Bafana hold Paraguay to a draw

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Pretoria - Fifa World Cup hosts, Bafana Bafana, held their own when they played to a hard-fought 1-all draw against Paraguay in Asuncion on Thursday morning.

South Africa had to come from behind after Marcelo Estigarribia nodded home a fantastic goal in the 37th minute.

It took Kaizer Chiefs' Siphiwe Tshabalala 35 minutes to level matters after receiving a perfect pass from skipper Teko Modise. The diminutive middle fielder drilled a powerful volley in the 72nd minute leaving Paraguayan goalie Victor Centurion dumb-folded.

South Africa and Paraguay are ranked 65 places apart in the Fifa rankings, sitting at 88 and 23 respectively.

The Bafana side, which consists of PSL players, has kept an unbeaten record since departing for a training camp in Brazil in March.

South Africa beat Paraguay 3 - 0 when the two sides met in Pretoria in 2008. Bafana will kick-off their Fifa World Cup campaign against Mexico at Soccer City Stadium in June.