South Africa go into their first 2002 World Cup game against Paraguay on Sunday buoyed by recent results.
After a couple of dismal losses and draws in warm-up matches in Africa and Europe, the Far East is proving to be to Bafana Bafana’s liking, with the side unbeaten in three games.
Victories against Scotland (2-0) and Turkey (2-0) won them the Reunification Cup in Hong Kong, and their final tune-up, against J League team FC Kobe, brought a 3-0 win.
The doubts that crept into Bafana Bafana after a disastrous African Cup of Nations campaign and the four friendlies are a distant nightmare.
But they still need to play as a cohesive team and coach Jomo Sono will have to field the right combinations from the back to the front. The South African coach is known as a dreamer and he will have to dream up the perfect 11 for Sunday.
The confidence gained from the final three games will now have to be put to good use against Paraguay.
A victory against the South Americans or against Slovenia, who Bafana Bafana face in their second match on June 8, is imperative if South Africa hope to get through to the second round — as the final group game is against Spain.
The Spaniards are perennial World Cup underperformers but they are the class act of Group B.
If Bafana Bafana falter at the first hurdles — as they did in France, when they lost to the hosts France and then drew with Denmark — expect another first-round exit.
Someone at the South African Football Association obviously fears that might happen — Bafana Bafana flights home are booked for just two days after the Spain game on June 12.
The one thing Bafana Bafana and Paraguay have in common is that they were both beaten by France in 1998. Bafana were trounced 3-0 and exited the tournament in the first round, while Paraguay managed to go through to the second round where they were knocked out by the eventual winners 1-0.
Paraguay have been in the World cup six times now, and will be looking to go beyond their previous best of a second-round exit.
The only comfort for South Africa on June 2 is that the melodramatic Paraguayan captain, goalkeeper and free-kick specialist Jos Luis Chilavert is serving a suspension. That said, Chilavert believes that Paraguay can go all the way to the final.
Bafana will have to beware of the Paraguayan wingers and also their young guitar-playing striker, Roque Santa Cruz of Bayern Munich, who is expected to be one of the stars of the cup.
Santa Cruz (21) has outstanding heading ability and extraordinary dribbling skills, but he will have to be fine-tuned if he is going to get pass the South African defence.
Bafana Bafana cannot be taken lightly this time round in the World Cup having recently improved their ability to score. The three strikers — Benedict McCarthy, George Koumantarakis and Siyabonga Nomvete –have been banging in the goals.
The defence is to be marshalled by captain Lucas Radebe, who has bags of international experience. The likes of goalkeeper Hans Vonk, Pierre Issa, Bradley Carnell and Aaron Mokoena or Cyril Nzama also have quite a lot of experience now.
In midfield, hard man and distributor Macbeth Sibaya has been the revelation of the past few weeks, while Tebogo Mokoena creates scoring opportunities for the strikers.
Wingers Delron Buckley and Sibusiso Zuma will have to be at their best against Paraguay, sending in pinpoint crosses to beat the good but slow defence and using their dribbling skills to push ahead when the going gets tough.
Sono is expected to play a 4-4-2 formation to keep the Paraguayan wingers and strikers in check.
McCarthy is currently displaying some of the best form of his career and target man Koumantarakis has also improved his footwork skills, so the loss of top goalscorer Shaun Bartlett to injury should not be that deeply felt by Bafana.
The man known as the Predator, Nomvete, will have to ensure that when he comes off the bench he works the magic he showed against Morocco in the Cup of Nations.
The World Cup is the biggest stage where all the players come to show off their skills and Bafana Bafana are no exception.
Anything is possible as long as the players on the field believe that they can win.
It will now be up to the 11 players donning the South African jersey to show the millions of supporters back home that they learnt a thing or two from their previous World Cup adventure in 1998.