Mexico got the World Cup party started as the co-hosts swept away South Africa 2-0 on Thursday in an encounter with three red cards as the quadrennial football extravaganza got underway at the Azteca stadium.

Julian Quinones’s early strike set the tone for a dominant Mexican display in the Group A encounter with Raul Jimenez’s header midway through the second half removing any lingering tension for the home crowd.

Yet the match will be remembered as much for the three dismissals, with South Africa having Sphephelo Sithole sent off early in the second half, with his teammate Themba Zwane following him off the pitch before Mexico’s Cesar Montes was dismissed in the dying moments.