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#3 South Africa – World Cup 2010
By hosting the first ever African World Cup, South Africa – better known by their nickname Bafana Bafana – were always under a lot of pressure to succeed.
Unfortunately, they were drawn into an incredibly tough group against 2006 finalists France, former winners Uruguay and the always-tough Mexico, meaning passage to the knockout stages was always unlikely.
South Africa got the tournament off with a bang against Mexico thanks to Siphiwe Tshabalala’s thumping goal, but a late equaliser left them with just a point and a 3-0 loss to Uruguay meant that they needed to somehow beat France – and hope Uruguay could thump Mexico - in order to make it into the round of 16.
Incredibly, Bafana Bafana actually pulled it off. Despite France being able to call upon the talents of the likes of Thierry Henry, Franck Ribery and Djibril Cisse, South Africa went 2-0 up inside the first half and played the more established nation off the park.
A late goal from Florent Malouda meant the game ended 2-1 – and Uruguay’s narrow win over Mexico meant that Bafana Bafana missed the round of 16 on goal difference – but South Africa’s victory over France remains their greatest on the world stage and meant that they were still able to pull off a memorable upset on home soil.
