South Africa v Mexico, Friday 11th June, 3pm
| Full Time Result | |||
| Best Odds | Bookmaker | Free Bets | |
| South Africa | 13/8 |  |
£100 |
| Draw | 9/4 |  |
£200 |
| Mexico | 13/8 |  |
£100 |
The vuvuzelas will be out in force in Johannesburg for the opening match of the 2010 World Cup, with Bafana Bafana and El Tri playing the first ever World Cup match on African soil. No host nation has failed to get beyond the group stage of this competition and you can get odds of 15/8 (bet365- £200 Free Bets) that South Africa get their campaign off to a flyer by landing the spoils in this Friday afternoon contest.
Carlos Alberto Parreira’s team go into the tournament off the back of a 12-match unbeaten run and Katlego Mphela has been in excellent goalscoring form. The striker is 7/1 (Ladbrokes – £25 Free Bets) to get the party started by opening the scoring at Soccer City, while Everton’s Steven Pienaar is a key player for the team and can take a mean free kick. The midfielder is 16/1 (Stan James – £25 Free Bets) to break the deadlock against a Mexican defence who don’t seem that watertight if previous matches are anything to go by.
Indeed, people may well be reading too much into the fact that this opening encounter could be a cagey one. Both teams will be hungry to get points on the board and Over 2.5 Goals could be a value proposition at odds of 6/4 (Stan James). After all, Mexico like to go forward in numbers and matches against England, Holland and Italy all saw the net being hit three or more times.
Javier Aguirre’s team are probably better player-for-player than the hosts, something which has seen the bookies make them 8/5 favourites (Bet Fred – £50 Free Bets) to silence the vuvuzelas. New Manchester United signing Javier Hernandez is looking particularly impressive and bet365 bookmakers offer 13/2 that he opens the scoring.
