South Africa and Mexico draw 1-1 in World Cup opener

A truly fantastic match between Mexico and South Africa, the excitement and anticipation for the tournament seem wonderful in Johannesburg. There was some bad news before the game however, Nelson Mandela was unable to attend the opening ceremony because his great-granddaughter died in a car crash the night before the opener. A terrible tragedy which hopefully won't affect the spirit at the tournament.

South Africa - Mexico


Both teams entering the match on form, South Africa on a 12-match unbeaten streak, and Mexico just having beaten Italy in a friendly. Right away the match started with action, Mexico controlling the possession which eventually created a low cross which South Africa keeper Khune couldn't hold on to, and Dos Santos' followup was blocked by Mokoena. Soon after South Africa gave the ball away, and Giovani Dos Santos' shot curved wildly to balloon to the left of the goal. Mexico had another golden opportunity with Franco controlling a chipped ball in the box to try and tap it past Khune who did an excellent job to block the close range effort.

After the half things changed, we saw a less confident Mexico, and a more counter-attacking South Africa. In the 55th minute, a neat and tidy counter-attack by South Africa released Tshabalala 1 on 1 with Mexico keeper Perez; the South African rocketed the ball into the top right corner for a spectacular goal. The stadium went wild as the players celebrated in joy. Giovani Dos Santos continued to scare the South Africa defence with his dangerous dribbles which resulted in shots which Khune heroically saved, but other than that, Mexico were startled by the determined and organized South Africa which stood before them. But eventually in the 79th minute Mexico grabbed the deserved equalizer, Marquez along with two other Mexico players were unmarked as they received the cross, and the Barcelona defender thumped home the equalizer. After the goal there was plenty of tension, the sides were evenly matched, and in the dying minutes Mphela hit the post from a golden opportunity. A fantastic match full of emotions of joy and happiness, the first game of the 2010 South Africa World Cup ended 1-1.

World Cup Facts, Drawing Football, and more

With the World Cup just ONE DAY AWAY (I was so excited I woke up at 7:00 AM today thinking that today was June 11th...), I have found/created three truly awesome things to show all you footy fans tingling with anticipation.


1.) A wonderful World Cup infographic about World Cup Facts, it's something that you should really check out. It's full of great facts (most I had no idea about) and the visuals are very pretty. Check it out here on LocateTV.

2.) Spectacular video called "Drawing Football", for me it rivals Nike's "Write the Future" ad with its awesomeness. The only way to make you understand is to let you watch it below.

3.) The third and final thing is probably not as awesome as Drawing Football and World Cup Facts, but I found it still pretty awesome. It's the fact that Soccer Wrap Up has now launched the mobile site! While it's relatively laggy and slow, it's still fantastic for all you Iphone and Itouch people (myself included). I was able to make it thanks to the awesome people at Widgetbox who also helped me make the Soccer Wrap Up widget which is shown on the side-bar to the right. 

I hope you are all getting really excited about tomorrow's opening game between South Africa and Mexico (Which SWU will have a full wrap up on along with the other games played that day). The World Cup fever is spreading faster than ever!

Where to get World Cup News

With the World Cup finally coming, I've decided to compile a small list of sites and stuff where you can get the best World Cup news. I've also added a couple of sites where you can get World Cup gear and more soccer gear.

Also a small reminder that if you are looking for a podcast show all about soccer, truly the best one there is has to be World Football Daily. Check out SWU's review on the podcast if you want more info.

World Cup news sites:

• Premiership Talk (General World Cup news)
• World Cup Buzz (General World Cup news)
• Serie A Talk (Italy)
• Bundesliga Talk (Germany)
• Soccer Lens (General World Cup news)
• Livin La Liga (Spain)
• German Football Corner (Germany)

Soccer gear:

• Soccer Pro
• Football Kits

While you'll be seeing some articles by me on Premiership Talk, Serie A Talk, Bundesliga Talk, and Soccer Lens all of these sites are great places for you to keep up to date with the World Cup. 

Do you have any other sites that you think should be on here? Comment below! 

Boateng to Manchester City and Hitzlsperger to West Ham

While there have been plenty of injuries with the upcoming World Cup like Ferdinand, Ballack, Pirlo, Altidore, Robben, Essien, and Africa's very own Drogba, there have been two very interesting signings which have made their way to the English Premier League.

Both of them are German and only one of them will be going to the World Cup, they're Jerome Boateng and Thomas Hitzlsperger.

Boateng at the age of 21 made the 2010 Germany World Cup team and was signed by Manchester City from Hamburg for an undisclosed fee although it seems like Manchester City will be paying about 15 million dollars to the German club. Boateng has signed a 5-year deal and is the third player to move from Hamburg to the blue side of Manchester, Mancini said that he wanted a quality player that could play in a variety of defensive positions, and Boateng could be the perfect player for the Italian.

Hitzlsperger on the other hand was left out of the German team traveling to South Africa and is 28 years old, so the German was looking to revitalize his career. Hitzlsperger was included in the 2006 World Cup squad and in the 2008 DURO squad, so Thomas will be looking to make the squad for the 2012 EUROs. What better way to do that then to join Avram Grant, the manager who took Chelsea to the champions League final and revitalized what seemed like a dead and buried Portsmouth. What's also great is that the stingy owners at West Ham landed this top quality player on a free-transfer, so we could see some more cunning signings by West Ham as they hopefully steer clear of relegation next season.