Bafana Bafana fear no-one, says Khune

SOUTH AFRICA goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune believes the World Cup hosts should be fearless in approaching all three of their opponents in Group A.

The country is gripped with football fever ahead of the first World Cup on African soil, which kicks off tomorrow.

Yesterday tens of thousands of fans lined the streets in all major centres blowing vuvuzelas, sounding their car horns and showing their support for Bafana Bafana, who held an open-top bus parade in Sandton, close to their base.

Carlos Alberto Parreira’s team launch their campaign against Mexico at Soccer City tomorrow, before facing Uruguay and France as they look to reach the second round for the first time in their history.

Khune is confident they will have no trouble qualifying from their pool and is targeting maximum points in the three games.

“They should be worried about us as the hosts and we shouldn’t be worried about them,” he said of South Africa’s group opponents. “It is important that as the host country we go out to win all the games.

“We can go out there and upset these countries.

“It will be nice to take all the nine points in the group stage, but we have to realise the other countries won’t make it easy for us.”

Beyond the group stage, Khune believes anything is possible.

He added: “We have the advantage of our home supporters, those who will be blowing the vuvuzelas at the stadium and the whole nation will be behind us so I think anything is possible.

“We are more than ready to go out there to do our best for the country.”

For his part, Carlos Vela concedes Mexico are under considerable pressure as they prepare for their World Cup opener.

“It’s a great opportunity, but it’s not going to be easy because it’s the first match, we’re up against the host nation and there’s all that pressure,” the striker said.

“I think the key will be to shake off our nerves as quickly as possible and play like we have been doing these last few weeks. We’re ready.”

Arsenal forward Vela has also been pleased with his country’s friendly build-up, which has included clashes with some of the top sides in the world.

“We’ve prepared really well. It’s not every day you get to play against opponents like England, the Netherlands and Italy,” he said.

“We played well against the first two but weren’t able to win, which is why it meant so much to beat the reigning world champions.

“It was a real confidence-booster ahead of the World Cup.”