Post Game: Mexico 1 - South Africa 1

Goals in the game were scored by Siphiwe Tshabalala for South Africa in the 55th minute and for Mexico in the 78th minute by Rafael Marquez.

This game was a tale of two halves. Mexico very much dominated the first half both with possession and approaches on goal. Bafana Bafana was lucky to to go into the break tied 0-0. The second half was all South Africa for the most part, except for a lapse after a corner kick in the final 15 minutes of the game.

The goal scored by Tshabalala was a wonderful left-footed strike into the top right corner past 'keep Oscar Perez. He hit that with authority and there was no doubt from the his first touch that he was going to score. It was a great through ball that left him essentially 1 on 1 with the 'keeper.

This goal seemed to make Mexico very tense and they panicked. South Africa gained some much needed confidence and displayed some surprising skill on passing and shooting. While the Mexicans were pressing, they failed to take long range shots, instead waiting until they were in or near the box to take a shot at goal.

The substitutes in the second half for Mexico were Guardado for Aguilar (52') Cuautemoc Balnco for Carlos Vela (69) and Javier Hernandez for Guillermo Franco (73').

The South Africans were very impressive and had a couple of clear shots at goal, and the score could have easily been 3-1 had it not been for Perez and a shot of the post. I liked how Steven Pienaar played, he held the ball up and made great passes. Tshabalala of Kaizer Chiefs was very impressive not only with his wonderful goal but during the entire match. However, the player of the game for Bafana Bafana has to be goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune. He played superbly and showed great reactions and a fantastic save on a close range Giovani dos Santos shot.

This can be nothing short of a disappointing result for El Tri. They were heavy favorites in this game and failed to capitalize on their play in the first half and failed to impress in the second half. Guillermo Franco dissapointed and his replacement Javier Hernandez didn't do better. Cuautemoc Blanco really showed his age and how out of shape he is. He had no business being on the field and didn't do provide anything off the bench. The oldest outfield player in the Cup may be done. One of the few bright spots for Mexico was Giovani dos Santos, he consistently pushing forward and creating chances as well as being one of the few that took shots. Rafa Marquez was another bright spot for the Mexicans as he was consistently in the right place and provided stability in the middle. He showed his experience with his perfect placement, all alone, in the box for his goal.

Up next for Mexico France on June 17 and up next for South Africa Uruguay a day earlier on June 16.