{"id":23195,"date":"2026-02-02T12:18:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T10:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/former-bafanas-tshabalala-reflects-on-fifa-legend-tour-in-mexico\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:34:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:34:02","slug":"former-bafanas-tshabalala-reflects-on-fifa-legend-tour-in-mexico","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/former-bafanas-tshabalala-reflects-on-fifa-legend-tour-in-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Bafana\u2019s Tshabalala reflects on FIFA Legend Tour in Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa\u2019s (SA) Former Bafana Bafana winger Siphiwe Tshabalala has described his recent trip to Mexico as a \u201cwhirlwind\u201d experience, reflecting on his role as a F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) legend in the lead-up to the 2026 World Cup in the Americas.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Now 41, Tshabalala, who famously scored the opening goal when SA hosted the World Cup 16 years ago, joined the trophy tour as both a FIFA and Coca-Cola Ambassador. Speaking to SABC Sport, he said he was warmly welcomed in Mexico, despite initially expecting a more challenging reception.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was incredible rubbing shoulders with some of the best players in the world. The experience was a real highlight and a celebration of the build-up to the World Cup in Mexico,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The former Kaizer Chiefs star added that the two-month tour has been a rewarding way to continue sharing his love of the game while promoting football ahead of this year\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23196,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-23195","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"SA Former Bafana Bafana winger Siphiwe Tshabalala has described his recent trip to Mexico as a \u201cwhirlwind\u201d experience","published_date":"2026-02-02 14:17:22","news_description":"SA Former Bafana Bafana winger Siphiwe Tshabalala has described his recent trip to Mexico as a \u201cwhirlwind\u201d experience","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26240,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23195\/revisions\/26240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=23195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}