Midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala cannot envisage a South African failure at the World Cup, saying he was only thinking positive ahead of their opening match against Mexico on Friday.

No host nation has ever failed to make it past the first round and only six months ago, there were fears that Bafana Bafana could break that sequence.

However, the arrival of coach Carlos Alberto Parreira late last year has reinvigorated the Rainbow Nation.

Under the Brazilian, they have now gone 12 matches unbeaten and Kaizer Chiefs star Tshabalala said: "I don't see us failing in the World Cup. We are going to do well.

"The best weapon will be to keep it simple, stick to the basics.

"We are not thinking about a draw. We are thinking about winning the game and I don't see anything stopping us.

"We definitely won't make things easy for them. We must do ourselves and the country proud on Friday."

The home side will follow up the meeting against the Mexicans by facing Uruguay and then France in Group A.