South Africa vs. Spain: Final score 1-0, Bafana Bafana stun a lackluster Spain

Thanks to a wonderful bit of passing and a confident finish from Bernard Parker early in the second half, South Africa pulled off a shocking 1-0 upset over Spain at Soccer City in Johannesburg.

Spain were out of the gate quickly but couldn’t quite get their timing right as twice in the opening minutes David Villa put the ball in the back of the net but was correctly ruled offside on both occasions. It actually ended up being South Africa with the first great allowed chance in the 18th minute when Oupa Manyisa’s speculative shot from distance took a massive deflection off a Spain defender. The sudden change of direction by the ball froze Iker Casillas, who watched helplessly as the ball went over his head and hit off the top of the crossbar.

South Africa played extremely well the rest of the first half and while they only had one dangerous chance -- a near miss on a header in stoppage time by Bongani Khumalo -- their quick passing combined with Spain’s apparent disinterest kept the match scoreless.

The Bafana Bafana came close again early the in the second half when Siphiwe Tshabalala got behind the defense but missed badly on his open chance against Victor Valdés. All the pressure and willingness to challenge Spain rather than sit back paid dividends in the 57th minute as South Africa took the lead.

Some “Spain-esque” passing from the Bafana Bafana setup the goal as Mokotjo Kamohelo hit Bernard Parker with a perfectly weighted one time pass, freeing the striker up inside the Spain box. Parker took his chance well, chipping the ball over a sliding Valdés and into the back of the net to give the home side a 1-0 lead.

Things got downright nutty late when Valdés went down with a knee injury, leaving Spain in a lurch having already used their allotted six substitutions. The number of subs allowed is agreed upon beforehand for these types of matches so after several minutes of discussion that included the two benches having to be kept apart by match officials, Spain was allowed another sub as Pepe Reina entered the match.

In the end Spain simply couldn’t break through and South Africa celebrated an unlikely victory.

Goals: Parker (57’)

Goals: None

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