WATCH: Mexico fans stream into Azteca hours before Bafana World Cup opener

Mexico fans have been steaming into the Azteca Stadium ahead of their country’s World Cup opener against South Africa on Thursday.

Bafana Bafana will open their World Cup campaign against the co-hosts at 21:00 South African time with Hugo Broos’ men looking to shock the home nation.

However, South Africa will be playing in front of an intimidating atmosphere as Mexican fans streamed into the iconic stadium in their droves on Thursday.

Gates were opened five hours early and fans did not wait for the last-minute rush as they took the opportunity to take their seats well in advance.

Hostile Mexico crowd for Bafana

With around 80,000 supporters expected in the stadium, South Africa have to find a way to shut out the noise and focus on the job at hand as nearly all of those inside the arena will be rooting for the home side.

It will be Bafana Bafana’s first meeting with Mexico since the 2010 World Cup opener, which ended 1-1, when Siphiwe Tshabalala scored one of the most iconic World Cup goals.

The Class of 2026 will be looking to do the same or even better but the roles are now reversed this time as it is South Africa playing in front of a hostile crowd.

Whether that will have an effect on their performance remains to be seen but Broos has remained confident and revealed that he is targeting three points at the group stages which he feels will be enough to make it to the knockout round for the first time in South Africa’s World Cup history.