Golden goal: Siphiwe Tshabalala for South Africa v Mexico at the 2010 World Cup

<p>The World Cup did not save South Africa. But for one second, it showed us the country we wanted to be</p><p>Before <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/jun/11/world-cup-2010-south-africa">Siphiwe Tshabalala’s rocket from his left foot</a>, before Peter Drury’s iconic commentary, before the wall of noise from thousands of vuvuzelas and before Shakira’s Waka Waka, there was Philip.</p><p>From the moment Sepp Blatter pulled out an envelope with the words “South Africa” inside <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/may/16/southafrica.football">on 15 May 2004</a>, cynics voiced <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/jun/07/south-africa-media-critics-world-cup">their scepticism</a>. The country was deemed too dangerous to host a World Cup finals tournament. There were concerns about public transport, about power outages and stadiums that weren’t up to scratch. Could South Africa really pull this off?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/10/golden-goal-siphiwe-tshabalala-south-africa-mexico-2010-world-cup">Continue reading...</a>