Johannesburg - South Africa's newspapers on Saturday declared the World Cup opener "Fantastic", revelling in scoring the tournament's first goal and in finishing the first day without major incident.

The Star newspaper ran a half-page photo of rapturous flag-waving fans at Soccer City across its front page, under a headline "Ayoba, Mzansi!" - meaning roughly "Awesome, South Africa!"

"Respect! That's what we earned yesterday. Defying the prophets of gloom and doom, South Africa pulled off a stunning World Cup opening ceremony, and Bafana Bafana followed that up with a heart-stopping draw against Mexico," the paper's front page read.

"That our footballers came agonisingly close to winning, after being written off as no-hopers by many people just a few months ago, showed that we are not a nation of unrealistic dreamers. We might dream - but we have the courage, the energy and the commitment to make those dreams come true."

Inside the paper ran a spread of photos of joyous fans under the headline "Fantastic", images seen across South African media.

Few problems

"Goal!" screamed the Weekend Argus in Cape Town, on a half-page photo of Siphiwe Tshabalala rejoicing after scoring the World Cup's first goal.

The Citizen mourned Bafana's near-victory, with a full page photo of a stunned Teko Modise as he narrowly missed a late-minute goal that would have taken the game.

"Oh so close," the headline said. "Bafana almost pull off shock Cup victory."

Few problems were reported on the opening day, although relentless traffic jams snarled Johannesburg's main roads.

A blackout in Soweto - a stone's throw from the actual game in Soccer City stadium - meant some fans' televisions went black deep in the first half, the paper said.

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