The World Cup Begins, The National Football Team Appears!

On June 11, the opening match of the South Africa World Cup kicked off between hosts South Africa Team and North American powerhouse Mexico.

Group A was a genuine group of death. Aside from the hosts, it also contained strong teams such as Mexico, Uruguay, and France team.

That made the battle for qualification in Group A incredibly unpredictable. Until the final match ended, no one could tell which teams would emerge from the pack.

Although South Africa were the hosts, few people actually held much hope for them.

Quite a few experts even predicted that South Africa Team would finish the World Cup with three straight defeats, becoming the most miserable host nation in World Cup history.

Yet the result of this match slapped those experts in the face.

At the final whistle, the score stood at 1:1.

Mexico held a clear advantage in the first half but failed to find the net, and the two sides went into halftime tied 0:0.

Just ten minutes into the second half, South Africa seized a counterattacking opportunity. Tshabalala received a long pass from a teammate in the backfield and opened the scoring, netting the first goal of this World Cup.

The moment the South African player scored, the roof of Soccer City Stadium nearly seemed to be lifted off by the fans' cheers.

Of the more than 84,000 fans in attendance, at least 70,000 were South African.

They excitedly blew their vuvuzelas, and the entire stadium seemed drowned in a deafening buzz.

It was difficult to say that Mexico's players had not been affected by that maddening noise. After conceding, Mexico struggled to find their rhythm, becoming increasingly chaotic at both ends of the pitch.

South Africa, on the other hand, nearly changed the score again through several counterattacks.

But Mexico's