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From the FIFA.com Summary:
Rafael Marquez denied South Africa a dream start to their
FIFA World Cup with a late equaliser for Mexico in a 1-1
draw in an absorbing Opening Match at Soccer City.
Carlos Alberto Parreira's hosts appeared on course for three
points when Siphiwe Tshabalala fired them in front with a
superb 55th-minute strike. But after Teko Modise had missed
a clear chance to seal victory, Marquez rescued the draw
that Mexico's first-half dominance deserved with a
close-range finish 11 minutes from time.
South Africa's players were singing as they came down the
tunnel before stepping out into a wall of noise inside
Soccer City. But after referee Ravshan Irmatov blew the
first whistle of these finals, it was Mexico who looked the
team in tune. Familiar with a background din from their own
Azteca Stadium, they made a positive start which might have
yielded the earliest goal of any FIFA World Cup Opening
Match as Alessandro Dos Santos nearly struck inside two
minutes. Paul Aguilar delivered a low cross and when
goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune failed to smother it, Dos Santos
looked poised to bury the loose ball only for Aaron Mokoena
to make a vital block.
Javier Aguirre's Mexico created a steady supply of chances
as they dominated possession in the first half-hour. After
Guillermo Franco had sent a header over from a corner, the
lively Dos Santos threatened again when he surged upfield
from the centre-circle before slicing a shot wide from the
edge of the box. After 32 minutes Carlos Vela sent a dinked
ball over the Bafana backline to Franco but he was foiled by
Khune. When that pair next combined, Mexico got the ball
into the net but Vela was offside as he turned in Franco's
flick-on from a corner.
Once or twice South Africa's interpassing almost opened
up the Mexico rearguard only for the final ball to go
astray. But it was not for nothing that South Africa entered
this contest unbeaten in 12 games and home hopes rose before
the break when Tshabalala whipped in a dangerous ball that
Katlego Mphela just failed to get his head to. It was
Tshabalala himself who made the breakthrough by concluding a
four-man move in spectacular style ten minutes after the
restart.
Latching on to a long diagonal through-ball by Kagisho
Dikgacoi, he broke into the penalty box on the left before
unleashing a superb left-footed shot high into the opposite
corner. Soccer City exploded in celebration and after Khune
had turned behind Dos Santo's rising shot, Modise could have
put the game out of sight. He had already spurned one clear
chance, albeit when ruled offside, when he broke through in
the 72nd minute. Under pressure from Francisco Rodriguez,
however, he failed to get the power on his shot to trouble
Perez. The hosts paid for their profligacy when Andres
Guardado picked out the unmarked Marquez at the far post and
he gave Khune no chance with a near-post finish. Even then
South Africa might have snatched a winner only for Mphela's
left-foot strike to rebound to safety off the post.
The GCP event was set for a 116 minute period beginning at
16:00 local time. There were 2 extra minutes in the first
half and 3 extra minutes in the second half. Halftime was
16 mins.
Chisquare 6533.655 on 6600 df, for p = 0.717 and Z = -0.574.
It is important to keep in mind that we have only a tiny
statistical
effect, so that it is always hard to distinguish signal from
noise. This means that every "success" might be largely
driven by chance, and every "null" might include a real
signal overwhelmed by noise. In the long run, a real effect
can
be identified only by patiently accumulating replications of
similar analyses.
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