The Springboks finally broke their duck on their overseas tour when they produced the couple of moments of individual brilliance that was all that was needed to beat Italy 32-10 at Stadio Friuli in Udine.

It was South Africa’s first win in their fourth match on tour, and should at least go some way towards easing some of the mounting pressure on a team that has been a long way short of the form that propelled them to the country’s third Vodacom Tri-Nations title.

But while the final scoreline was emphatic enough in the Springbok favour, and when some of the more experienced players were introduced in the second half the visitors settled noticeably, it was not the rousing performance that might have been hoped for to erase the memory of the past two weeks.

(more…)

Egypt stunned the soccer world by beating the World Champions Italy 1 – 0 in their Confederations Cup encounter on Thursday.

Mohamed Homos was their hero with his 40th minute header enough to hand them a famous victory in front of 51,000 fans, but they also had goalkeeper Essam al-Hadary to thank for pulling off a string of fine saves.

Egypt and Italy are now level on three points in Group B with the Pharoahs favourites to go through to the semi-finals.

They face the United States on Sunday while Italy must play Brazil, who have two wins out of two so far.

Egypt coach Hassan Shehata said before the game that African pride was at stake and his team was bubbling with confidence after pushing Brazil hard in their gallant 4-3 defeat on Monday.

The African Nations Cup champions’ made one change from that match and it was an inspired move, with Homos replacing 35-year-old captain Ahmed Hassan, the country’s most capped player.

(more…)