Preview: South Africa v Mexico

June 11, 2010, is the moment football fans have been waiting for...the opening game of the World Cup


Much of South Africa will grind to a halt on Friday afternoon when Bafana Bafana kick off Africa's first Finals with a difficult Group A opener at Soccer City in Johannesburg.

History is on South Africa's side, since African countries have always won when they have been chosen to open a Finals, World Cup hosts have never lost their first match and Mexico have never triumphed on the four previous occasions they have launched the Finals.

Goalkeeper Moneeb Josephs summed up the feeling in Carlos Alberto Parreira's squad, saying: "When it was announced we were be going to be hosting the World Cup, we felt we were just going to be competing, but as we've started to feel more confident in the team, in our playing abilities, I think the mindset has changed to a place where we want to go far in this competition, we want to succeed and, who knows, we might go all the way."

However, with the exception of North Korea, South Africa are the lowest-ranked country at the Finals in 83rd place and they will be up against a Mexican team who have just beaten defending champions Italy and are used to playing at altitude.

"We're ready," warned forward Carlos Vela. "We've prepared really well. It's not every day you get to play against opponents like England, the Netherlands and Italy. We played well against the first two but weren't able to win, which is why it meant so much to beat the reigning world champions. It was a real confidence-booster ahead of the World Cup."

The Arsenal striker insists the Mexicans will not be phased by facing the hosts in the first match, although he knows there will be a frenzied and noisy atmosphere generated by most of the expected 90,000 crowd blowing their vuvuzela horns.

"It's a great opportunity, but it's not going to be easy because it's the first match, we're up against the host nation and there's all that pressure," he said. "I think the key will be to shake off our nerves as quickly as possible and play like we have been doing these last few weeks."
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