McCarthy and Fortune left speechless as South Africa's 10-man side collapse against Mexico

Benni McCarthy and Quinton Fortune were left visibly lost for words on live television after South Africa suffered a chaotic 2-0 defeat to Mexico in their World Cup Group A opener, ending the match with nine players.

Analysing the game for Sporty TV, the two former Manchester United figures stared blankly ahead when the presenter turned to them and asked: “OK, what do we say? What went wrong in this game?” The silence that followed said everything, before the programme cut to a commercial break.

Mexico had made a composed start to the tournament, taking the lead inside 10 minutes when Sphephelo Sithole was dispossessed on the edge of his own area by Erik Lira. The ball fell to Julian Quinones, who fired low through the legs of goalkeeper Ronwen Williams. Roberto Alvarado later crossed for Raul Jimenez to head home the second and seal a comfortable victory.

Sithole’s afternoon went from bad to worse when he received a red card for fouling Brian Gutierrez just outside the box early in the second half. South Africa were reduced to nine men late on when substitute Themba Zwane was dismissed following a VAR review for appearing to strike Alvarado in the face. Mexico also finished short-handed, with Cesar Montes shown a red card in added time for a challenge on Khuliso Mudau.

Despite the scale of the defeat, South Africa head coach Hugo Broos insisted his side can still advance from the group. “In a tournament you never have to think too far,” the Belgian said. “We want to survive the group stages and it’s still possible. The start was not good, it wasn’t what we expected, but we need to get the points in the next two games, and then we will see.”

Broos also pushed back on the decision to dismiss Zwane, saying: “It was a little bit soft. It was the Mexican player who blocked my player.”

McCarthy, who previously served as a coach at Manchester United, and Fortune, who played for the club between 1999 and 2006, will have been hoping for a more encouraging start from their nation. South Africa’s next Group A fixture is against South Korea, who recovered from a goal down to beat the Czech Republic 2-1 in the group’s other opening match.