Will the hosts impress?

South Africa aren't the biggest and best football team known in Africa, but the country have surprised the powerhouses more than once. The reason why their fallen away from some of the nations, is probably being banned by FIFA since the 60's all the way to the 90's. But after getting on the map, they've starting to lift their heads again.

Mid 90's have to go down as the key point. Bafana-Bafana, as the team is called, won the African Cup of Nations in 1996, finished 2nd in the next one and 3rd in 2000, and also made their World Cup debut in 1998. Recently that success has faltered, they didn't even make it to Angola 2010, but as a host nation for the World Cup there could be a turning point.

Being lead by the legendary Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira, who lead his home country to World Cup glory in 1994 and also was the manager in Germany 2006. It's his second spell at South Africa, he originally resigned in April 2008, but returned this October, replacing fellow Brazilian Joel Santana.

Santana lead the team in the summer at the Confederations Cup and I think it's safe to say the team didn't do too badly. After starting slow, the team managed to get through from their group and narrowly lost to Brazil in the semis and Spain needed extra-time to beat them in the 3rd place match.

This in my opinion showed that Bafana-Bafana can play with anyone, especially with their passionate fans behind them. Get your vuvuzela's out!