MEXICO CITY (AP) — World Cup co-host Mexico was optimistic about its chances of advancing from the group stage after being drawn to play against South Africa, South Korea and a yet-to-be-determined European team.
While some TV analysts described the group as “easy,” coach Javier Aguirre was more cautious.
“We faced Korea and they are not an easy team. They do their job. They are disciplined and organized, while South Africa is not easy either," he said after the draw in Washington on Friday. “They are good teams, but we have a chance, we are at home and with our people.”
Mexico faces South Africa on June 11 in Mexico City in the opening match of the 2026 World Cup. A week later El Tri will play South Korea in Guadalajara. The last group stage match will be against the winner of a European playoff involving Denmark, North Macedonia, Czech Republic and Ireland.
The country has high hopes despite being eliminated in the group stage in the 2022 World Cup and mixed results in international matches ahead of next year's tournament.
“There won’t be any easy opponents, but it could have been worse,” said striker Raul Jimenez, who plays for Fulham in the Premier League. “I think it’s a good group, from which we can learn a lot, and we’re taking it one game at a time because what we want is to win and finish first.”
Mexico has played South Korea twice in World Cup history and won both games, in France 1998 and Russia 2018. The teams tied 2-2 in a friendly match last September.
“It’s basically a European team, everyone is in Europe except the goalkeeper, they have a coach I know and they have physical strength which makes them a very strong opponent,” Aguirre said.
Mexico's only World Cup encounter with South Africa was a 1-1 draw in the opening game of the 2010 tournament, which South Africa hosted. That Mexico team was coached by Aguirre, who is now at the helm for the third time.
Mexico hosted World Cups in 1970 and 1986 and reached the quarterfinals both times. It lost to West Germany on penalties in the quarterfinals of the 1986 tournament. Aguirre, who was a member of that Mexico squad, said hot weather could be an advantage in next year’s tournament.
“I remember the 1986 World Cup match against Germany; it was very hot. It’s going to be a demanding situation for our opponents, but we’ll be preparing at home,” the 67-year-old coach said. “We hope to have our players who are currently playing outside of Mexico back soon so they can adapt.”
Even though it is co-hosting the tournament this time with the United States and Canada, Mexico also expects to receive a boost from playing its group stage matches — and possibly some knockout phase matches — at home.
“You feel a responsibility as one of the hosts to open this great event,” team captain Edson Álvarez said. “We rely on the extra support the fans give us, and opening the event against South Africa helps, and we can do great things.”
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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum holds up the team name of Mexico during the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025.(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
NEW YORK (AP) — A former high-level agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and an associate have been charged with conspiring to launder millions of dollars and obtain military-grade firearms and explosives for a Mexican drug cartel, according to an indictment unsealed Friday in New York.
Paul Campo, 61, of Oakton, Virginia, who retired from the DEA in 2016 after a 25-year career, and Robert Sensi, 75, of Boca Raton, Florida, were caught in sting involving a law enforcement informant who posed as a member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, prosecutors said.
The cartel, also know as CJNG, was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. in February.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said Campo betrayed his DEA career by helping the cartel, which he said was responsible for “countless deaths through violence and drug trafficking in the United States and Mexico.”
Campo and Sensi appeared Friday afternoon before a magistrate judge in New York, who ordered them detained without bail. Their lawyers entered not guilty pleas on their behalf.
Campo’s lawyer, Mark Gombiner, called the indictment “somewhat sensationalized and somewhat incoherent.” He denied the two men had agreed to explore obtaining weapons for the cartel.
Over the past year, Campo and Sensi agreed to launder about $12 million in drug proceeds for the cartel and converted about $750,000 in cash to cryptocurrency, thinking it was going to the group when it really went to the U.S. government, the indictment said. They also provided a payment for about 220 kilograms of cocaine they were told would be sold in the U.S. for about $5 million, thinking they would get a cut of the proceeds, prosecutors said.
The two men also said they would look into procuring commercial drones, AR-15 semiautomatic rifles, M4 carbines, grenade launchers and rocket-propelled grenades for the cartel, the indictment said.
Campo boasted about his law enforcement experience during conversations with the informant and offered to be a “strategist” for the cartel, authorities said. He began his career as a DEA agent in New York and rose to become deputy chief of financial operations for the agency, the indictment said.
Evidence in the case includes hours of recordings of the two men talking with the informant, as well as cellphone location data, emails and surveillance images, Assistant U.S. Attorney Varun Gumaste said in court Friday.
Sensi's attorney, Amanda Kramer, unsuccessfully argued that Sensi should be freed while he awaits trial, saying he wouldn't flee partly because he has multiple health problems, including injuries from a fall two months ago, early-stage dementia and Type II diabetes.
Sensi was convicted in the late 1980s and early 1990s of mail fraud, defrauding the government and stealing $2.5 million, said the prosecutor, Gumaste. He said evidence shows Sensi also was engaged in a scheme to procure military-grade helicopters for a Middle East country.
DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said in a statement that while Campo is no longer employed by the DEA, the allegations undermine trust in law enforcement.
The DEA has been roiled in recent years by several embarrassing instances of misconduct in its ranks. The Associated Press has tallied at least 16 agents over the past decade brought up on federal charges ranging from child pornography and drug trafficking to leaking intelligence to defense attorneys and selling firearms to cartel associates, revealing gaping holes in the agency’s supervision.
Starting in 2021, the agency placed new controls on how DEA funds can be used in money laundering stings, and warned agents they can now be fired for a first offense of misconduct if serious enough, a departure from prior administrations.
Campo and Sensi are charged with four conspiracy counts related to narcoterrorism, terrorism, narcotics distribution and money laundering.
Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut. Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report.
FILE - Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton talks on a phone as he exits court in New York, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
