Pretoria - Bafana Bafana humiliated Guatemala with a stunning 5-nil victory in yet another tune-up match for the World Cup at the newly built Peter Mokaba stadium in Limpopo on Monday evening.
Bafana, who was hungry for a win, started the game as a side which refused to be pushed over. The midfield was strong with Everton's player of the season, Steven Pienaar in impressive form.
The home-team two goals came in the first half, when they were completely in control of the game. In terms of ball possession, Bafana had 68 percent while a mere 32 percent went to the 115 ranked Guatemala.
In the first 10 minutes, the referee pointed to the penalty spot following an obscure handball inside the box.
Mamelodi Sundowns, Katlego "Killer" Mphela took the kick and hit a shot that sent keeper David Guerra to the wrong direction, giving his side a lead. It was Mphela's 12th goal in Bafana colours.
In the 26th minute, Orlando Pirates left back, Lucas Thwala made a good run and delivered a beautiful cross that found Reneilwe Letsholonyane unmarked in the box and scored the second goal for his team.
With Pienaar marshalling in the middle of the park, Bafana continued to put more pressure on the Guatemalans who were desperate to close down Bafana players.
Simphiwe Tshabalala was denied to register his name on the score list by the woodwork after he unleashed a volley. Few minutes later, Mphela fired in a rocket shot, but it was deflected for a corner-kick.
After Teko Modise was replaced by Surprise Moriri in the second half, Mphela proved to be unselfish by setting up a good pass to his teammate, Moriri in the box who made it 3-nil.
When Guatemala tried to put pressure on Bafana's solid defence, they were lucky to be awarded with a penalty after Thwala handled the ball inside the box, but Moeneeb "slimkat" Josephs denied the visitor's captain, Guillermo Ramire by making a fine save.
In the 55th minute, Bafana was awarded a second penalty after Gallaedo handled the ball inside the box and Mphela took the penalty kick to give Bafana a 4-nil lead.
Pienaar, who won the man of the match title, was unlucky after his well-taken free-kick hit the crossbar in the 72nd minute.
Another Bafana substitute, Bernard Parker, got the fans on their feet after he took a volley in the 82nd minute that skimmed the inside of the right post before going into the net.
The visitor's goalie also denied Bryce Moon a goal in the last minute of the game by making a great save.
It remains to be seen if Benni McCarthy will be in the final roster of the World Cup, after he was sitting on the bench for the entire match.
Last Thursday, Bafana beat Colombia 2-1 in another World Cup friendly match at Soccer City. Since Carlos Parreira returned as the team coach, the team has not lost any of the 11 matches played.
The host of the 2010 FIFA World Cup will play against Denmark on 5 June at Atteridgeville stadium before their World Cup opening match against Mexico on 11 June.
This morning, Parreira will name his 23-man final squad at the team's hotel in Sandton.
