DPA
Johannesburg, Jun 12: The first World Cup in Africa got off to a flying start Friday as hosts South Africa organised a colourful opening ceremony and then kept the entertainment rolling with an impressive 1-1 draw against Mexico.
But there was also a tinge of tragedy around Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium following the death of Nelson Mandela's great-granddaughter.
Zenani Mandela was killed in a car crash while returning home from the tournament's kick-off concert in the early hours of Friday, prompting the country's celebrated former president to cancel his appearance at the celebrations.
Before the game, the historic tournament was officially declared open by South African President Jacob Zuma. In his brief speech, Zuma paid tribute to Mandela and urged the 84,500 fans gathered inside the stadium to enjoy the party.
Mandela "said the game must start, you must enjoy the game," Zuma said.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we as a country are humbled by this honour to host one of the biggest tournaments of the world. Africa is indeed happy," he said.
Friday's ceremony saw plenty of song and dance and brilliant performances from African stars like songstress Thandiswa Mazwai, Algerian rai icon Khaled and Nigerian afrobeat star Femi Kuti.
On the stands, scores of supporters had a chance to make themselves heard by blowing into their vuvuzelas horns and producing what many inside the stadium described as the noisiest stadium ever.
"You don't experience something like this every week. The atmosphere was amazing and it was a huge honour for us to play in a game like this," said South African midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala, who picked up the man-of-the-match award after scoring the tournament's first goal for the Bafana Bafana.
South Africa are considered the weakest team to have ever hosted a World Cup. But they produced a brilliant performance of the day to deny the much stronger Mexicans victory in Group A.
With the Latin Americans enjoying much of the possession, Tshabalala put the hosts in front against the run of play with a stunning 55th minute left-footer.
But Mexico, whose superiority in the FIFA rankings was evident for much of the game, clinched the equalizer with a short-range effort from Rafael Marquez in the 79th minute.
South Africa kept their supporters on edge until the end, hitting the post after a 90th minute counterattack, and there was also time for controversy, when a tap-in goal from Mexico's Carlos Vela was correctly disallowed for off-side.
"Fortunately from a bad performance we have salvaged a draw," said Mexican coach Javier Aguirre of Friday's 1-1 opener.
"Instead of scoring as soon as possible we gifted them one and we were swimming against the tide from then on. It is not the best start but we will have to judge it when we see our final points total," the coach said.
In the second game of the opening day, former World Cup winners France and Uruguay played to a goal-less draw in front of 64,000 spectators at the Green Point stadium in Cape Town.
France could not break down a stubborn Uruguay defence despite being up against 10 men for the last nine minutes when substitute Nicolas Lodeiro was sent off having only been on the pitch 16 minutes.
The hot-headed Ajax midfielder, who was booked just two minutes after coming on, was shown a second yellow card for a vicious foul on France's Bacary Sagna.
Uruguay managed to hang on, surviving one late scare when Thierry Henry, who came on as a second half-substitute, had a free-kick in a perfect position but wasted the chance with a tame shot.
The tournament continues Saturday with England facing the United States in Group C and Argentina meeting Nigeria and South Korea battling it out against Slovenia in Group B.