World Cup 2010 – South Africa faces Mexico in World Cup 2010 opener
Everything is good to go for World Cup South Africa 2010 to kickoff in just a couple more days. This is the planet’s most important and prestigious soccer tournament and perhaps one of the finest sporting events.
The tournament is schedule to begin on June 11th. The National teams from Mexico and South Africa will be the protagonists of the first opening game that inaugurates the competition.
This is the third time that South Africa participates in a World Cup event. Their first came back in France 98, then on Korea-Japan 2002. In both tournaments the team was not able to make it pass the first round of games.
South Africa has one big responsibility. They really need to bring on their A game to the tournament. They really don’t want to be the first host country not to make it pass the groups round robin phase of the tournament.
There is a lot of preassure upon the hosting team. That’s why the Bafana Bafana have trained as hard as they can. They have overcome many obstacles in their route to this opening game. This is the first time that the World Cup is going to be held in the African continent, so that doubles the expectations.
Carlos Alberto Parrerira, the recurring national team head coach for South Africa had been part of the team in 2007 and 2008. He returned half into 2009 to guide the team and prepare them for the challenging tournament. There is a program that hopes to bring South African players to improve in their professional game. The sports press has qualified the team as been highly irregular and unreliable. This is the best chance they have to take that stigma off their back.
The Bafana Bafana knows very well that Mexico is quite a difficult team to face in the first game. The Mexican has a lot of potential and could really give the host team a hard time on their first game. Parreira, on the other hand, stays calm. He is well aware of the talent he’s got among him men. Even more, playing at home should give the South African team an edge.
The South African national team is trying to prove the soccer world that they are a capable team. The men are not going to give in that easily. They have not lost a single game in the friendly matches they have played prior to the World Cup.
Aaron Mokoena, the team’s captain, believes that they do have an advantage by playing at home and having talented players in the pitch, as well as the fact that they are guided by an experienced coach. They have the talent and the motivation to give the Mexicans a big surprise in game 1.
The Mexican National team, the other great star in the first game, has played in thirteen World Cups. They have a good record of at least making it to the second round.
Mexico has been characterized as a strong team. En route to South Africa 2010, the team managed to defeat Italy, the defending champion, 2-1 in a friendly game just a couple days ago.
The Mexicans have in their team some very talented players that know very well how to pass the ball and be a thread in the midfield. Their strikers are fast and quite lethal in the offensive end.
Mexican Head Coach, Javier Aguirre, has studied many tapes and has come with a plan to deploy his most talented players against the South African defense. He has made a few last minute changes in his startup. He hopes these little variants might pay off at the end.
In their last game South Africa won 1-0 against Denmark. The South Africans seemed like a fresher team, with good control over the ball and that knows how to change from offensive to defensive play smoothly.
Both teams are going through a good moment. This will be a good ingredient for the opening game in South Africa 2010 World Cup.
