Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Robson Sharuko
20 June 2009
Johannesburg — SOUTH AFRICA can close a great week for African football - and keep alive the home fans' interest in the 2009 Confederations Cup - by qualifying for the semi-finals when they take on European champions Spain at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein tonight.
The 2010 World Cup hosts need just a point in their final match against the Spaniards to be guaranteed a place in the last four of the Confederations Cup -- a feat that should send this nation into delirium.
Bafana Bafana were not given a good chance of qualifying, even though they were in the easier group, and after they flattered to deceive in their goalless draw against Iraq in their first match, there was a feeling this could all end up as a nightmare.
But Bafana Bafana picked themselves up in their next match, against New Zealand, and won 2-0 with Bernard Parker scoring twice in the victory.
Critics have pointed out that the win was achieved against a terrible New Zealand side and their true test will come against the European champions, who are ranked as the number one team in the world by Fifa.
Bafana Bafana players have been calling for support from their fans, especially the famous Siwelele supporters who have turned Bloemfontein into a cauldron, to help them clear the final hurdle.
"All that we need is to avoid conceding a goal and we are in the semi-finals," said defender Siboniso Gaxa.
If they do that, Bafana Bafana will have closed a glorious week for African football that saw Egypt scoring three times against Brazil and coming within just one minute of getting a deserved draw.
The Pharaohs then went one better on Thursday night as they beat world champions Italy 1-0 at Ellis Park.
A win for Bafana Bafana against the European champions tonight will complete a fairy-tale for African football.
Bafana Bafana have four points going into the final round of matches tonight but, in the event of a loss and Iraq beating New Zealand, the hosts could still crash out of the tournament.
For such a scenario will see both Iraq and Bafana ending the campaign on four points with the Asian champions likely to proceed by virtue of having a better goal difference.
Previous Head-to-Head
The only head-to-head clash between South Africa and Spain was at the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Spain. The European champions won 3-2.
Bafana might be at home and, in football, they are expected to enjoy a certain degree of advantage. The problem is that only Mexico (in 1999) and France (2003) have triumphed on home soil in the Confederations Cup.
Japan reached the final in 2001 and Germany only narrowly missed out on a place in the final four years ago.
South Africa's win over New Zealand was only their second at such a high level of the game -- the World Cup and the Confederations Cup. Their previous win was a 1-0 defeat of Slovenia at the 2002 World Cup.
Parker's brace was the second for a South African player in a senior Fifa competition.
The first was by Shaun Bartlett, who is now a member of the SuperSport panel of experts, at the 1998 World Cup in Saudi Arabia.
In their 31 matches against European opposition, South Africa have won eight matches, two of them against Norway and Poland in friendly internationals.
Their only victories, with a margin of more than one goal, were against Scotland (2-0) and Turkey (2-0) in a friendly tournament in Hong Kong in 2002.Spain have extended their unbeaten run to 34 matches.
If they do not lose to South Africa, Spain will catch up with Brazil (whose series of 35 unbeaten matches in the mid-1990s was marred by the penalty shoot-out loss to Uruguay in the 1995 Copa America final). If they beat South Africa, the European champions will record their 15th consecutive win, an all-time record.
Iraq v New Zealand
Head-to-Head
Iraq 2 wins; Draws 0; New Zealand 0
The only two matches between Iraq and New Zealand were played in the 1973 World Cup qualifiers in Sydney, Australia. Both were won by Iraq -- 2-0 and 4-0.
New Zealand and Iraq are the only teams that have still not scored after their first two matches. Bora Milutinovic relies on 11 players, all of whom won the Asian Nations Cup 2007 for Iraq. The 65-year-old Serb is the oldest coach in this competition.
New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert played in all three of New Zealand's matches during his country's historic debut appearance at the 1982 World Cup finals.
Appointed as head coach of the All Whites in February 2005, since 2007, he has also managed club side Wellington Phoenix, the only New Zealand-based team licensed to compete in the Australian A-League.
The youngest player in the competition, New Zealand's forward Chris Wood (18 on December 7), made his debut on June 16 at this Confederations Cup in the 75th minute of the match against South Africa.
Key Battle
Younis Mahmoud - Chris Killen
Younis Mahmoud played a major part in Iraq's successful run in their 2007 AFC Asian Cup title victory after scoring the decisive goal for his side in the final against Saudi Arabia.
However, he failed to recover his old form whether on the club level or with the national team as he failed to score in the last six matches with the national team, including the previous two matches against South Africa and Spain. Tall striker Chris Killen has also failed to score for New Zealand in their first two matches in the Fifa Confederations Cup and the striker struggled against the defence of Spain and South Africa as he had only three shots and one shot on target in the two games.
Milutinovic (Iraq Coach)
"We wanted to get a good result against Spain and we managed to avoid defeat with a big margin, which might help us to qualify from the group. We are looking forward to have a big win against New Zealand to get to four points and we could go through if Spain won against South Africa."
Herbert (New Zealand coach)
"We are going to do things differently before Iraq as we need everyone back to their best to compete with the Asian champions. I will be making changes. Statistically, we don't get a lot of playing time, so it's a massive opportunity for us to learn some lessons about different players and their reactions."
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