Cup for Mamelodi Sundowns, where he gave away two free kicks against Fluminense despite featuring for just 46 minutes.

Mokoena could find himself operating in similar areas of the pitch to Mexico wonderkid Gilberto Mora, who has drawn a sizeable average of 5.10 fouls per game across his last three international appearances.

Johan Vazquez appeals to register one or more shots on target on Thursday night.

The Mexico defender has been testing opposition goalkeepers with impressive regularity in recent times. In fact, the 27-year-old has scored in each of his last two appearances for Mexico, including last week’s 5-1 demolition of Serbia.

Looking further back, Vazquez has also hit the target in friendlies against both South Korea and Uruguay during the second half of 2025. He also got himself on the scoresheet for club side Genoa against AC Milan on the penultimate weekend of the recently concluded Serie A season.

That attacking threat from defence is difficult to ignore, and with Mexico expected to take the more front-foot approach here, Vazquez should again have opportunities to threaten from set-piece situations on Thursday night.

Back Czechia to avoid defeat in their Group A opener against South Korea on Friday.

Miroslav Koubek replaced Ivan Hasek in the Czechia hot seat following a shock 2-1 defeat away to the Faroe Islands during qualifying, and the response has been impressive. The Czechs have since gone six matches unbeaten, winning play-off ties against the Republic of Ireland and Denmark to book their place at this summer’s World Cup.

There have been stronger South Korea sides in years gone by, despite them enjoying a relatively straightforward route to qualification. While the Taegeuk Warriors warmed up with wins over Trinidad and El Salvador, they were thumped 4-0 by Ivory Coast in March before losing 1-0 against Austria three days later.

Czechia are of a similar calibre to those two sides, and on current form, they should head into this contest confident of collecting at least a point.

I’m not expecting goals to flow freely in this game, but I would be surprised if we do not see at least two.

Each of Czechia’s last five matches across all competitions have featured a minimum of two goals, including both of their play-off ties against the Republic of Ireland and Denmark. During the group stage of qualifying, all but one of the Czechs’ seven fixtures broke the over 1.5 goal barrier.

The case is strengthened further when you consider that 18 of South Korea’s last 22 matches have also produced two goals or more. Both sides carry an attacking threat, but neither are completely watertight defensively, so goals at both ends are a real possibility.

I think this game has the feel of a 1-1 draw, or a 2-1 win for Czechia.

Vladimir Coufal looks like a strong candidate to commit at least one foul. The Czechia defender was regularly on the referee’s radar when playing away from home during qualifying.

In fact, Coufal committed multiple fouls in each of his three appearances away from home during the group stage. The former West Ham man was also guilty of one foul against the Republic of Ireland in a play-off semi-final earlier this year.

On top of that, Coufal averaged 1.01 fouls per game in the Bundesliga last season, committing at least one foul in seven of his final 10 appearances of the campaign.

He is likely to find himself operating in similar areas of the pitch to South Korea star Heung-min Son, who has drawn an average of 1.78 fouls per game across his four appearances for his country this calendar year.

Patrik Schick looks like the prime candidate to hit the target at least once during this contest.

The Czechia forward is a talismanic figure for his country, with an impressive return of 26 goals in 53 international appearances. Across his eight outings during World Cup qualifying, Schick hit the target a minimum of once in six of those matches, making the net bulge with five of those efforts.

His shots on target numbers were also strong during the recently concluded Bundesliga season, averaging 1.58 shots on target per 90.

Schick is also his side’s designated penalty taker, which only adds to the appeal of siding with this selection.

Look for Tomas Soucek to be fouled at least once against South Korea on Friday. The towering Czech midfielder not only commits plenty of fouls but also wins his side a fair share of free kicks in the midfield battleground.

Soucek was brought down a combined total of eight times across his 10 appearances during qualifying, with six of those free kicks coming away from home. That trend also carried into last season’s Premier League campaign, where Soucek drew an average of 0.90 fouls per game for West Ham, securing his side eight set-pieces across his final seven outings of the campaign.

Soucek is likely to find himself in a midfield battle alongside Hwang In-beom, who has averaged 1.18 fouls per 90 across his last 17 appearances for his country, while also committing an average of 1.00 fouls per 90 for Feyenoord last season.