Hosts South Africa were denied the dream start to their World Cup finals in Friday’s opening match after Barcelona’s Rafael Marquez scored a late equalizer for Mexico to seal a 1-1 draw.
South Africa had looked to be on course for a surprise win thanks to Siphiwe Tshabalala’s superb 55th-minute volley only for the lead to be canceled out by Marquez’s strike in the 79th minute.
The Bafana Bafana then went agonizingly close to sneaking a win right at the death when striker Katlego Mphela hit the post after outpacing two defenders.
PHOTO: EPA
South Africa’s coach Carlos Alberto Parreira praised his side for their battling display.
“Mexico are the most daring team in the World Cup and they threatened us early on, but I believe we were more balanced in the second half and could have won the game,” the Brazilian said. “It is a fair result.”
“Our spirit was high from the beginning, whatever happens I expect things will be decided by our last game against France,” Parreira said.
PHOTO: AFP
His opposite number Javier Aguirre said he was disappointed his side failed to make their first-half dominance count.
“I think we had a very good first half, but we weren’t capable of really putting away our chances,” said Aguirre, who is in his second spell as national coach having been in charge for the 2002 World Cup finals. “The team was confident, but we missed a few chances and things got complicated after they scored.”
“The South African goalkeeper played really well and kept them in the game in the first-half,” he said.
PHOTO: EPA
“Both teams are going away with a bittersweet taste and now we are forced to beat France in our next game,” said Aguirre, who played for Mexico at the 1986 finals when they hosted them and reached the last eight.
After a nervy opening half in front of 84,490 fans at Soccer City, South Africa finally found their rhythm to take the lead as Mexico failed to make their first-half domination count.
The Bafana Bafana were lucky to go into the half-time break at 0-0 after Mexico dominated the opening 45 minutes, but Carlos Vela’s 38th minute effort was ruled offside.
South Africa had a let off after just four minutes when Mexico captain Gerardo Torrado whipped in a cross that goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune fumbled into the path of Giovani Dos Santos, but his shot was blocked.
Galatasaray’s Dos Santos was a constant threat in the opening stages as the Mexicans attacked relentlessly.
Mexican midfielder Efrain Juarez was shown the tournament’s first yellow card on 18 minutes, but South African play-maker Steven Pienaar sent the free-kick sailing over the crossbar.
Bafana Bafana midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi was then shown a yellow card for the hosts after fouling Dos Santos on 27 minutes, but Marquez fired the free-kick high.
After the break, a perfectly timed through ball from Pienaar split the Mexican defense and put Tshabalala into acres of space for the Kaizer Chiefs’ star to slam home his shot giving Mexican goalkeeper Oscar Perez no chance.
With 20 minutes left, Aguirre made some changes to push his side forward and they were rewarded with Marquez’s goal.
The Barcelona star was left unmarked at the far post and he wasted no time in drilling his shot past Khune.
South Africa now face Uruguay in Pretoria on June 16, while Mexico take on France in Polokwane on June 17.
South African skipper Aaron Mokoena said the raucous crowd was a “weapon” for the home side, praising the way his young teammates had risen to the challenge in their 1-1 World Cup draw against Mexico.
Mokoena was upbeat despite a late goal that denied the hosts a famous victory in front of nearly 85,000 fans at Johannesburg’s Soccer City stadium on Friday.
Mokoena said the deafening noise from the crowd with thousands of blaring vuvuzela was “our 12th man that we need. It’s our weapon.”
“We don’t mind vuvuzelas at all,” he said.
Midfielder Teko Modise also praised the crowd.
“We’re encouraged about the support. It’s great to see them coming in numbers to support us,” he said.
Midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala gave South Africa the lead after drilling home following a superb pass from play-maker Steven Pienaar on 55 minutes only for Rafael Marquez to grab a late equalizer.
“Today it was important that we didn’t lose the game, which is very, very good. We created a lot of chances, which was very good, we defended well as a team and we take positives out of the game,” Mokoena said.
“Their strikers are quick and strong and we were worried about them. We needed to be mentally tough and focused at the start. We played really well in the second half and we deserved to win the game, though we need to use this as a springboard and build on it,” the skipper said. “We’ve got to build from the first game and the confidence is still there among the boys.”
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