Former Bafana Bafana midfielder Siphiwe Shabalala has revealed he received a touching message from his home in Phiri on the day he scored his stunning 20210 FIFA World Cup opener in 2010.
On the 12th anniversary of Shabba’s incredible goal in Bafana Bafana’s opening match of the World Cup on home soil against Mexico, the former Kaizer Chiefs star opened up on a beautiful tribute he heard of before the match.
“Time flies, but it feels like yesterday and it never gets old,” Tshabalala told the SAFA website team.
“In the morning I was Okay, everything was normal. But I remember that I received a call from home where I grew up, in Phiri, and they were saying there was a group of people that gathered outside my grandmother’s house the previous night.
“They were waiving the national flag, wearing national team regalia and blowing vuvuzelas. It was such a good message as it said they were fully behind me and they wished me well.
“It made me proud to be a South African, and proud to be one of the players that would represent the country in a historic World Cup on home soil. It really touched me a lot.”
Shabba also says he’s proud to have scored arguably the most important goal in SA football history.
“The moment is still on my mind and on many other people’s minds as well. I am just grateful, eternally grateful that I scored probably the most important goal in the history of our football and in the history of the World Cup as well,” he added.
“I am just happy that people still celebrate the goal and appreciate it, from players, commentators, you know, everyone, everyone.
“I still get goosebumps. When you have done something and it makes people happy, and it has a positive impact, and 12 years later when you talk about it still gives you goose bumps, it shows the magnitude of that moment. What makes me happy and is more humbling is that it is well received globally.
“I get messages almost every day, from people I do not know, people who appreciate the goal and what I did, and who say how it changed their lives, how it brought them joy and how it made them fall in love with football, from across the world, I mean China, England, Germany, Africa, everywhere.”
