South Africa 1 - 1 Mexico

Fri Jun 11 - The first game of World Cup Football 2010 in South Africa paired host South Africa and Mexico. South Africa is ranked 83rd in FIFA’s ranking and Mexico is ranked 17th. By all accounts Mexico should have beaten South Africa handily.

However, ranking sometimes only serves as intellectual debate material. Mexico dominated possession and the game but the scoreline showed a relatively even game. In fact South Africa could have won the game 2-1 if they were more clinical in front of goal.

Mexico started with an attacking attitude pinning the South Africans in their half for most of the opening 15 minutes. But the South African shook off their nervousness and started to string a few decent passes together.

In the 55th minute Siphiwe Tshabalala became the first football player to score a World Cup goal on the African continent. And it was a scorcher. It flew into the top left corner of the Mexican goal, beyond the reach of the Mexican keeper. It was a memorable goal for Tshabalala celebrating his 50th cap for South Africa.

Some careless defending by the South Africans allowed Mexican defender Rafael Marquez to equalize in the 79th minute. Giovani Dos Santos was the star man for Mexico, controlling a lot of possession in midfield and was denied a clear goal scoring opportunity by the fine save of South African keeper Itumeleng Khune.

South Africa will play Uraguay on Wednesday June 16th while Mexico will take on France on Thursday June 17th.