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1st Round Matches at South Africa 2010

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South Africa 2010: Groups - Matches - Road to the Final - Stadiums - Teams + Bookings + Injuries + Leading Goalscorers.
Home: World Cup Finals: South Africa 2010: 1st Round: Match Schedule: South Africa vs Mexico

Friday, 11th June 2010
We Are All Africans

Group A Match

South Africa Flag Mexico Flag
South Africa vs Mexico in Jo'burg Soccer City.

It's been a long time coming but it's finally here; a World Cup Finals match on African soil.

The hosts, South Africa, opened up the tournament against Mexico; to a bee-buzzing hum of 85,000 vuvuzelas.

Mexico started the game brightly, putting the home side under early pressure; the first corner conceded within two minutes.

It took fifteen minutes for South Africa to put an effective move together; resulting in a free-kick, that Steven Pienaar duly wasted.

Mexico came very close to scoring just after the half-hour mark; as Guillermo Franco chested Carlos Vela's beautifully weighted pass and tried to hook the ball into the South African net. Itumeleng Khune stretched out both arms and effectively slapped the ball away from danger with his right hand.

The ball was in the back of the South African net in the 38th minute, as Carlos Vela finished off a flick-on from a corner.

Even though Steven Pienaar was standing on the line, Itumeleng Khune's rush forward effectively left Vela in an offside position. Great call from the linesman.

Inspired by their close escape, Bafana Bafana took the game to Mexico in the final minutes of the first-half; forcing a succession of corners before the half-time team talk with Carlos Alberto Parreira.

Half-time: 0:0

The arrival of Maccabi Haifa's Tsepo Masilela, at the start of the second-half, seemed to help Siphiwe Tshabalala and the attacking left side in general.

All of Africa erupted in the 54th minutes as Siphiwe Tshabalala sprinted down the left and struck the ball cleanly past a stranded �scar P�rez.

On the hour, Itumeleng Khune flew high to his left to keep out a fierce shot from Giovani Dos Santos.

Needing to change the balance of play, Javier Aguirre used all his three substitutes within twenty minutes of South Africa taking the lead.

The vuvuzelas were briefly silenced in the 79th minute as, out of three unmarked Mexicans at the far post, Barcelona's Rafael Marquez was the one to break towards Itumeleng Khune.

With a sleight feignting move (FIFA only disallow feinting at penalty kicks) from Marquez, Khune fell onto his rear and the Mexican was able to cooly pick his spot between the South African goalkeeper and the near post.

Then the vuvuzela humming sound picked up again.

In the 90th minute, Katlego Mphela was released and outpaced the retreating Mexican defence. As the angle became ever tighter, Mphela couldn't believe that his shot hit the post.

What a finish that would have been to the first World Cup Finals match in Africa.

Final Score:
South Africa 1 Mexico 1

Goalscorers Goalscorers:
1:0 Siphiwe Tshabalala (54)
1:1 Rafael Marquez (79)

Man of The Match:
Siphiwe Tshabalala - for giving all of Africa something to cheer about.

Teams

Travel to South Africa South Africa:
16 Itumeleng Khune; 15 Lucas Thwala, 20 Bongani Khumalo, 4 Aaron Mokoena, 2 Siboniso Gaxa; 13 Kagisho Dikgacoi, 10 Steven Pienaar, 12 Reneilwe Letsholonyane; 8 Siphiwe Tshabalala, 9 Katlego Mphela, 11 Teko Modise.

Travel to Mexico Mexico:
1 �scar P�rez; 3 Carlos Salcido, 2 Francisco Rodriguez, 5 Ricardo Osorio, 12 Paul Aguilar; 6 Gerardo Torrado, 4 Rafael Marquez, 16 Efrain Juarez; 9 Guillermo Franco, 11 Carlos Vela, 17 Giovani Dos Santos.

Referee:
Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

Substitutions Substitutions:
46 Mins (South Africa) - 3 Tsepo Masilela on for 15 Lucas Thwala (LB)
55 Mins (Mexico) - 18 Andres Guardado on for 12 Paul Aguilar
69 Mins (Mexico) - 10 Cuauhtémoc Blanco on for 11 Carlos Vela
73 Mins (Mexico) - 14 Javier Hernandez on for 9 Guillermo Franco
83 Mins (South Africa) - 17 Bernard Parker on for 10 Steven Pienaar

Yellow Cards 4 Yellow Cards:
18 Mins - Efrain Juarez (Mexico)
27 Mins - Kagisho Dikgacoi (South Africa)
56 Mins - Gerardo Torrado (Mexico)
70 Mins - Tsepo Masilela (South Africa)

Red Cards 0 Red Cards.

The Road to The Final

2010 World Cup Finals - Knockout Stage.

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First Round

Friday, 11th June
South Africa vs Mexico
Uruguay vs France

Saturday, 12th June
Argentina vs Nigeria
England vs USA
South Korea vs Greece

Sunday, 13th June
Algeria vs Slovenia
Germany vs Australia
Serbia vs Ghana

Monday, 14th June
Holland vs Denmark
Italy vs Paraguay
Japan vs Cameroon

Tuesday, 15th June
Brazil vs North Korea
Côte d'Ivoire vs Portugal
New Zealand vs Slovakia

Wednesday, 16th June
Honduras vs Chile
South Africa vs Uruguay
Spain vs Switzerland

Thursday, 17th June
Argentina vs South Korea
France vs Mexico
Greece vs Nigeria

Friday, 18th June
England vs Algeria
Germany vs Serbia
Slovenia vs USA

Saturday, 19th June
Cameroon vs Denmark
Ghana vs Australia
Holland vs Japan

Sunday, 20th June
Brazil vs Côte d'Ivoire
Italy vs New Zealand
Slovakia vs Paraguay

Monday, 21st June
Chile vs Switzerland
Portugal vs North Korea
Spain vs Honduras

Tuesday, 22nd June
France vs South Africa
Greece vs Argentina
Mexico vs Uruguay
Nigeria vs South Korea

Wednesday, 23rd June
Australia vs Serbia
Ghana vs Germany
Slovenia vs England
USA vs Algeria

Thursday, 24th June
Cameroon vs Holland
Denmark vs Japan
Paraguay vs New Zealand
Slovakia vs Italy

Friday, 25th June
Chile vs Spain
North Korea vs Côte d'Ivoire
Portugal vs Brazil
Switzerland vs Honduras

Appearances:
How many appearances each country has made in the World Cup Finals.

Custom Travel Search

Teams by Group

Group A
France
Mexico
South Africa
Uruguay

Group B
Argentina
Greece
Nigeria
South Korea

Group C
Algeria
England
Slovenia
USA

Group D
Australia
Germany
Ghana
Serbia

Group E
Cameroon
Denmark
Holland
Japan

Group F
Italy
New Zealand
Paraguay
Slovakia

Group G
Brazil
Côte d'Ivoire
North Korea
Portugal

Group H
Chile
Honduras
Spain
Switzerland

World Cup Finals

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