In a game of three penalties South Africa came out 2-1 winners over the higher ranked Columbia in the opening international game at the newly built Soccer City stadium. South Africa opened the scoring with a twice taken penalty, which was well saved by the Colombian Keeper but for some inexplicable reason the Referee ordered it to be retaken and that was 1-0 to South Africa. Colombia equalised from the penalty spot themselves before Mphela scored South Africa’s second penalty early in the second half to send the partisan crowd home happy.
On this performance South Africa will be hard to beat but wont make the second stages.
In other games Denmark had an easy 2-0 win against Senegal which did little to help gauge their potential, while Honduras showed their defensive frailties when drawing 2-2 with Belarus.
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- South Africa Beats Colombia 2-1 (nytimes.com)