Yaya Sithole had a day to forget in South Africa’s defeat to Mexico on Thursday, but how many other players have had such a bad time in a World Cup game?
It was hard not to feel sorry for Yaya Sithole.
Just eight minutes and 33 seconds into his and every single one of his teammates’ World Cup debuts, he watched helplessly as Julián Quiñones fired Mexico into the lead. Sithole had been caught in possession by Érik Lira while South Africa tried to play out from the back, and his error was swiftly and brutally punished.
From that point on, South Africa faced what proved to be an impossible task. Ranked 60th in the Opta Power Rankings coming into the tournament, they struggled to pose any threat to their hosts, who, ranked 21st themselves, were superior all over the pitch and completely comfortable all game. It was the earliest first goal of a World Cup tournament since 2006, when Philipp Lahm netted for Germany vs Costa Rica after six minutes.
South Africa were off to a terrible start in their first World Cup since hosting themselves in 2010, and Sithole had been at fault.
Only that wasn’t the worst of it. The midfielder, who was relegated from the Portuguese Primeira Liga this season with Tondela, lasted just four minutes of the second half before being sent off for a professional foul, having brought Brian Gutiérrez down when he was clean through on goal. It was the first red card in the opening match of a World Cup since Marco Etcheverry for Bolivia against Germany in 1994.
Sithole won only one of the eight duels he had contested and, remarkably, despite playing only 49 minutes, he committed more fouls (three) than anyone else in the whole game.
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13 hours ago Ali Tweedale, Matt FurnissIt was a nightmare evening for the 27-year-old. He’ll now be suspended for South Africa’s next game – against Czechia on Thursday – and he’ll have to hope he is reinstated to the team for their final group game. After this defeat, South Africa are given just a 24.0% chance of making it into the last 32 by the Opta supercomputer.
Sithole became just the third player to make an error leading to a goal and receive a red card in the same World Cup match since such records began (1966), after Ivory Coast’s Cyrille Domoraud vs Serbia and Czechia’s Tomás Ujfalusi vs Ghana, both in 2006.
Domoraud’s nightmare game was inconsequential in several ways, though. Ivory Coast had already been knocked out, having lost their first two games, and they went on to win the game regardless of his efforts.
His slip presented Sasa Ilic with a goal to put Serbia 2-0 up early on, but Ivory Coast then scored three goals to come from behind and record a memorable – though meaningless – win. After they went 3-2 up, Domoraud was given a second yellow card to become the second player to commit an error leading to a goal and be sent off in a World Cup game, a few days after the first.
Ujfalusi’s bad day at the office was far worse. Having won their opening game of the tournament against the US, Czechia didn’t want to leave too much riding on their final group game – against Italy – so required a good result against Ghana.
But just 70 seconds in, Ujfalusi misjudged a header to allow Asamoah Gyan in on goal, and from there, Czechia could find no way back.
Ujfalusi was sent off on 66 minutes for bringing down Matthew Amoah in the box, conceding a penalty in the process. He is the only player on record (since 1966) to commit an error leading to an opposition goal, be sent off and concede a penalty in the same World Cup match.
He would have been relieved to see Gyan strike the post from the resulting spot-kick, but Sulley Muntari fired into the roof of the net late on to confirm the win for Ghana. Czechia went on to lose to Italy and crashed out in the group stage at Ghana’s expense.
Since 1966, only three players have ever committed two errors leading to an opposition goal in the same World Cup game:
Antal Szentmihalyi, Hungary vs Portugal, 1966 World Cup Daniel Carnevali, Argentina vs Poland, 1974 Sammy McIlroy, Northern Ireland vs Spain, 1986Those teams all fared badly at their respective World Cups. Hungary failed to make it past the first knockout round in 1966; Argentina won only one of their six games in 1974; Northern Ireland failed to make it out of their group in 1986.
Meanwhile, two players have given away two penalties in the same World Cup game, and one of them was largely responsible for handing the aforementioned Domoraud a reprieve back in 2006:
Pierre Issa, South Africa vs Saudi Arabia, 1998 Milan Dudic, Serbia vs Ivory Coast, 2006Both South Africa and Serbia were knocked out in the group stage.
Only one player other than Ujfalusi has committed an error leading to a goal and conceded a penalty in the same World Cup game: Christian Panucci for Italy against South Korea in the 2002 round of 16. Italy lost that game 2-1 and were sent home early despite being widely expected to progress from the tie.
The omens, then, aren’t good for Sithole and South Africa in 2026. Every other team who has seen one of their players endure a nightmare performance at the World Cup (by these metrics) has failed to make any sort of impression on the tournament.
There is a long way to go, and the new format means that one defeat is far less fatal than it might have been. A win in either of their remaining games could be enough to qualify for the knockout rounds for the first time in their history.
But after Sithole’s nightmare at the Estadio Azteca, they face an uphill battle to recover.
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Yaya Sithole and the Worst World Cup Nightmare Performances Opta Analyst.
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