体坛英语新闻：Hosts maintain unbeaten tradition in World Cup opening game

JOHANNESBURG, June 11 (Xinhua) -- South Africans successfully avoided to become the first world cup host squad losing the opening game as Siphiwe Tshabalala scored a memorable goal to give them a 1-1 draw with Mexico on Friday.

The best player of the match gave Banafa Banafa their first goal in the 2010 edition of the World Cup ten minutes after the break, sending Johannesburg's Soccer City and the whole nation into eruption. But Mexico, taking control in most of the time, silenced the tens of thousands of "Vuvuzelas" on the go within and outside the stadium as Rafael Marquez, in plenty of space within the area, beat keeper Itumeleng Khune with a low finish 11 minutes from time.

Hosts nearly created even bigger surprise but Katlego Mphela hit the ball against the post in the 91st minute.

"For the first 15 to 20 minutes, our boys were a bit numb. But we came back in the second half and created a lot of chances," said South Africa's captain Aaron Mokoena.

Hosts' Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira seemed unsatisfied with a draw. "The opening game always puts a lot of pressure on home team. The result is not what we wanted. But the draw is a fair result," said Perreira, who led the Brazilian team to their fourth World Cup crown in 1994.

South African people are ambitious about the national team's prospect in the first World Cup held in Africa. Their president Jacob Zuma said that he was confident the squad would lift the trophy when visiting their training session on Wednesday.