Australia 1-1 South Africa: good result, but no need for a hero's welcome

Scorer: Ayanda Patosi

Gordon Igesund, take a bow. You failed at AFCON, you didn’t qualify for the World Cup, we were a laughing stock at CHAN and lost 5-0 to Brazil. But in Sydney yesterday, Bafana Bafana confounded Brazil-bound Australia.

A 1-1 draw against the Socceroos is not going to spark a hero’s parade at Oliver Tambo International but with New Zealand to come this week, it wasn’t a bad result given the circumstances.

Blitzed by withdrawals and heading towards the end of his contract, South Africa’s head coach gave Australia the worst possible send-off to the World Cup next month. They are drawn in something of a Group of Death with Chile first up, followed by the Netherlands and champions Spain, who haven’t lost a major tournament in three attempts.

If they can’t beat Bafana, with Thabo Nthethe and a grieving Tower Mathoho at the back, they are unlikely to get much out of that trio.

At this point, a special mention for Mulomowandau “Mouth of the Lion” Mathoho. While his multi-capped Kaizer Chiefs team-mates chose to take a holiday rather than representing the nation, our Tower chose to travel to Australia and when his cousin died he stayed to play in Sydney – he will return home today for the funeral.

That takes some guts. And Mathoho showed plenty of that as the Australians dominated the early exchanges. Senzo Meyiwa – watched by habitual No 1 Itumeleng Khune (he confirmed as much to me on twitter) – made six saves in the first 20 minutes and the Orlando Pirates stopper was excellent if unorthodox throughout.

His one mistake came just after Ayanada Patosi’s excellent curling goal for Bafana. Caught by a looping cross, he forgot just how high little Tim Cahill can jump. Bang, 1-1. Everton will confirm Cahill can confound with his head, despite his lack of height.

There was barely time to take a breath between the two goals which marked this final friendly for Australia. But there was plenty of time to take stock of Igesund’s new-look Bafana.

The stupid row with Igesund over Thulani Serero’s injury appears to have been forgotten. The Ajax Ere Divisie winner flew all the way Down Under and shone in midfield, where he will anchor South Africa’s engine room long after Gordon departs.

With Thuso Phala of SuperSport United and Mamelodi Sundowns title-winner Hlompho Kekana quiet, Serero got through a lot of work – and took a look of heavy challenges – but emerged unbowed.

Igesund said: “The journey starts now. This is a competitive bunch of players, they will go places. 

"SAFA’s vision is to be No 3 in Africa and among the top 20 in the FIFA world rankings and these boys will play a major role in the realisation of that dream.

"This tour will mark the beginning of a new era in South African football.

“I am very excited with what I have seen from them in the few days we have been together. They are eager to learn and want to leave a lasting impression.

“I now hope to take this momentum to New Zealand and if they produce the same form, we will enter the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on a high. I have massive belief in this squad. The players have the right attitude, are talented and they know what they want.”

But let’s not fool ourselves. This was a good result for Bafana but not a great performance. Too often the ball was wasted in midfield, possession was lost far too easily – and despite the muscular efforts of Bournemouth’s Tokelo Rantie, there was no sign of a revival up front for South Africa’s blank-shooting strikers.

What we did see was that the great “legends” of Bafana – who spectacularly failed to achieve qualification for the World Cup despite Ethiopia being docked three points during qualifying – are not badly missed.

There is depth in South African football. And we have young talent like Siyanda Xulu at Rostov, Peterborough’s Kagiso Nthle and AmaTuks Buhle Makhwanazi still to come.

So there is light at the end of the Bafana tunnel, whether Igesund departs when his contract expires in August or not. But for Australia? I won’t be betting on them in Brazil!

Argentina 1 Nigeria 0, a classic World Cup encounter thanks to the goalkeeper Arsenal never signed

And so to our first classic World Cup encounter. Argentina’s 1-0 win over Nigeria was no yawn-a-minute yomp for the Latin Americans with the billionaire stars. It was a victory for art over craft, blood over sweat.

From the hairstyles to the coaches, you couldn’t have asked for a greater contrast. Argentina were all Messi skills and messy hair, Nigeria kept the score down through last-gasp tackles and last-ditch defending, not to mention a string of saves from man of the match Vincent Enyeama.

Clad in canary yellow, the Nigerian goalkeeper – who once agreed a £2m fee with Arsenal a year ago - denied Barcelona’s masterful Lionel Messi three times in the first half and produced two further superb saves in the second. How he denied the little master in the 81^st minute, we’ll never know.

The 27-year-old from Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel, was winning his 54^th cap and hard put a finger wrong. Arsene Wenger, you missed out on a super-duper Super Eagle.

But there was nothing Enyeama could do when, after just six minutes, the German-speaking Argentine Gabriel Heinze stormed in to head what turned out to be the winning goal. Quite a day for Manchester United fans. Ji-Sung Park scored a cracker for South Korea in their earlier win against Greece, and here was Heinze, a former Old Trafford star, full of beans.

Almost from the kick-off, this one oozed global quality and excitement, so unlike last night’s awful bore-draw between France and Uruguay. Another former Manchester United man, 35-year-old Juan Sebastian Veron, prompted and probed while Manchester City’s former Old Trafford striker Carlos Tevez just never stopped harrying, probing, working.

Detailed to stop this vast array of talent? One Danny Shittu, formerly of Watford and QPR, who failed to get a game in the Premier League for Bolton Wanderers last season. And he made a fair fist of it.

But it was Messi, the little man who needed growth hormone treatment to reach 5ft 6in, who glittered and shone. How many times did the Nigerians have to stop him with ghastly tackles and desperate lunges, not to mention Enyeama’s golden gloves?

And throughout, there was demented Diego Maradona, shouting and screaming, while Nigeria’s ice-cool Swedish coach Lars Lagerback whispered and prodded.

In the end, we will say Argentina have all it takes to win the World Cup, aside from a sane coach. But that doesn’t tell the story of how close Nigeria came to a leveller on the break as they struggled for 40 percent of the possession.

A day of contrast, green vuvuzelas... and a vast gathering of increasingly desperate Nigerians. They caused 15 injuries when the local migrant population attempted to gain access in a crush during their friendly against North Korea in Tembisa last week. The jolly green army were no less passionate at Ellis Park yesterday, where South Africa won the 1995 rugby World Cup, as portayed by Hollywood and Clint Eastwood in the film Invictus.

But there was to be no last-minute drop goal to change things here. Though former Newcastle striker Obafemi Martins tested Sergei Romero in the Argentine goal 12 minutes from time, it always looked like Argentina, ranked 7 in the world, were going to be a little too slick for Nigeria, ranked 21.

In truth, there were chances at both ends as the altitude burned the lungs late on. And you suspect both these sides will be too strong for South Korea, 47, who beat Greece, 13, in the opening Group B clash earlier in the day.

Especially when you consider they were able to bring on Diego Milito, the two-goal hero of Inter Milan’s Champions League final win over Bayern Munich last month, as a late sub. You have been warned, these Argentines are the best of the eight teams we’ve seen so far.