World Cup Opens With Entertaining Draw
June 11th 2010 17:46
Tshabala after scoring the opening goal
The world's biggest sporting event got underway today in Johannesburg where South Africa and Mexico shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw.
When Siphiwe Tshabalala scored the first goal of the tournament at the 55th minute, it looked like the hosts might win the opening game. Indeed after an impressive start by the Mexicans, the home side slowly but surely gained the momentum back, helped by a disorganized Mexican defense who couldn't seem to deal with South Africa's width.
Despite an impressive array of talent up front, it was veteran defender, Rafael Marquez who equalized the mark at the 79th minute. The Bafana Bafana could have won the game in the last minute when Mphela found a tight opening between Mexico's two central defenders, but his shot bounced off the post and was quickly cleared out of play.
The South Africans had a good showing today, but Mexico's inability to take absolute control of the game in the opening minutes came back to haunt them. As I pointed out in the group preview, Mexico has power in front (Franco and Dos Santos were the two most dangerous players on the pitch in the first half), but their shaky defense could spell out an early exit.
My man of the match: Itumeleng Khune
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