South Africa opened the first World Cup in Africa with a 1-1 tie against Mexico in Johannesburg on Friday, weathering early nerves, scoring the tournament’s first goal and hitting the post with a potential winning shot in the 90th minute.

Henry Romero/Reuters

After a shaky first half dominated by Mexico, Siphiwe Tshabalala corraled a long pass down the left side in the 55th minute and fired the ball across the goalmouth over Mexican goalkeeper Oscar Perez and into the far, top corner. The crowd of more than 94,000 roared, and suddenly anything seemed possible for the host country.

But Mexico pushed forward and tied the score in the 79th minute when a cross-field pass fell to Rafael Marquez at the far post. Marquez deadened the ball with his first touch and then lifted it over the charging goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune.

South Africa nearly grabbed a victory in the 90th minute, when forward Katlego Mphela ran down a long ball in the penalty area. But his shot hit the outside of the left post and bounced away. Still, South Africa preserved a noteworthy streak: no host country has ever lost in its first game at the World Cup.

Mexico had an apparent goal disallowed in the first half when the linesman ruled — correctly — that Carlos Vela had been in an offside position when he scored from the goalmouth on a corner kick. In charging for the cross, Khune — who failed to touch it — had played Vela offside.

South Africa’s next game will be against Uruguay on Wednesday. Mexico plays France on Thursday.

For a recap of the match as it happened:

Now it’s South Africa that looks frustrated, especially after taking the lead and then getting one final great chance. But a tie is fair, the game was clean and we’re off and running. Check back later for the second game of the day: Uruguay vs. France. We’ll wrap this up in a few minutes. After that scare, you have to think Mexico would gladly take its point and get out. Another long ball, but this time Perez comes waaay out and heads the ball over the touch line. Mphela seemed to be the only one taking that deep ball seriously. He beat Rodriguez and Perez stayed on his line, but Mphlea knocked it off the left post. Good thing; probably would’ve brought the stadium down. Was that the last good chance of the game? Bernard Parker comes on for him. Played well. Forgot to note that Javier Hernandez replaced Franco in the 73rd minute, their third sub. Guardado lofts a pass to a teammate on the left wing. But Blanco is not Vela or Aguilar, and it rolls ahead of him out of bounds. He looked every one of his 37 years there. Achim Scheidemann/DPA, via European Pressphoto Agency Tie game!! Mexico’s pushing finally pays off. On a short corner, Juarez has his pick of players on the far post. He picks the one farthest — Rafa Marquez — and he calmly pulls the ball down unmarked and fires it past Khune. It’s going to be a great final 10 minutes. You can see South Africa getting behind the defense a lot more as Mexico commits players forward for the tying goal. It’s a dangerous game — one they obviously have to play — because it only takes a second for someone to race behind them to a long pass. At this point, that would finish them. Masilela cuts down Juarez to slow a Mexican attack, seconds after Mphela missed a another chance to make it 2-0. He had gotten behind Rodriguez, but fell as they pushed and shoved and couldn’t get anything on his shot at Perez. So close to putting it away. Blanco comes on for Vela. Aguirre needs a veteran, and Blanco has been a lucky charm for him over the years. South Africa has been energized by the goal, and nearly went ahead 2-0 there when a deflection fell to Mphela, but he turned it wide. Dos Santos cuts in on the left — doesn’t seem to be getting better there for South Africa — and fires a shot that was going in but for the diving Khune. Yellow card for Torrado after the goal. And Andres Guardado has replaced Aguiar. Gerry Penny/European Pressphoto Agency Thsabalala opens the scoring, sprung down the left side by a great pass from midfield. Quick touch and then a ripped shot across the goal to the far top corner. Tremendous shot. Tremendous goal. South Africa 1, Mexico 0 Please stop commenting about the offside call. I understand the rule; what I should have said was it appeared Vela wasn’t in an offside position with or without the goalkeeper. But after seeing the replay I can see the call is correct. So let’s move on. With the one change I just mentioned (Masilela for Thwala at left back), we are back under way. Just did some checking on the offside call (I’m not an official). Remember, the offensive player must be even with the second-to-last defender, so when Khune charged that corner and missed it he actually did himself a favor. Vela was left with only one player between himself and the goal. Was just going to say something about how Mexico had tortured South Africa’s left back, Lucas Thwala, in the first half, but he’s out now — Masilela, who many had expected to start, is on. Pedro Ugarte/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The whistle goes for halftime. Mexico’s players look frustrated not to be ahead, and they probably should be — but not just because the referee disallowed an apparent clear goal by Vela. They controlled the possession for long stretches and have only themselves (O.K., mostly Guillermo Franco, who missed a couple of good ones) to blame for not grabbing the lead. South Africa is just where is needed to be at halftime — not behind. They stared very slowly, and were lucky not to fall behind by a goal or even two. Mphela missed a sitter just before the break, and they had one or two other chances. But it seems clear that they’re going to have to find a way to score off a set piece; that will certainly be easier than carving up Mexico. Pienaar (corrected: it was Tshabalala) breaks down the left and curls a cross in front for Mphela on the spot. But he just misses the header. Great chance. That would have been a bitter pill for Mexico. This could be where Mexico is vulnerable, and even though the ball sailed through the box you can see why. Perez mis-timed his leap and missed the ball, and South Africa’s size advantage was apparent across the box. Martin Tyler’s seen a lot more soccer than I have, and even he can’t explan why Mexico’s not leading, 1-0, right now. A Torrado corner finds Vela alone at the back post, and he traps it off his chest and slams it home — but the whistle has stopped play. A bit confusing, because there was a defender on the line with the goalkeeper, so Vela couldn’t have been offside. Aguirre is furious!!! A wheeling Vela on the right corner of the box springs Franco into the area, but Khune charges and knocks the ball down. Great play on both sides. Still no score, but Mexico is once again looking like it’s going to get a goal before the half. As I wrote that, Vela fired in another cross from the right wing — again, just a step in front of Franco. This time it’s Mexico’s Marquez. But maybe the goalkeepers knew what they were talking about when they complained about the new ball. If they don’t have to worry about free kicks from distance dropping over walls, though, it could change the way they play. A six-man move forces a diving stop from Perez on the end line. But Mexico is still dominating possession with their four-man midfield. South Africa is cluttering things up a bit; it’s in a 3-5-1, but the players still seem to be doing more chasing. Matt Dunham/Associated Press Efrain Juarez gets the first yellow of the tournament for an awkward chest trap that included a lot more of his left arm than his chest. He broke up a South African possession, though, so there was a tradeoff.

Dos Santos, meanwhile, drives the other way and fires past Khune from about 18 yards. A whistling shot, it went wide left. Steven Pienaar takes South Africa’s first free kick — straight on from about 25 yards — but it sails over Perez and the crossbar. Fly Jabulani! Fly! Another driven corner from dos Santos, and Franco slices in for an open header but sends it over the bar. South Africa better tighten up in there. Dos Santos is dropping the ball wherever he wants, and it’s only a matter of time before someone on the other end connects. It took a while, but South Africa finally got a ball in the Mexican penalty area. Unfortunately it was Khumalo, a central defender, doing the crossing, and his pass landed five yards behind the two men charging into the box. South Africa’s only touches in the first two minutes were three frantic attempts to clear. Aguilar fired in a dangerous cross that the goalkeeper parried into the path of Dos Santos, but Mokoena arrived just in time to slam it away. On the ensuing corner, Marquez’s flicked header was also cleared. But both chances were very threatening. Soccer City, as you’d think, is pulsing after the anthems. You can see the tension in the players’ faces. GK-Oscar Perez, Franciso Rodriguez, Carlos Salcido, Rafael Marquez, Ricardo Osorio, Gerardo Torrado, Guillermo Franco, Carlos Vela, Paul Aguilar, Efrain Juarez, Giovanni dos Santos. So a mix of cool veterans and flashy youth from Javier Aguirre, just as expected. And the 37-year-old Perez in goal. the more experience Franco for Javier Hernandez is the only change from their last exhibition. Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira announced Thursday he would go with the same lineup he used in South Africa’ most recent qualifiers: GK–Itumeleng Khune, DEF–Siboniso Gaxa, Bongani Khumalo, Aaron Mokoena, Lucas Thwala, MF–Teko Modise, Reneilwe Letsholonyane, Kagisho Dikgacoi, Siphiwe Tshabalala, Steven Pienaar, F–Katlego Mphela. Good morning everyone, and welcome to the Times’s live analysis of the World Cup.

What can we expect? Just as it is difficult to overstate the importance of today’s game to South Africans, it is tough to overstate the task that awaits their team if it hopes to get off to a winning start. A trendy pick to make a deep run in the tournament, Mexico enters as one of the hottest teams in the world. The Mexicans are fresh off a unity-building exhibition tour in which they played 12 games — the most of any of team in the field. They went 8-2-2 in those games, losing only to England and the Netherlands but earning their first victory against Italy.

Unlike past Mexican squads, populated mostly by home-based pros, this year’s team is bolstered by a growing number of players groomed in tougher European leagues. There are rising stars like Giovanni dos Santos and Carlos Vela, as well as a core of World Cup-tested veterans like Rafael Marquez, Gerardo Torrado and the seemingly ageless Cuauhtemoc Blanco. After flirting with disaster in qualifying, they are now hoping to become the first Mexican team to advance past the quarterfinals.

South Africa will look for leadership from the speedy midfielder Steven Pienaar and the captain Aaron Mokoena, but its biggest advantages today could be pride, emotion and the full-throated, vuvuzela-honking backing of more than 94,000 fans inside Soccer City. “Our 12th man,” Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said. Today it might feel like 13, or 14, or 20. The South Africans may need all the help they can get.

As we await kickoff, here are a few things to watch for as the game progresses:

Experience. Will Mexico Coach Javier Aguirre lean toward experience with his lineup rather than younger talents — like the new Manchester United signing Javier Hernandez — who might get overwhelmed by the stakes and the setting? As confident as he is, the one thing he can’t afford is a loss, especially since Mexico plays France, the group favorite, in its second game.

Momentum. If South Africa can grab the lead, or keep the score tied late in the second half, watch to see if Mexico starts to feel the pressure. Bickering, finger-pointing and rough fouls would be a sure sign that the players are getting rattled.

The unexpected. A red card, an injury, or a penalty kick given or denied could change everything. And we’ll never see it coming.

Check back in a bit for updates. But in the meantime, what are you hoping to see today?