South Africa's midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala celebrates after scoring a goal against Mexico during their 2010 World Cup group A first round football match on June 11, 2010 at Soccer City stadium in Soweto, suburban Johannesburg. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. NO PUSH TO MOBILE / MOBILE USE SOLELY WITHIN EDITORIAL ARTICLE - AFP PHOTO / CHRISTOPHE SIMON (Photo by CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP)
If ever a country needed history to repeat itself, it is South Africa… and the day we’d desperately love to see repeating itself is 11 June, 2010.
That’s when Siphiwe Tshabalala’s thundering left boot fired in the opening goal of the first Fifa World Cup held on the African continent.
Tonight, 16 years to the very day after that historic opening match in Johannesburg, Bafana Bafana will again be lining up against Mexico.
It would be something almost beyond belief to see another Tshabalala moment, even a victory over this powerful opponent.
There’s a big difference in the atmosphere in South Africa in 2026: we’re angry, we’re pessimistic and we feel betrayed, by each other and by the greedy politicians we elected to run our country.
Race relations are probably lower than they have been at any time since 1994.
Just putting bread on the table is tough.
We need success – even fleeting, as was Tshabalala’s mercurial flash in the pan in 2010 – because success reminds us that it is in our national DNA to be a world leader.
There’s never been a nation quite like us. And there never will be again.
Remember that tonight. Remember how sport once united us.
