South Africa managed one of the most famous victories in their history after achieving a 1-0 win over current world champions Spain. Spain were playing in the same stadium that saw them lift the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
However, they were not able to achieve success this time around after South Africa were quite impressive in the 1-0 win. This result was a feather in the cap for South Africa manager Gordon Igesund, who lavished praise on his team after this impressive win.
Spain were extremely poor throughout the match, as they failed to make clear-cut opportunities. South Africa were organised in defence, but they managed to take advantage of the break in the second half. Bernard Parker scored the only goal of the game just into the second-half. Even though this match was a friendly, South Africa managed stun the opposition with the defending and commitment. Igesund has said that the team executed the tactical instructions to perfection, which was the main reason behind the victory.
“It’s a fantastic result. You can’t take it away. I am so pleased that we played a friendly like this, because they are the world champions. You saw their attitude out on the field. They were fighting for their lives out there as well, and I’m just pleased that we were able to give the people something to think about going forward. Tonight, our game plan was fantastic. The players were fantastic. Those are the things which make a coach very happy,” Igesund said following the final whistle.
Spain have been known as the team that have a lot of possession, but that did not exactly translate into goals because South Africa were happy to let them have the ball in certain areas of the pitch. Igesund has revealed that he cannot be more happy as a coach.