South Africa and Mexico played out a tame 1-1 draw in the World Cup curtain raiser, hours after the opening ceremonies on Friday. Siphiwe Tshabalala opened the scoring six minutes from the hour mark but Rafael Marquez equalized for Mexico 11 minutes from time. Now both teams have one point each in Group A. From the same group, France and Uruguay will face each other later on Friday. A quick opening ceremony took place ahead of the World Cup opener and saw FIFA president Sepp Blatter give a speech. Stranglehold
Visitors Mexico took a stranglehold on the game in the first half and created many scoring chances, whereas South Africa were suffering a state of disorganization. The first opportunity fell to Giovani dos Santos only after a couple of minutes but keeper Itumeleng Khune prevented him from hitting an early opener. Dos Santos threatened the hosts once again on 19 minutes with a left-footed effort that went wide from outside the area. Two minutes past the half-hour mark, Carlos Vela sent a through pass that released Guillermo Franco but he was denied by Itumeleng. Vela tried his luck a couple of minutes later when he penetrated the area single handedly, his drive missed the target though. Mexico had a goal disallowed in the 38th minute through offside, when Gerardo Torrado headed a corner kick into the net but was only covered by one player from the opposition side.
Surprise Tshabalala, who was named the man of the match, sprang a surprise nine minutes after the break by putting South Africa ahead despite Mexcio's dominance. The Kaizer Chiefs midfielder capitalized on Mexico's sloppy defending to go one-on-one with the keeper to hit the far top corner of the net with a precise shot. South Africa controlled the game for a while after taking the lead. Katlego Mphela could have doubled South Africa's advantage on 65 minutes but his drive was terribly inaccurate. He was also denied by the right woodwork in the last minute of the match. Mexico's Marquez netted the leveler with a clinical finish.
