South Africa striker Bernard Parker came in the wrong place at the wrong time to prevent his team from securing a hard-fought win over Iraq in the FIFA Confederations Cup inaugural match on Sunday. Katlego Mashego came very close to heading home and giving South Africa a late victory, but his teammate Parker accidently cleared the ball off the line while darting towards the goal. After a pacey start, the first half became an uneventful affair, and both sides failed to carve out any clear-cut scoring opportunities. Iraq had the Lion's share of ball possession, but their frontline was by far inefficient. South Africa, who sorely missed their influential midfielder Steven Pienaar, took control of the game in the second half and piled up more pressure upfront. On the other hand, Iraq maintained a solid defense and kept their opposition's strikers at bay on numerous occasions. Thembinkosi Fanteni was the first to threaten Iraq in the second period when he connected with a right corner-kick, but his headed effort went wide of the mark. 12 minutes from time, Mashego went one-on-one with Iraqi goalie Mohammed Kassid, but couldn't slide past him. The Bafana Bafana took a stranglehold on the game in the last ten minutes, while the Lions of Mesopotamia kept struggling to keep a clean sheet till the final whistle. Wasted chances
