Johannesburg - Bafana Bafana opened their campaign at Soccer City Stadium in style last night when they beat Colombia 2-1 in a match dominated by penalties.
The victory extends Bafana's unbeaten run to ten matches since the return of Coach Carlos Parreira.
It took penalty kicks from Teko Modise and Katlego Mphela to seal Bafana's victory while Giovanni Moreno registered Columbia's single goal also through a penalty.
Colombia, ranked number 35 in the World FIFA rankings, provided a real test for Bafana and the national team proved to be up to the task at hand.
There is no doubt that the strong crowd of 75 000 people at Soccer City were expecting more than the two penalties but both teams often wasted golden opportunities that could have easily been converted to goals. The first set piece of the game saw Siphiwe Tshabalala's attempt at goal going straight into the hands of Colombian goal keeper David Ospina.
But it was in the 13th minute that Bafana looked set to open their score for the game when they awarded a free kick in the 18 yard area but Tshabalala's kick was just too high.
Modise scored the first goal at the second attempt after his efforts was saved by Ospina only for the referee to order a re-take after the keeper was found to have stepped out of his line in advance. Bafana were awarded a second penalty in the 56th minute after Tshabalala's cross was handled by Cristian Zapata. This time Mphela in a spectacular fashion converted it adding goal number under his name for Bafana this year.
The introduction of Steven Pienaar in the second half brought some stability in the midfield and Bafana were able to retain their lead until the final whistle.
Itumeleng Khune, who suffered an injury to his hip when he tried to save a dangerous cross was forced to make way for Moneeb Josephs in the second half.
Parreira introduced some changes in the second half bringing on Pienaar and Kagiso Dikgacoi and gave Benni McCarthy his first chance to play for the national team in as many months.
Bafana are now two friendly games away before the much-awaited world cup opening match against Mexico on June 11. They play Guatemala at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Monday and will wrap their warm up in a clash against fellow World Cup qualifiers Denmark at Super Stadium in Atteridgeville on June 5.
