Soccer World Cup 2002 / South Africa

The South African national football team at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea :

qualification

South Africa qualified for the World Cup with almost no problems. As expected, there were two wins against Lesotho in the first round. After the disqualification of Guinea, the main competitor for the World Cup qualification, the 2nd round was only a matter of form. With five wins from six games they qualified with ease.

The game came to a tragic end in Zimbabwe. When the police shot tear gas into a block in the 83rd minute when the score was 0: 2, there was a mass panic in which 13 people died. The game was canceled and the score was scored.

1 round:

Lesotho	-	South Africa		0: 2
South Africa	-	Lesotho		1-0

2nd round:

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	South Africa	10: 3	16
2	Zimbabwe	7: 5	12
3	Burkina Faso	7: 8	5
4th	Malawi	4:12	1
-	Guinea*	(7: 3)	(7)

Zimbabwe	-	South Africa		0: 2
South Africa	-	Burkina Faso		1-0
Malawi	-	South Africa		1: 2
South Africa	-	Zimbabwe		2: 1
Burkina Faso	-	South Africa		1: 1
South Africa	-	Malawi		2-0

• Guinea was banned from FIFA after three match days because the country's sports minister failed to reinstate football officials.

South African contingent

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Hans Vonk	SC Heerenveen	01/30/1970	0	0	0	0	0
16	Andre Arendse	Santos Cape Town	06/27/1967	3	0	0	0	0
20th	Calvin Marlin	Ajax Cape Town	04/20/1976	0	0	0	0	0
Defender
2	Cyril Nzama	Kaizer Chiefs	06/26/1974	3	0	1	0	0
3	Bradley Carnell	VfB Stuttgart	01/21/1977	3	0	1	0	0
4th	Aaron Mokoena	Germinal beerschot	11/25/1980	3	0	1	0	0
5	Jacob Lekgetho	Moscow locomotive	March 24, 1974	1	0	0	0	0
13	Pierre Issa	Watford FC	09/11/1975	1	0	1	0	0
19th	Lucas Radebe	Leeds United	04/12/1969	3	1	1	0	0
22nd	Thabang Molefe	Jomo Cosmos	04/11/1979	1	0	0	0	0
midfield player
6th	MacBeth Sibaya	Jomo Cosmos	11/25/1977	3	0	0	0	0
7th	Quinton Fortune	Manchester United	05/21/1977	3	1	0	0	0
8th	Thabo Mngomeni	Orlando Pirates	06/24/1969	0	0	0	0	0
9	MacDonald Mukansi	Sofia locomotive	05/26/1975	1	0	0	0	0
10	Bennett Mnguni	Moscow locomotive	03/18/1974	0	0	0	0	0
11	Jabu Mahlangu	Kaizer Chiefs	07/11/1980	1	0	0	0	0
12	Teboho Mokoena	FC St. Gallen	06/11/1976	3	1	1	0	0
21st	Steven Pienaar	Ajax Amsterdam	03/17/1982	0	0	0	0	0
striker
14th	Siyabonga Nomvethe	Udinese Calcio	December 2nd, 1977	2	1	1	0	0
15th	Sibusiso Zuma	FC Copenhagen	June 23, 1975	3	0	1	0	0
17th	Benni McCarthy	FC Porto	11/12/1977	3	1	1	0	0
18th	Delron Buckley	VfL Bochum	December 07, 1977	1	0	0	0	0
23	George Koumantarakis	FC Basel	03/27/1974	3	0	0	0	0
Trainer
	Jomo Sono		07/17/1955

Preliminary round

In the first game a lucky draw was achieved against Paraguay. South Africa was already behind with 0-2. The equalization could only be achieved by a penalty in added time.

In the second game, the weak Slovenes were defeated 1-0. The last group game was lost a bit carelessly with 2: 3 against a weakened Spanish team. The South African coaches believed that this result would be enough to reach the next round and let the final minutes play defensively. A tragic mistake, because Paraguay were one goal ahead and qualified for the round of 16. Like four years earlier, South Africa was eliminated in the preliminary round.

Paraguay	-	South Africa		2: 2
South Africa	-	Slovenia		1-0
South Africa	-	Spain		2: 3