It’s Here.
After a build-up full of chaos and embarrassment for Fifa that has left many fans demoralised, football can restore some faith.
When Siphiwe Chabalala began the 2010 World Cup with a ferocious left foot shot into the roof of the Mexican net for the hosts South Africa, a teenaged Ronwen Williams missed it.
He and his friends had got the kick off time wrong and were rushing to catch up as all around them, Port Elizabeth went mad.
“I can remember like it was yesterday,” says Williams who is now South Africa’s captain and goalkeeper.
“Myself and a few friends were actually crossing the local soccer field on our way to watch at one of our friend’s place when we heard so much noise. Cars were going off and there was a lot of screaming going on, so we started running.
In a weird quirk of fate, South Africa and Mexico are playing a return match of sorts, as they open the 2026 World Cup, this time at the iconic Azteca stadium in Mexico City.
“It’s a very special thing for us in Mexico to have a new World Cup, the third time in our history,” says former Mexico international Joaquin Beltran.
“We have three stadiums, three cities - Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City - ready to receive the people of Colombia, Uzbekistan, Korea, South Africa.
“Everyone is talking about the thirteen games we will host. So it’s a very special time for us.”
The scandalously high cost of match tickets has priced many genuine Mexican football fans out of matches.
But the hope is that a buzz can develop in the nation as it did in South Africa 16 years ago.
“The energy was amazing,” recalls Williams. “It brought so much intensity into the country.
“Seeing all these superstars on our home soil, it just changed my view of football,” he says.
But more significantly for Williams, these experiences may have jolted him back to the path that will lead to the Azteca.
“At that moment, I didn’t want to play football anymore because I just lost my brother two months prior. That just gave me new energy to keep going again.”
Now, he says, it’s time to pay that inspiration forward.
“That was one of the key elements that we discussed as a team, especially with this generation and especially with what’s going on in society right now where people are so negative.
“We wanted to give them something to hold on to, to fight for, to dream for. This can hopefully inspire them to see 26 of their countrymen playing on the biggest sporting event and push them to dream even bigger.”
Perhaps young Mexicans will be inspired by their prodigious starlet, Gilberto Mora.
He is 17, the youngest player at the World Cup, and has taken the nation by storm ever since scoring three goals as a 16-year-old at last year’s Under-20 World Cup.
“He plays in the stadium like he was playing in the street with his friends,” says Joaquin Beltran.
“I don’t know if he will start the games in the World Cup, but I think the minutes he will have, he will make a difference because he can do things that other players don’t.”
For Williams, though his big brother Marvin may have gone, in a way he remains with him.
“When I go into penalty shootouts, I try and have a conversation with my late brother. So I’m just telling him to show me which way to go,” says the keeper who is famous for making four saves in a shoot-out during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
“I just try and be positive, remain calm, and I’ve got a guardian angel always looking over me. So I’m in conversation with him.
“My brother, he’s probably the one person who believed so much in me. I know that he’s looking down, proud of the man I have become and the player that I have become.”
So will there be a conversation at Azteca today?
“Definitely. He had big dreams for me. He always hoped that I was going to be part of the 2010 World Cup.
“So 100 percent definitely I’ll be dedicating the match to him, will be chatting to him throughout the game.”
And what will he say to Marvin?
“We’ve made it. We’ve made it.”