South Africa, host of the FIFA Confederations Cup, gained precious three points by defeating New Zealand 2-0 in its second Group A match of the intercontinental tournament on Wednesday in the South African northern city of Rustenburg.

Both squads desired for a victory to keep alive their dreams of progressing from Group A after South Africa held a scoreless draw with Asian champions Iraq while European champions Spain thrashed New Zealand 5-0 in the first round of Group A matches.

Bafana Bafana staged more effective attacks than the Kiwis throughout the match, which could amount to 22 shots and 10 shots on goal, in a sharp contrast to the record of New Zealand which stood at five and one respectively.

South Africa front-runner Bernard Parker redeemed his fatal fault in the last match against Iraq by scoring twice for his team in the match against the Kiwis.

Everton's Steven Pienaar, left-back Tsepo Masilela and Parker formed a blitz trio of Bafana Bafana. Pienaar played it out wide to Masilela. Paker received the pass from Masilela and finished the assault by hammering the ball in to enable the hosts to take the lead in the 21st minute.

Six minutes after the interval, Pienaar once again controlled the rhythm of attacks. Masilela got the ball down the left and passed it to Parker who flicked it home briskly.

The two goals may help Parker amend his mistake in the match against Iraq on Sunday in which he inadvertently stood on the way of the goal-bound header of his teammate Kagisho Dikgacoi.

However, the South African team failed to march closer to a semifinal berth of Group A in the rest time of the match against New Zealand, although they launched frequent attacks and boasted of bigger possession of the ball.

The match came after European champions Spain cruised into the semifinals of the Confederations Cup after beating Iraq 1-0, collecting six points in two group matches. Iraq and South Africa would compete for the rest slot of the semifinal in Group A.

Iraq will play with New Zealand in Johannesburg on Saturday in Elis Park Stadium and South Africa will challenge Spain in Bloemfontein's Free State Stadium on the same day.

In Group B, 2006 World Cup winner Italy defeated North American champions the United States 3-1 on Monday while Brazil beat African champions Egypt 4-3 with a penalty within the last two minutes.

Despite the loss, Egypt has been hailed for their brilliant performance in Monday's match, including famous coach of the Iraqi team Bora Milutinovic at the press conference after the match against Spain.

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2009)