By Nthambeleni Gabara
PRETORIA, March 5 (NNN-BUANEWS) — While Bafana Bafana were being held to a 1-1 draw by Namibia on Wednesday, the South Africans’ first opponents at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Mexico, were intensifying their aggressive winning spree.
Mexico, who will play the host team, Bafana, in the opening match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup at Soccer City on June 11, beat New Zealand 2-0 in their latest preparatory match of the upcoming tournament.
Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez scored the first goal for his team in the 53rd minute, while the second came from Carlos Vela in the 57th minute.
A total of 28 participating teams of the 2010 FIFA World Cup played friendly warm-up matches across the world on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the United States were walloped 2-1 by the Netherlands in Amsterdam, while England came back from a goal down to defeat African champions, Egypt, 3-1 at Wembley Stadium.
Spain beat France 2-0, while Diego Maradona’s Argentina defeated Germany 1-0. Argentina’s goal was scored by Gonzalo Higuain in the 45th minute.
Africa’s strongest team, Ivory Coast, who recently sacked head coach Vahid Halilhodzic lost 0-2 to South Korea.
South Korea will face Greece and Argentina at the World Cup and will feel more confident about taking on Nigeria as well, after their victory against the African team.
Japan is also happy with their 2-0 win over Bahrain at Toyota Stadium. However, Cameroon seemed to have improved their performance since their early exit at the African Nations Cup in Angola.
They played to a goalless draw against the World Cup defending champions Italy. Cameroon’s opening World Cup encounter is against Japan on June 14.
Uruguay beat inexperienced Switzerland 3-1, while Portugal beat China 2-0. The Black Stars of Ghana lost 1-2 to Bosnia-Herzegovina. — NNN-BUANEWS
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