14:00 GMT, June 11, 2010
Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa
Teams for 1st Match World Cup Football 2010 :
South Africa :Group A
Manager: Carlos Alberto Parreira
Star Player: Steven Pienaar
World Cup Appearances: 3
Mexico :Group A
Manager: Javier Aguirre
Star Player: Carlos Vela
World Cup Appearances: 13
Bafana Bafana take centre stage
With the eyes of the world trained upon the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, the opening match of the FIFA World Cup offers South Africa a unique opportunity to make a statement of intent, both for their own team and for the tournament as a whole.Bafana Bafana will take to the stage after the usual extravagant, drawn out opening ceremony and will find it tough to focus their attention on overcoming their opponents after being part of such a scene. However, buoyed by the sound of around 90,000 vuvuzelas, Carlos Alberto Parreira's men will have the entire nation - perhaps even continent - behind them as they walk out onto the pitch and you can never rule out the benefit of having a '12th man' in the stands.
Coach Parreira boasts all the experience needed to succeed at the highest level, however few have given the South Africans much of a chance of getting out of a group that also includes France and Uruguay. Led by the likes of Steven Pienaar and Aaron Mokoena, Bafana Bafana have, though, been in great form of late. Unbeaten since mid-October, the side have recently beaten Colombia, hammered Guatemala, and overcome Denmark in their warm-up games and have an excellent fourth-placed campaign in the 2009 Confederations Cup (held in South Africa) to draw upon should they need to.Their opponents, Mexico, have also been on a good run. Unlucky to lose to England after a first-half showing that suggested coach Javier Aguirre will place his emphasis on attacking football, Mexico will have confidence flowing their veins after beating reigning world champions Italy 2-1.
It is something of a turnaround considering that, under Sven-Goran Eriksson, the Mexicans were on the verge of missing out on the tournament altogether, and Aguirre now has the team playing with a freedom that brings out their self-belief. With a mixture of veteran performers like Rafael Marquez and young talent in the form of Javier Hernandez and Carlos Vela, they will be a tough proposition for the hosts to overcome.South Africa player in focus: Katlego Mphela. South Africa left Benni McCarthy out of the squad for a reason and one of them is the form of Mphela. With four goals in his last two starts, the Mamelodi Sundowns striker has made a first-team place his own and, on the back of an incredible goal in the Confederations Cup against Spain, his star is on the rise.
Mexico player in focus: Javier Hernandez. Having just moved to Manchester United in a deal reported to be around £10 million, the spotlight will well and truly be on the young striker. Quick, agile and with a good eye for goal, he has scored seven goals in 12 games for his country. Will need to perform better than he managed in the friendly at Wembley though, if he is to prove his doubters wrong.
Key Battle: Steven Pienaar vs. Andres Guardado. Pienaar's form is crucial if South Africa have any hope of getting out of the group and his work on the wing will set up chances for his team-mates. A great season at Everton has raised expectation, but then Guardado's form for Deportivo has also raised the bar on the other side. Both wide men are creative, quick and their battle down the flanks will be a deciding factor in how the game goes.
Trivia: This year's opening match is the first ever in Africa and it will be the third opener to feature an African team. On both previous occasions the African sides picked up shocks wins as Cameroon beat holders Argentina 1-0 in 1990 and Senegal beat champions France by the same score in 2002.
Stats: South Africa coach Parreira will take charge of a side at his sixth World Cup. Kuwait (1982), United Arab Emirates (1990), Saudi Arabia (1998) and Brazil (1994 and 2006); while Mexico have been sent home in the Second Round stage in the past four World Cup tournaments.
Odds: A 2-2 draw comes in at 17.00, while Mphela looks a good bet to score first at 7.50 with Bet 365.
Prediction: You can't rule out the importance of the crowd in the first game. Players at the Confederations Cup complained of hearing what sounded like a swarm of bees on the pitch - in fact it was the vuvuzela noise - and Mexico could be stunned. It should be enough for South Africa to claim at least a draw.
South africa Vs Mexico :
Shots (on Goal) , Fouls,Corner Kicks,Offsides,Time of Possession,Yellow Cards,Red Cards,Saves
Parreira wary of `daring' Mexico
Carlos Alberto Parreira has warned his South Africa side of the threat posed by what he describes as "the most daring team" at the World Cup ahead of their showdown with Mexico at Soccer City on Friday.The two countries kick off the 19th edition of the finals and first ever on the African continent with plenty of expectation on the host nation.Never in the history of the World Cup has a home team failed to qualify for the second round, with Bafana Bafana, the second-lowest ranked nation in the 2010 tournament behind North Korea, desperate to maintain that trend.Although confident, Brazilian coach Parreira expects a difficult opening against Javier Aguirre's men in front of an expected 85,000 crowd."On Friday, as much as the pressure is big, it's a World Cup game, it's sort of a war," he said."Opening games are always difficult, there is lots of pressure, the whole country is involved and you are playing under the eyes of the world.
"We want to have fun, we want to enjoy the game."I know it's not easy to enjoy the game when you play a team as good as Mexico. They are the most daring team in this World Cup, the way they approach the game."But the 1994 World Cup-winning coach - he led Brazil to glory that year - is not afraid of the task that awaits his side on matchday one.He continued: "We respect them, but we are not afraid."They have their way, we have ours and the good thing about Bafana Bafana now is this team has an identity, they are confident and they want to deliver."We want to make this country proud and we are going to give hell to any team we play."
After facing the Mexicans, the hosts must still battle former world champions Uruguay and France in their bid to qualify from Group A.On Wednesday, an estimated half a million South Africans took to the streets in all major centres blowing vuvuzelas, sounding their car horns and showing their support for the nation.It was the sort of party atmosphere associated with winning a tournament rather than kicking one off, and Parreira said: "Yes, we were expecting to have two days of calmness and all focus on the game. But also, I can understand.
"In this country football has been sleeping for many years, then suddenly there was a ray of hope with a good performance of the team, the good preparation, the World Cup coming here for the first time and then we had to understand the feelings of the people."It's important that this will not contaminate us, in a good sense that is, because we like what we saw. Off course you have to like this kind of support."
Parreira, who heads into the game with his 12-match unbeaten run intact, also revealed he will field an unchanged line-up from the one that took on Denmark in their last warm-up match.It means that Tsepo Masilela, widely expected to start, loses out to Lucas Thwala at left-back, while Steven Pienaar will lead a five-man midfield with Katlego Mphela playing as a lone striker.Mexico coach Javier Aguirre is confident his side can gatecrash South Africa's party.
The eyes of the world are on Johannesburg where football's global spectacle is set to get underway.The Mexicans are feeling bullish about their tournament chances and Aguirre knows the importance of overcoming the first hurdle."Mexico is doing well, we feel very confident, we've worked very hard, we are highly motivated and we are convinced we can do well on Friday on the field," he said.
"So we feel that Friday's going to be a great day for Mexico. We've been focusing on this game since December when we were chosen to play in the opening match."We're really excited and happy about it because millions of spectators are going to be watching us all over the world. We really want to do well and win the match."El Tri have a solid record in World Cups having reached the last 16 in the last four tournaments, while they were quarter-finalists on home soil in 1970 and 1986.But their coach stopped short of predicting how far they could go this time around.He said: "Mexico's aim is to win the match on Friday, that's our short-term aim."This is a very balanced group, very equal group and I don't think there are any favourites."
Aguirre also insisted his side will not be daunted by South Africa`s show of support."My team has come here to play football. We haven't come here to make any friends or to do any sightseeing," he added.
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