Mninawa Ntloko
18 June 2009
Rustenburg — A near-hysterical Dutch journalist yesterday voiced his intense dislike for the South African vuvuzela to Fifa president Sepp Blatter, asking the world football boss if it would not be possible for the "noisy and irritating instrument" to be banned before the start of the Soccer World Cup next June.
Displaying the fine-tuned skills of a slippery politician, Blatter reminded his inquisitor that he was in Africa and to accept that local fans were never going to be anything like what he was accustomed to in Europe.
The Dutch journalist looked as if he was about to burst the throbbing vein in his forehead when a crescendo of vuvuzelas nearly blew the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace down after Bafana Bafana beat New Zealand 2-0 to haul themselves back into contention for a place in the semifinals of the Confederations Cup last night.
An impressive brace from man-of- the-match Bernard Parker in either half was enough to give Bafana hope of reaching the semifinals of the eight- nation tournament.
GCIS
A vuvuzela trumpet.
While the rare victory -- SA last won a competitive match when they beat Equatorial Guinea in a 2010 African Nations Cup qualifier in Malabo seven months ago -- was appreciated by the noisy crowd, the reality is Bafana are still not completely assured of a semifinal berth. The runner-up spot in Group A could now be decided on goal difference on Saturday.
Group rivals Iraq face the rather generous New Zealanders at the same time as Bafana's engagement against group winners Spain. If the Iraqis are also able to breach the sieve-like Kiwis, the national team would require a point against the fearsome Spaniards to guarantee qualification for the knockout stage.
But the realities of the permutations that still exist were never going to dampen the mood here at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace, and the crowd celebrated the confidence- boosting victory with the same relieved joy that was etched on the players' faces.
Beleaguered Bafana coach Joel Natalino Santana made his job a lot easier when he abandoned his ultraconservative formation last night and dropped defensive midfielder Benson Mhlongo. His place in the starting lineup was taken by Everton star Steven Pienaar.
Pienaar's introduction helped ease off some of the creative responsibilities that were solely on Teko Modise's shoulders in the doomed opening match against Iraq and Bafana suddenly looked a different team from the lacklustre outfit of four days ago.
Bafana could have gone into the lead early in the match when Modise set up an inviting chance for Thembinkosi Fanteni inside the box and as the expectant crowd rose to its feet in anticipation of a goal, the Israel-based striker inexplicably miscued with only New Zealand goalkeeper Glen Moss at his mercy.
That missed opportunity set the tone for the rest of this decidedly one- sided encounter and Bafana were constant visitors to Moss's penalty box.
Defender Tsepo Masilela -- who had a storming match down the left -- twisted New Zealand's Dave Mulligan into knots before setting up the perfect pass to a grateful Parker who put the ball past Moss to open Bafana's account in the first half.
Masilela was again the architect of the second goal and after some fine work on the left, he delivered yet another telling pass to Parker and Bafana never looked back.
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Informative article.
Please change the spelling for the Tshivenda word in the article. It's not 'mhalamhala' but it's written as PHALAPHALA. It's traditionally a Kudu horn.
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