Mexico deny the locals fairytale opening victory

GROUP A/Sth Africa 1 Mexico 1:NOT QUITE the dream opening for Bafana Bafana, then, but a terrific goal by Siphhiwe Tshabalala kept the home fires burning across South Africa last night. The noise never dropped here at Soccer City Stadium as 84,490 fans blew vuvuzellas so that this bowl shaped stadium must have sounded like a hornets' nest for miles around.

They sounded during the opening ceremony and halted only for the speech in which Jacob Zuma announced the beginning of “Africa’s World Cup”. Even allowing for the substantial seating reservations for Presidents Zuma’s wives and progeny, it seemed implausible there should be 10,000 empty chairs in the stadium for this game of all games. The most significant empty seat, of course, belonged to Nelson Mandela, who was mourning the heartbreaking death of his 13-year-old great-granddaughter in Johannesburg late on Thursday night.

Zuma’s declaration that “Mandiba is here in spirit” met with respectful applause. But the anticipation in the hour before this match was unique.

Those present were given plenty of entertainment. Bafana Bafana might have won the thing too, with forward Katlengo Mphela chasing down a lobbed ball and had a chance to create an unforgettable moment in his sporting life.

It was an incredible few seconds of theatre – the only time those infernal horns stopped sounding as most of the stadium drew an inwards breath. Oscar Perez, Mexico’s 37-year-old goalkeeper, might have raced out of goal to chase the ball but he clearly considered himself too venerable and too smart for such high risk theatrics. He held his line and narrowed the angle as best he could but Mphela showed great poise and flicked a shot which had Perez beaten but hit the post.

It would have been the perfect end to a thrilling second-half display by South Africa.

Tshabalala was a force of nature for the home team, whose afternoon was also saved by goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune during the opening half, when the Mexicans were playing all the football.

Several of the home team looked slightly star-struck and intimidated in the frantic minutes after the opening whistle. The Mexicans attacked with impunity and peppered Khune’s goal.

The Kaizer Chiefs’ goalkeeper kept South Africa in the match during this jittery period, getting his finger tips to a tricky shot by Giovani Dos Santos after just three minutes and then smothering Franco’s attempted chip inside the box. Dos Santos also had a goal from point-blank range ruled off-side in the 33rd minute.

But the Mexicans had a right to feel it was only a matter of time when they scored.

They moved through the South African cover with imperious ease and deft flair, Torrado and Osorio pushing forward and looking to free the inventive front three, who kept the South African defence worried for the duration of the half.

But as the seconds moved on and the sun drained out of the stadium and nothing terrible had happened to the home team, a sense of composure gradually asserted itself in the South African play. Some of the Boys fared better than others.

Steven Pienaar was full of brisk, clever touches before fading and Aaron Moekena counselled his back line through the worst of the Mexican assaults.

Poor Lucas Thwala, though, was horribly exposed along the right flank, with Aguilar turning him inside out on several occasions. Thwala was an outright liability for most of the half – even a throw in he took on the half hour mark went straight to a Mexican – and he must have been relieved when Parreira made a switch at half-time.

The combative, confident play of Tsepo Masilela did nothing to suggest he wasn’t fit to start the match to begin with.

Mexico were on the rack for 15 minutes after Tshabalala’s goal, a brilliantly hit left-footed shot following a perfectly weighted pass by Dikcagoi. The explosion of noise that followed the strike emboldened the home team and perhaps made the Mexicans feel as if it was not going to be there night.

For a while, Javier Aguirre stood on the sideline looking grim but he ran his substitutes and it was Andres Guardado who floated the cross which found full back Rafael Marquez loitering at Khune’s far corner. Even a career defender couldn’t miss from here and Marquez took his chance.

The goal came just when the South African back four seemed to have hit stride and it winded the South Africans in the stadium for a few minutes. But the optimism of this team and this crowd is limitless and on a cooling evening the home team pressed forward again, gamely seeking the perfect conclusion. A late South African goal would have been cruel on Mexico even if the theatre and emotion of the evening demanded it.

Afterwards Khune, who did as much as anyone to keep South Africa in the match, fell to his knees in despair. It was in recognition not so much of a point dropped as the fact that this night, this magic, cannot come again.