South Africa 2 All Whites 0
The South African team emerged from the tunnel for their warmup dancing and singing as if they were at a party and they were certainly in the mood to celebrate when they danced their way past the All Whites this morning.
The result means New Zealand have no chance of
emerging from their group at the Confederations Cup, something they had been bullish about given the generous draw which pitted them against the hosts, Iraq and Spain.
They still have the chance to make history by claiming at least a point against Iraq in their final game on Sunday morning (NZT). That was always their target at this tournament, to get New Zealand's first point at a senior men's tournament, but they will need to improve markedly for that to happen.
If nothing else, it will be a good dress rehearsal for October's World Cup playoff after it was confirmed this morning that the All Whites will play either Bahrain or Saudi Arabia.
It was what they wanted, to avoid North Korea, who finished second in their group after a 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia this morning.
It will be a tough ask against either side, especially as they have shown little to get excited about so far at this Confederations Cup.
In many ways this performance was more disappointing than the 5-0 pasting handed out by Spain because no one expected them to get close to the world's No 1 side. But they didn't fire a shot against South Africa, a team which came into this match under enormous pressure.
The All Whites have now conceded seven goals at the Confederations Cup without netting one of their own and six of those have come down New Zealand's right.
They struggle at fullback and it has been right-back David Mulligan's misfortune that most of the play has been directed his way.
For the first goal Tsepo Masilela skipped past Mulligan like he wasn't there and dragged a ball back to an unmarked Bernard Parker to slam home from 10 yards in the 21st minute.
The second occurred when Masilela put in a teasing cross as Mulligan stood off him for Parker to ghost in front of Ivan Vicelich and deftly volley home in the 52nd minute.
It is not entirely Mulligan's fault because he is not getting much protection and he is a converted right-back but teams know they will find traction playing wide against New Zealand.
On the other side, Tony Lochhead had an equally difficult night trying to contain his opposite - although he and Mulligan weren't the only two.
The All Whites struggled for most of the match to handle the pace of South Africa and their swift ball movement as well as the creativity of Everton midfielder Steven Pienaar.
In truth, the margin should have been much greater and, apart from a good 15-minute period before halftime, New Zealand were rarely in the contest.
Only South Africa's reticence to pull the trigger and some fine goalkeeping from Glen Moss kept the score respectable.
The All Whites had promised to play with more adventure than they had against Spain but what possession they had was static and too often they even turned away from goal and passed it all the way back to Moss.
No one apart from Simon Elliott and Shane Smeltz seemed to want the ball and invariably it was launched in the direction of Chris Killen or Smeltz in the hope they could, somehow, fashion out a chance. They certainly got little change out of either flank this morning.
South Africa's second early in the second half lifted the pressure and allowed them to play with more freedom. The weight of expectation placed on Bafana Bafana is unrealistic and the vitriol directed at their Brazilian coach Joel Santana unfair. They were comfortable at 2-0 and could easily have added a third, and fourth, and fifth.
The All Whites had rated their chances against South Africa. They are only 10 places lower in the world rankings but there is a bigger gulf than that.
Just where they fit into the world order is anyone's guess and Fifa president Sepp Blatter, who was in attendance, might have been wondering that, too.
South Africa 2 (B. Parker 21, 52) New Zealand 0. Halftime: 1-0.
Michael Brown is in South Africa courtesy of Emirates, official airline of the 2010 World Cup.
