It came pretty close, but at the end of play, both South African national sides had everything to cheer about.

Bafana Bafana, despite going down 2-0 to the world's top-ranked side Spain, progressed through to the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup after finishing second in their group behind the Spaniards, who earned a record 15th straight victory.

And the Springboks turned the tears of 1997 into cheers in 2009 with a tough 26-21 win over the British and Irish Lions at the Absa Stadium in Durban.

Despite Bafana's loss at the Free State stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africans can be proud of the team's performance, as they gave as good as they got, holding the Spanish to a scoreless draw at half-time.

Then David Villa scored, followed shortly afterwards by Fernano Llorente.

Despite going down 2-0, Bafana's advance was made possible as Iraq could not beat New Zealand by the requisite two goals and were eliminated.

Bafana played like a side possessed and gave the world notice that they will not be a walkover come 2010.

It was the best performance from the South Africans for many a year and more than makes up for the disappointment of not qualifying for the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola.

The backbone of the side seems to be in place, with solid performances from Itumeleng Khune, defenders Matthew Booth and Aaron Mokoena, and midfielders Steven Pienaar, MacBeth Sibaya and Teko Modise.

Up front, however, the team are still looking for a replacement for Benni McCarthy, as Bernard Parker - in all fairness a converted midfielder - just hasn't got that extra yard of pace needed at the top level.

Yes, Bafana played out of their socks on Saturday, and coach Joel Santana, much lambasted by the media after a poor showing of late, must be a happy man.

The next hurdle for the Brazilian coach looks likely to be a semi-final against his countrymen - whoever tops Group B after Sunday's matches will face Bafana in Johannesburg on Thursday - and Brazil, with two wins under their belts already, look firm favourites.

Meanwhile the Springboks, although the ultimate winners, faced defeat when it looked as though the Lions would seize the match.

In just 12 minutes, which coincided with John Smit and others being substituted, the Springboks conceded 14 points and had a 26-7 lead whittled down to 26-21.

It took the return of Smit, with just three minutes remaining, to restore direction to a Bok side thrown into disarray by the substitutions made by the coaching staff.

"It wasn't part of the plan for me to come back on," says Smit. "But Deon Carstens went off injured. I was happy to come on just to calm the ship a bit, to tell the guys to get their hands on the ball. The crucial things for us at the end were disrupting the lineout and Gurthro Steenkamp getting a steal that led to the penalty that helped us get out of our half."

He added: "I don't think we can blame everything on the substitutions. I think there was a rustiness involved, we took our foot off the gas. We have to realise the Lions are a serious team and they pushed us hard."

Peter de Villiers, the Springbok coach, afterwards admitted he may have erred in throwing on too many substitutes in the second half.

"I may have made a mistake there. I thought the guys were looking a little flat and, while we were ahead in the match, we weren't dominating.

"We scored points but we never looked as though we were in control. I thought we would inject some enthusiasm and speed. It didn't work out that way. Maybe I made them too soon."

It had started so well for the Springboks as they sought to erase the memory of the last Lions tour to these shores in 1997.

On that day at the Absa Stadium, Jeremy Guscott had broken South African hearts with a drop goal that clinched the series.

This time, however, it began so much better for South Africa. Smit thundered over for a try after five minutes. Penalties from local heroes Ruan Pienaar and Frans Steyn kept the Boks ahead before Croft scored the first of his two tries. Beast Mtawarira dismantled experienced England prop Phil Vickery, forcing the Lions to take him off after half-time.

Heinrich Brussouw scored from a magnificent maul, but then came the second half and the 12 minutes of madness as the Lions hit back.

Spanish players were not happy with the state of the pitch in Bloemfontein's Free State Stadium.

Despite the fact that there had been unseasonably heavy rains earlier in the week, many of La Roja players said the field was overly dry, which didn't allow them to play their usual flowing football and gave an advantage to the defensive tactics of Iraq.

"The pitch was horrible," said playmaking midfielder Xavi after the match. "Not the grass itself, but it wasn't watered. It was a disaster."

The Barcelona man looked uncharacteristically erratic in the match against the Asian Champions and many of his passes seemed to come up short.

"The ball didn't run well," he confirmed.

"It obviously benefits the defence. It seems like it's just going to encourage teams that don't play good football."

Man of the match Xabi Alonso confirmed that it affected the play of the European Champions.

"The dry pitch made a difference for us," he said. "It made it harder to break down an already complicated team because we couldn't move the ball fast enough."

In response to the comments, the venue manager for the stadium, Fithiwe Ngwenya, said there was nothing special about the way the pitch had been treated.

"We haven't received any official complaints," he said.