South Africa, the first African host of the World Cup, qualified automatically as the host nation. They will open up tournament play against Mexico on June 11th at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg. They are ranked 81st in the world, the lowest ranked team in the tournament.
South Africa was banned form the World Cup due to their apartheid policies from 1961 to 1963 due to their discriminatory policies that conflicted with FIFA standards. They were officially expelled from FIFA in 1976 after the Soweto Uprising. It was not until 1991 when Apartheid began to be lifted that South Africa again played an international match.
It is their third appearance in the World Cup. They participated in France ‘98 and Korea/Japan 2002. South Africa has never progressed from the group stage at a World Cup. If South Africa does not make it through the group stage in 2010, they will become the first host nation not to make it past the group stage.
Rainbow Nation’s star striker is Stephen Piennar who plays for Everton in the English Premier League. He takes the spot of Star Striker Benni McCarthy who has not been called by manager Carlos Alberto Parreira.
