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The first day of World Cup action certainly delivered memorable moments.
Co-hosts Mexico eased to a 2-0 victory over nine-man South Africa - despite being reduced to ten themselves late on - before South Korea came back from behind to see of the Czech Republic.
Here's the big talking points from day one of the 2026 World Cup.
More red cards than goals offered an omen we hope doesn't become a trend
Mexico vs South Africa started promisingly enough, with the home side playing some beautiful stuff in the opening 20 minutes or so, taking the lead through Julian Quinones; while the opposition matched them for intensity, even if they fell way short on quality.
But the first drinks break seemed to kill off the momentum as both sides began to labour in the heat.
It's hard to say what role that played in the three red cards that followed in the second half - but tired legs and foggy minds definitely seemed plausible.
Yaya Sithole was dismissed for a clumsy last-man tackle on Brian Gutierrez just outside the box; Themba Zwane saw red after frustratedly slapping Roberto Alvarado in the side of the head during a tussle; and Cesar Montes followed Sithole's lead by cynically bringing down Khuliso Mudau in the most contentious of the three decisions.
That prompted some concern that this might end up being a World Cup of harsh red cards ruining games.
It pretty much did for this one: Mexico looked pretty happy with their lead, and South Africa had already admitted before the game that they saw any points from the opener as a bonus rather than a necessity thanks to the generous nature of the group stage: eight out of 12 third-placed sides will proceed into the knockouts.
The later game offered some reassurance that won't be the case, but we just hope it doesn't became in pattern in the earlier kick-offs in the most scorching locations.
Raul Jimenez's tears of joy
It's been a long and difficult road for Raul Jimenez at times - but his relief and delight at scoring a World Cup goal on home turf was written all over his face in the form of tears of joy.
The Mexico striker, who this week agreed to return to relegated Wolves as a free agent from Fulham, nearly had his career ended by a life-threatening head injury in 2020.
He has long since returned to playing regular football for club and country, but the notion of missing out on playing at a World Cup in his home country would be a devastating prospect for any player.
So you can understand why he erupted into tears after putting Mexico two goals up and celebrating in front of a rapturous home crowd.
It was a genuinely lovely moment that will take some topping in the rest of the group stage.
Son Heung-min's nightmare in front of goal
It wasn't such a great day for Son Heung-min, however.
The former Tottenham man, now of LAFC, was on the end of virtually everything South Korea created in a dominant first half against the Czechs, and genuinely could have had a hat-trick before his side went behind against the run of play
Son put an inviting strike well wide after getting past two players to drive into space, poked wide of the post when it looked easier to hit the target, and shot straight at the keeper after getting played clean through on goal.
Just to make things worse, having gone empty-handed from his six shots on goal, the Korean skipper was subbed off on 69 minutes, just after his side had levelled things up through Hwang In-beom's brilliant goal...and his replacement, Oh Heyon-Gyu, went on to score the winner.
The right result in the end for Son, then - but his country will expect more from him as the tournament progresses.
The dreaded long throw enters the World Cup stage
The discourse around the value of set pieces and, in particular, long throws, was such a pervasive topic of conversation throughout the 2025/26 domestic season that it had already grown tedious by about October.
But those hand-launched missile into the box could now become a feature of this World Cup, too - at least if the Czech Republic's opener is anything to go by.
Former West Ham man Vladimir Coufal was the man to deliver it, with his throw from the right going long and flat into the Korean six-yard box for Ladislav Krejci to power home at the end of a perfectly-timed run to the near post.
Tomas Soucek later had a goal ruled out for offside from a free kick, to boot. We look forward to continuing to act like set pieces are newly important and were never really a big deal before.
