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Johannesburg - South Africa and Bafana Bafana rose to the occasion by making the country and Africa proud by successfully staging an unforgettable historic 2010 World Cup opening match between Bafana and Mexico at the new-look Soccer City on Friday.
The Rainbow nation danced and celebrated when Bafana, ranked only 83rd – the lowest ranked country ever to hoist the World Cup - beat all expectations to draw 1-1 against the world’s 17th best side Mexico at Soccer City.
The man who deserves the credit for turning around Bafana’s fortunes is head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who has weaved his magic since he took charge of the ailing and dispirited Bafana last November.
Parreira, who won the 1994 World Cup with his native Brazil, replaced Joel Santana last November. Santana was shown the door and given a ticket back to his home in Brazil after a string of poor results.
Triumphant ceremony
Six years of hard work and billions of rand spent rebuilding South African infra-structures -soccer stadiums, roads, airports and transport systems culminated in the triumphant 2010 World Cup opening ceremony and the first World Cup match in South Africa where a record crowd of 84 490 fans waving South African and Mexican flags from all over the world witness history being made.
All the doomsday predictions from the sections of the foreign media, especially in England and Germany, proved groundless as the 2010 Organising Committee pulled it off in style.
The estimated world television audience of 700 million watched the spectacular opening ceremony and then Bafana coming close to causing a major upset with Mphela hitting the post in the 90th minute.
Siphiwe Tshabalala, the new rising Bafana star scored with a scorcher in the 55th minute with Barcelona ace Rafael Marquez netting the equaliser 11 minutes from time.
The CEO of the 2010 Local Organising Committee, Danny Jordaan, was jubilant, saying that the atmosphere was incredible and spectacular.
Jordaan and Organising Committee chairperson Irvin Khoza were the two leading lights and the driving force in securing six years ago that South Africa became the first African country to host the greatest sporting event in the world.
Said Jordaan: “We could not have asked for more - a capacity stadium, a host nation with the will to win, an incredible atmosphere and spectacular football. It was just fantastic that the first goal of Africa’s first World Cup went to South Africa, we really could not have written the scrip better ourselves.”
Confidence
Jordaan said that the opening match and ceremony had given him confidence from an organisational perspective. “The match was an outstanding success on and off the field and all South Africans can be proud of what we have done in front of the world - close to 700 million television viewers.”
However, the brilliant 22-year-old Bafana keeper Itumeleng Khune who was the other star of the game complained that the much feared vuvuzelas were not loud enough.
Said Khune: “We want more support and louder vuvuzelas when we play our next match against Uruguay in Pretoria on Wednesday. We could hardly hear the fans who were quiet at stages during the game.”
Bafana host the two-time world champions Uruguay at Loftus on Wednesday at 20:30. Uruguay and 1998 world champions France drew dew 0-0 in their Group A clash played at Cape Town Stadium on Friday night.
The only sad note was the tragic death of former President Nelson Mandela’s great-grand daughter Zenani Mandela, who was killed in a traffic accident on her way home from the FIFA World Cup international concert staged at Orlando Stadium on Thursday night.
Madiba who was the other driving force behind South Africa securing the World Cup did not attend the game due to the tragedy.
The Rainbow nation danced and celebrated when Bafana, ranked only 83rd – the lowest ranked country ever to hoist the World Cup - beat all expectations to draw 1-1 against the world’s 17th best side Mexico at Soccer City.
The man who deserves the credit for turning around Bafana’s fortunes is head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who has weaved his magic since he took charge of the ailing and dispirited Bafana last November.
Parreira, who won the 1994 World Cup with his native Brazil, replaced Joel Santana last November. Santana was shown the door and given a ticket back to his home in Brazil after a string of poor results.
Triumphant ceremony
Six years of hard work and billions of rand spent rebuilding South African infra-structures -soccer stadiums, roads, airports and transport systems culminated in the triumphant 2010 World Cup opening ceremony and the first World Cup match in South Africa where a record crowd of 84 490 fans waving South African and Mexican flags from all over the world witness history being made.
All the doomsday predictions from the sections of the foreign media, especially in England and Germany, proved groundless as the 2010 Organising Committee pulled it off in style.
The estimated world television audience of 700 million watched the spectacular opening ceremony and then Bafana coming close to causing a major upset with Mphela hitting the post in the 90th minute.
Siphiwe Tshabalala, the new rising Bafana star scored with a scorcher in the 55th minute with Barcelona ace Rafael Marquez netting the equaliser 11 minutes from time.
The CEO of the 2010 Local Organising Committee, Danny Jordaan, was jubilant, saying that the atmosphere was incredible and spectacular.
Jordaan and Organising Committee chairperson Irvin Khoza were the two leading lights and the driving force in securing six years ago that South Africa became the first African country to host the greatest sporting event in the world.
Said Jordaan: “We could not have asked for more - a capacity stadium, a host nation with the will to win, an incredible atmosphere and spectacular football. It was just fantastic that the first goal of Africa’s first World Cup went to South Africa, we really could not have written the scrip better ourselves.”
Confidence
Jordaan said that the opening match and ceremony had given him confidence from an organisational perspective. “The match was an outstanding success on and off the field and all South Africans can be proud of what we have done in front of the world - close to 700 million television viewers.”
However, the brilliant 22-year-old Bafana keeper Itumeleng Khune who was the other star of the game complained that the much feared vuvuzelas were not loud enough.
Said Khune: “We want more support and louder vuvuzelas when we play our next match against Uruguay in Pretoria on Wednesday. We could hardly hear the fans who were quiet at stages during the game.”
Bafana host the two-time world champions Uruguay at Loftus on Wednesday at 20:30. Uruguay and 1998 world champions France drew dew 0-0 in their Group A clash played at Cape Town Stadium on Friday night.
The only sad note was the tragic death of former President Nelson Mandela’s great-grand daughter Zenani Mandela, who was killed in a traffic accident on her way home from the FIFA World Cup international concert staged at Orlando Stadium on Thursday night.
Madiba who was the other driving force behind South Africa securing the World Cup did not attend the game due to the tragedy.
