The 2026 World Cup got underway on Thursday night as all four teams played and look to be in the final positions already.
Group A’s tournament opener will be remembered for more controversial reasons after referee Wilton Sampaio brandished three red cards – two for South Africa and another for Mexico.
South Korea and Czech Republic then faced off a few hours later and played a surprisingly entertaining second half after a rather dull first 45 minutes.
World Cup 2026 Group A outright odds
Mexico Group A odds
Mexico opened their tournament account in simple fashion, scoring two goals, keeping a clean sheet, and barely breaking a sweat to earn all three points.
Their outright odds have shortened from 80/1 to 4/7 following the win on Thursday night. Julian Quinones offered plenty of threat down Mexico’s left, and Raul Jimenez was also among the goals, although they’ll be without captain Cesar Montes for their second and decisive Group A fixture with South Korea on Friday 19th June.
Czech Republic winner odds
Czech Republic don’t pose a serious enough challenge to the other teams in the group. Especially after a disappointing performance during the loss to South Korea on early Friday morning.
The Representatives now look much more suited to looking to qualify as one of the third-placed teams than to make a charge for first – or even second – place.
South Korea odds
South Korea are real dark horses at this World Cup and could pose the biggest threat to Mexico.
Son Heung-min is still the star of the team, but he’s backed up by a very impressive cast that includes PSG’s Lee Kang-in, Kim Min-jae of Bayern Munich and Wolves’ Hwang Hee-chan.
Though it was Feyenoord’s Hwang In-beom who stole the show with a goal and an assist in the win against Czech Republic.
The Taegeuk Warriors made it to the round-of-16 in Qatar after back-to-back group exits, while they battled through two qualifying group stages for the current tournament without suffering a single defeat – and got off to a winning start as well.
South Africa odds
South Africa made the worst possible start to their first finals appearance for 16 years. They conceded two goals, failed to offer any real threat going forward themselves, and were reduced to nine men by the final whistle.
Bafana Bafana have seen their odds to win this summer’s tournament drift from 1000/1 out to 1500/1 after Thursday’s forgettable opener.
Group A top goalscorer options
While you can’t back the top goalscorer for goals within the group, you can back the competition top goalscorer and there are a few options available for Group A at the moment.
| Player | Bet365 Odds | BetMGM Odds | William Hill Odds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raul Jimenez | 50/1 | 40/1 | 50/1 |
| Orbelin Pineda | 150/1 | N/A | 150/1 |
| Son Heung-min | 125/1 | 50/1 | 125/1 |
| Lee Kang-in | 150/1 | N/A | 150/1 |
| Hwang Hee-chan | 200/1 | N/A | 200/1 |
| Lyle Foster | 500/1 | 100/1 | 500/1 |
READ MORE: Check all of the Top Goalscorer market odds here
World Cup 2026 Group A fixtures and results
World Cup 2026 Group A table
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