Johannesburg  - World Cup hosts South Africa scored a morale-boosting 2-1 victory against under-strength Norway in an international football friendly on Saturday.

Substitute Siphiwe Tshabalala gave Bafana Bafana an injury-time winner in Rustenburg.

The game played as the annual Nelson Mandela Challenge, and marked the re-opening of the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, which has been upgraded for this year's Confederations Cup and next year's World Cup.

Bernard Parker opened the scoring for the home side in the seventh minute from close range against a Scandinavian side that had arrived in South Africa missing most of their foreign-based players.

One of the few players who do not ply their trade in Norway, Morten Gamst Pedersen from England's Blackburn Rovers , equalized with a long-range free-kick after a foul by Matthew Booth in the 27th minute.

The visitors were then denied what appeared to a penalty by Ghanaian referee Cecil Fleisher who waved play on after Pedersen's Blackburn Rovers' team-mate Aaron Mokoena brought down Mohammed Abdellaoue in the area.

Deep into injury time Tshabalala gave South Africa victory with a shot from close to 30 metres. (dpa)