Bafana Bafana seem to peak at the right time before the World Cup finals kick off as they defeated 34th world-ranked Colombia 2-1 at the new Soccer City in front of a capacity crowd on Thursday night.

It was the first time that Bafana had played at the new multi-billion rand stadium where they face Mexico in the opening World Cup Group A clash on June 11, and they sent their fans home happy. They are now unbeaten in 10 matches under head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira.

All three goals came from the penalty spot.

Bafana had a case of stage fright in the first half. They struggled to get going against a side that showed they were not in Johannesburg for a holiday. Colombia showed why they a world top-40 side with a no nonsense display, and a particuarlly bruising opening 45 minutes.

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Bafana Bafana turned drew 1-1 against 39th world ranked Bulgaria in an entertaining friendly international played at a near capacity Orlando Stadium on a freezing Monday night.

Bulgaria were the biggest test for Bafana in 2010 and showed that they are improving with every match.

The new-look Bafana have now gone nine matches unbeaten under Brazilian head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira who took charge of the ailing side last November.

Bafana played with passion, pride and committment and with a bit of luck could easily have beaten their more fancied opponent.

Bafana held the upper hand for most of a fast flowing opening half watched by an enthusiastic vuvuzelas blowing near capacity crowed of 38 000 that created an intimidating and lively atmosphere throughout the 90 minutes.

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Bafana Bafana have ended 2009 with a goal-scoring crisis. Bafana were held to another 0-0 draw, this time by a second string Jamaica in their final friendly of the year at a cold Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Tuesday night.

The biggest losers were the 20 000 odd supporters who braved the cold wintery conditions to support their team who turned in a below average display.

It is now over six hours since Bafana last scored a goal and that was against minnows Madagascar in a friendly played in Kimberley in September.

New Bafana head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira goes into the Festive Season international recess with a major headache — how to score goals. And how to instil a sense of urgency into his players. Urgency was one of the main ingredients Bafana lacked in front of their enthusiastic Bloemfontein fans.

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Under-fire Bafana Bafana head coach Joel Santana looked resigned to his fate on Thursday after local media called for his head when he named a 23-man squad to play Norway and Iceland in friendly internationals in Oslo on October 10 and Reykjavik on October 13.

At a packed media briefing, Brazilian born Santana was told by new South African Football Association president Kirstin Nematandani that he had given the unpopular coach a stay of execution.

“We met with Santana and his technical team on Wednesday,” said the new Safa boss.

“We are aware of the outcry about Bafana’s lack of success in recent matches. We told the coach that we expect him to start bringing back results.

“But we need to give Santana and his team our full support before we take the step of firing or not firing him.”

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Daniel Alves scored the winning goal in only the 88th minute in their semi-final game against Bafana Bafana to see Brazil through to the Confederations Cup final.

This semifinal against the hosts was heading for extra time until Alves, in an inspired move by coach Dunga, replaced Andre Santos and broke the stalemate with a curling free kick in the 88th minute.

Brazil face the United States in Sunday’s final with South Africa heading to Rustenburg for the third-place playoff with Spain.

South Africa were without suspended midfielder Macbeth Sibaya, his place taken by Siphiwe Tshabalala, while Brazil midfielder Luisao started for injured Juan.

The two adversaries made it into the last four in wildly contrasting ways – Brazil sauntering through as Group B leaders with maximum points, South Africa edging through on goal difference as Group A runners-up.

With President Jacob Zuma watching, about the only one of the 48 000 fans not blowing into a vuvuzela, South Africa made a promising start as they fought to make their first final since the 1996 African Nations Cup.

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A double from Bernard Parker saw Bafana Bafana beat New Zealand 2 – 0 at the Royal Bafokeng stadium on Wednesday night.

After their limp opening draw, Joel Santana’s ‘Bafana Bafana’ finally tapped into a rich seam of form with goals either side of half time from Bernard Parker.

This was sweet redemption for the Serbia-based striker for it was he who had inadvertently blocked Kagisho Dikgacoi’s goal-bound header against Iraq on Sunday.

The man of the match said: “I’d like to thank my coach who showed a lot of faith in me by starting me for this game. I liked the way we played, full of confidence.”

Santana added: “We had to win this game but we played well in defence, midfield moved well and they were fast in attack.”

New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert was unhappy with his side’s showing.

“Some key players struggled to get going tonight. We’re still chasing that elusive point and that’ll be our priority on Saturday.”

The Rustenburg result in front of a near-capacity 40 000 crowd boosted the 2010 World Cup hosts’ prospects of qualifying for the semifinals as Group A runners-up behind Spain, who ensured their place in the last four earlier on Wednesday with a 1-0 win over Iraq.

While the permutations are plenty, South Africa, with four points, will guarantee qualification if they get a draw on Saturday with Spain – by no means inconceivable if they repeat this level of performance – irrespective of how Iraq fare against New Zealand.

If they lose and the Iraqis beat New Zealand then it will come down to goal difference.

After their nervy curtain-raiser this was a far livelier South Africa and part of the reason for that was the return from injury of Everton playmaker Steven Pienaar.

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