Preview
After a wait of almost four years, a new edition of the World Cup kicks off with an opening match that has hosts South Africa facing Mexico on Friday. A slow start for either team could well prove to be fatal.
Sharing Group A with France and Uruguay, both teams realize that a good result in their first match is crucial as any other outcome would make it very difficult to bounce back and advance to the next round of the World Cup.
The South African national team suffered a lot of criticism ahead of this tournament, as result of their generally poor performances in friendlies and qualifiers for this year's African Cup of Nations. But recently, things have begun to look up for the 'Bafana Bafana' with friendly wins over Colombia, Guatemala and Denmark.
South Africa is relatively new to FIFA competitions as it first participated in qualification in 1994. In 1998 and 2002 the team made it to the finals but failed to survive the group phase.
Mexico had a tough time qualifying for this year's World Cup, losing early games to the United States, Honduras and El Salvador. But the team got things back on the rails and ended up finishing second in the final group, just a point behind the USA.
Manager Javier Aguirre picked some high-profile opponents for Mexico's World Cup preparation, and saw his team lose to both England and the Netherlands. On the other hand, the side earned victories over Senegal, Angola, Chile and most recently an impressive 2-1 win over world champions Italy.
Mexico made it to 12 previous World Cups, delivering their best performances in 1970 and 1986 when reaching the quarter finals. Both those tournaments were played on Mexican soil.
The biggest surprise in the final South Africa squad picked by manager Carlos Alberto Parreira was the omission of Benni McCarthy. As such, Katlego Mphela is expected to spearhead the attack for the hosts.
Rafael Marquez and Guillermo Franco are both fit to feature for Mexico, who should have Arsenal's Carlos Vela up front along with either Javier Hernandez or Guillermo Franco.
The two sides also faced in 2005 when South Africa were invited to the CONCACAF Gold Cup and surprisingly defeated tournament favorites Mexico 2-1 in their opening game. Mexico did go on to win the group and South Africa finished second, after which both were knocked out in the quarter finals.
Either side could win Friday's match and even experts have difficulties predicting the outcome. Surprises are common in the World Cup but the most likely outcome seems to be a draw.
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