The Bafana Bafana World Cup dream began to unravel tonight after a Diego Forlán double and a late third from Alvaro Pereira took Uruguay to the top of Group A and left the South Africans hoping that neither France nor Mexico join them this evening. With one point from two games, Carlos Alberto Parreira's side already must win their final match against France to have any hope of progressing.
When Uruguay took the lead midway through the first half it appeared Forlán might have been the first striker to make the new ball do his bidding, although on closer inspection the reason his shot achieved so much height and then dip was possibly because it clipped Aaron Mokoena's ear on the way past. Either way, it left Itumeleng Khune with no chance of stopping it.
Just as it seemed Forlán's well struck drive from almost 25 yards out was heading into the crowd like the previous hopeful effort from Alvaro Pereira, it dropped over Khune's head and under his bar before the stadium fully realised what had happened. That is to say, the vuvuzelas took a few second to die down, coming to a spluttering rather than a sudden halt.
It was no more than Uruguay deserved because, though South Africa came forward strongly, they ran out of ideas and invention in front of goal, whereas Forlán and Luis Suárez always promised that bit more poise and class. Suárez had already brought a save from Khune before Forlán scored. While the Africans were still level their best couple of attacks had involved Siphiwe Tshabalala, new darling of the crowd after his stunning goal against Mexico, but on both occasions he selfishly went for glory with better-placed colleagues in support.
More bad news for Bafana Bafana arrived before the interval, with Fulham's influential Kagisho Dikgacoi picking up a booking for a foul on Suárez that puts him out of the next match against France. Steven Pienaar had already been shown yellow early in the game for breaking out of the wall to charge down a Forlán free-kick, a naive caution for a player of his experience to collect.
Dikgacoi was lucky to stay on the field at the start of the second half when, intentionally or otherwise, he smacked Suárez in the mouth and drew blood. The Uruguayan was then denied a penalty when he was fouled outside the area by Bongani Khumalo but made sure to dive into it, protesting through a wad of tissue to the referee that at the very least he deserved a free-kick. Remarkably Dikgacoi still managed to stay on after kicking Jorge Fucile up in the air under the Swiss referee's nose.
Diego Lugano had a chance to make sure of victory from a Forlán cross but missed his header completely and the Uruguayans squandered several more promising openings before Khune received the red card that seemed to have Dikgacoi's name on it by tripping Suárez as he moved the ball past him. It was slightly harsh, yet as last man he had to go.
South Africa did not have a spare goalkeeper ready and the game was held up for some minutes while Moeneeb Josephs prepared to come on at the expense of Pienaar, only to be beaten from the spot by Forlán's confident clip into the top of the net. There was never any chance of South Africa hitting back with 10 men – they hardly ever looked like scoring with 11.
While Tshabalala's opening-day strike will stand as one of the goals of the tournament, South Africa do not appear to have many more where that came from. By the time Pereira added a cruel third from Suárez's cross the stadium was rapidly emptying.
© Guardian News and Media 2010
