Mexico triumphs in World Cup opener

Hosts Mexico beat South Africa 2-0 in a promising opening game of the men’s soccer World Cup. The tournament has been beset with fears over seat pricing and turnout, but the Azteca stadium was full and in carnival mode, with beer and paper sombreros raining from the stands. Concerns about violence following several cartel shootings in Mexico in recent months have, so far, not materialized either. But the opening game, featuring the one soccer-obsessed nation out of the three hosts, is the easy one: Czechia-South Korea, the night’s other game, had thousands of empty seats. And TV-watching fans were irritated to learn that hydration breaks were used by broadcasters as an opportunity to show ads, The Athletic reported.