Confederations Cup - Iraq hold South Africa

Eurosport - Tue, 16 Jun 11:26:00 2009

Hosts South Africa missed several chances as they were held to a goalless Group A draw by Iraq in the opening match of the Confederations Cup in Johannesburg.

FOOTBALL South Africa's MacBeth Sibaya challenges Iraq's Karrar during their Confederations Cup opener - 0

In a poor match, the Bafana Bafana should have won late on but Katlego Mashego missed when put clean through while Bernard Parker inadvertently blocked a goal-bound header from team-mate Kagiso Dikgacoi.

The first half was a drab affair in which Iraq started brightly before South Africa gained in confidence.

Chances were few and far between with MacBeth Sibaya's zipping drive, tipped around the post by Mohammed Kassid, and a goalmouth scramble from the subsequent corner the only real opportunities.

Iraq initially looked threatening on the counter attack but 6'6" defender Matthew Booth started to dominate star striker Younis Mahmoud while the Bafana Bafana stepped up their passing and put Bora Milutinovic's men on the back foot.

Neither side came any closer to making a breakthrough though and a poor 45 minutes saw them go in goalless.

The second half followed a similar pattern, with Iraq very conservative and South Africa toiling but lacking any kind of final ball or ability to create space in the danger positions.

The first real opportunity fell to Teko Modise midway through the half but, unmarked and with a clear shot on goal, he embarassingly sliced the ball high and wide.

Five minutes later Thembinkosi Fanteni headed Modise's corner just wide when he really should have scored.

Iraq were starting to tire, affording South Africa more space and substitute Mashego spurned a gilt-edged chance to win the game when he raced through one-on-one with Kassid, who saved bravely at his feet.

The worst was yet to come though. Kassid flapped at a cross from Sibonisa Gaxa on the right, Dikgacoi flew in at the far post but a bullet header - fizzing into the empty net - hit the hapless Parker on the goal-line as his own momentum took him into the goal.

It was a terrible moment for South Africa, who in truth deserved to beat an Iraq side so lacking in ambition that, when awarded an injury-time free-kick on the right wing, they elected to play it short and waste time in the corner instead of crossing it in to risk a possible win.

In what should be a straight race between both teams for a place in the semi-finals, the most convincing win against group minnows New Zealand is expected to determine who progresses, with European champions Spain tipped to win every game comfortably.

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Reda Maher / Eurosport

Comment 3 - 22 of 22

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  1. why did th white SA defender get booooooed?

    From baldhahir, on Mon 15 Jun 5:52PM

  2. It is not a horn. It is a vuvuzela. If you people are­ going to criticize, at least get your facts straight.

    From gail b, on Mon 15 Jun 10:33AM

  3. If South Africa is so @#$% and Iraq is so great- then­ why didn't this great team beat South Afica? Idiot!

    From shane, on Mon 15 Jun 8:55AM

  4. to all @#$% south african fans Iraq is not a weak but­ was playibg defensively due to very preciouse­ calculations and South Africa are the worst team i have­ ever seen at least Iraq defended very well which proves­ Iraq do have quality unlike South Africa who didnt do­ anything but be stupid and miss very easy chances.­
    GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGGOGOGOGOIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRR­ RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAQQQQQ!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From ahmadlaith996, on Mon 15 Jun 8:28AM

  5. pegez, one of the main purposes of the Confederation­ Cup is to test whether the host country is on track to­ host 32 nations for the World Cup. They are testing­ stadium/security and everything right now with the­ current 8 teams. If there is anything off, FIFA can­ tell them to fix it before it's too late. I think­ the WC next year should be fine since around 60% of the­ tickets had already been sold.

    From elson l, on Mon 15 Jun 3:03AM

  6. WHO GIVES A SHEEEEEEEIT BOUT THIS ANYWAY

    From JEEMS, on Sun 14 Jun 9:57PM

  7. Welcome to South African soccer (note not football),­ the supporters move around and make noise all the time­ for entertainment, as the football, sorry, soccer is­ absolutely pathetic! So sorry Su B, get used to the­ noise it won't be going away this your or next and­ oh those horns are callled Vuvuzela's.

    Lovely to­ lift your spirits during a marathon but oh so­ irratating with 50 000 of them blowing in your ear the­ whole afternoon. Spekaing of lifting... Maybe the­ better teams will lift the standard of the minnows and­ give us a few better games but in reality I doubt it,­ SA were abject the last time they played in a world cup­ and will be again this time around.

    The gap between­ the top teams and the minnows is huge, maybe SA and­ Iraq are not as bad as Andorra but its a close shave as­ to which match was worse this week.

    From Kevin, on Sun 14 Jun 9:55PM

  8. Su B,
    Oh i know; how nauseating and ANNOYING!!!!

    From cameron w, on Sun 14 Jun 9:39PM

  9. A swarm of angry bees appears to have taken over the­ stadium.

    They had better find some way of drowning­ that out before the WC or people are going to be­ watching with the sound off.

    From Su B, on Sun 14 Jun 7:31PM

  10. as a south African, really dissapointed with all the­ noise, get them to be stop blowing thows awful horns.­ As for the game no comment, Santana should re-think his­ squad, they cannot finish, they should start playing as­ a team and not as a individual. enough said, nothing­ else to add, just hope the horns stay away from the­ rest of the games, come on South Africa get on top of­ things................

    From jason N, on Sun 14 Jun 7:29PM

  11. I think SA may be offered money by the bookies to throw­ this game away! Just look at the obvious signs in this­ game!
    Without beating Iraq, SA's chances in the­ tournament are as good as over as Iraq is possibly the­ weakest team in the group! FIFA should review their­ policy of offering countries with a low standard of­ football to host the World Cup! A valuable slot will be­ wasted! Just don't give the World Cup in 2018 to­ Qatar and Indonesia! I'm sure the European football­ federations will protest against it if the World Cup­ goes to either of these nations!

    From Ivan, on Sun 14 Jun 7:02PM

  12. The NOOOOOOOOOOISE was AWWWWWWWWWWWWWFuuuuuuul! I hope­ they dont play that @#$% again next time!!

    From Richie, on Sun 14 Jun 6:51PM

  13. Adam J i dont agree with that comment, we are not a 3rd­ world country but a developing country, if we should­ not play sport than way are we rugby world champs in­ union and 7's, why are we on top of the log for­ cricket most likely win the 20/20 world cup, I mean­ england are 1st world country and they still bang on­ wining the 1966 world cup what have they done since?­ Least all our studuims were build in time under budget­ unlike wembley which was 3 years late and £100million­ pounds over budget Your NHS and banking system is­ collapsing if you ask me your country is heading very­ fast into a 3rd world country, so please think before­ you type.

    From Don & Kel C, on Sun 14 Jun 6:33PM

  14. dont understand why SA gets the Confed AND World­ Cup????

    I hope they dont play their kazoos at all the­ games during the WC!!!!

    From pegez, on Sun 14 Jun 6:22PM

  15. what a p!sh game. no excitement! And what was that­ bloody awful kazoo-type noise the WHOLE game! Bloody­ annoying as @#$%!!

    From pegez, on Sun 14 Jun 6:21PM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    And this is why 3rd world countries should be banned­ from playing sports and focus on their more pressing­ issues

    From adam j, on Sun 14 Jun 6:14PM

  17. was a good game....lacked goal....bafana can do '­ it ­ ­ beta place steve p.

    From ediee, on Sun 14 Jun 6:13PM

  18. Can our SA win spain/brazil if they struggled with­ Iraq. shame on hosts

    From pearsonsoko, on Sun 14 Jun 6:02PM

  19. I had hope that South Africa was gonna set news­ standards in hosting the Confederations Cup but as I­ unfortunately witnessed the whole set up leads a lot to­ be desired. There are certain things which left me­ embarrassed as an African

    1.The pitch and sound system­ wer just awful to say but the least
    2.The stadium was­ not full...and this was the host nation playing!!
    3.Too­ much unwarranted movements by the supporters.
    4.Horn­ blowing is allowed but that a bit too much..tht I had­ to turn my sound off

    From leslie, on Sun 14 Jun 5:45PM

  20. Afraid this was dreadful stuff; this Soth African team­ had better improve bg time before the World Cup kicks­ off!

    From cameron w, on Sun 14 Jun 5:27PM
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