South Africa vs Uruguay - Prediction

South Africa
v
Uruguay


Group A, 18:30 GMT, June 16, 2010
Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa

South Africa player to watch: Steven Pienaar.
The Everton player's form is crucial if South Africa are to get a result. He was the inspiration behind most of Bafana's attacks against Mexico and his creative passing is a key part of their pacy, counter-attacking style. He loves to drift in from the left wing to augment the attack and he may have to if Uruguay once again opt to pack out the defence.

Uruguay player to watch: Luis Suarez.
Billed as one of the bright new hopes of Uruguayan football, Ajax striker Suarez failed to deliver against France. But his manager is willing to give him another go. "It is not good to change players who didn't give their best performances, then they lose even more confidence," Tabarez said. Suarez needs to deliver with Sebastian Abreu waiting in the wings.

Key Battle: Aaron Mokoena v Diego Forlan.
Portsmouth's Mokoena usually lines up as a defensive midfielder for his club, but he played as a centre back in South Africa's opening game and was one of the few defenders that put in a solid performance. On Wednesday he will be charged with stopping La Celeste star Forlan. The Atletico Madrid forward, who scored both goals in the Europa League final, has twice won the European Golden Shoe and it only looks matter of time before he scores.

Trivia: Never in the history of the World Cup has the host nation been eliminated in the first round. However, in their last two tournaments Bafana Bafana have fallen at the group stage.

Stats: The South Africa players only touched the ball eight times in the opposition's penalty area against Mexico, while Uruguay only touched the ball five times in France's 18-yard box.

Team Stat Comparison

	South Africa	Uruguay
Matches Played	1	1
Table Position	2	4
Points	1	1
Goal Difference	0	0
Goals for *	1.0	0.0
Goals against *	1.0	0.0
Last 5	D	D
Last 5 home	D	D
Last 5 away
*  Goals per match - home matches for home club and away matches for away club
Stats: South Africa | Uruguay

Competition Stats

	South Africa	Uruguay
Goals	Siphiwe Tshabalala 1
Assists
Yellows	Kagisho Dikgacoi 1	Diego Lugano 1
Reds		Nicolás Lodeiro 1
Squads: South Africa | Uruguay

Group Table

RK	TEAM	P	W	D	L	GS	GA	GD	Pts
1	Mexico	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1
2	South Africa	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1
3	France	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
4	Uruguay	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1

Top two teams qualify for the Second Round

Odds: South Africa (3.20), the draw (3.20), Uruguay (2.40) at Bet365. With both sides fairly evenly matched the score draw looks tempting - 1-1 is at 6.00.

Prediction: Home advantage and another match at altitude for South Africa could just give them the decisive edge, so we are backing the hosts to win.

My prediction - Draw 1-1