Despite a prohibitive home-field advantage and a commendable performance in last June's Confederations Cup - narrowly losing to world power Brazil in the semifinals - the team that South Africans affectionately call Bafana Bafana will still be the underdog in a tough Group A.
The key for the host nation will be the play of midfielder Stephen Pienaar, who has demonstrated a superb scoring touch this season for English Premier League power Everton.
South Africa has traditionally been a defensive-minded squad, but coach Carlos Alberto Parriera - who led Brazil to a World Cup victory in 1994 - has been trying to implement a possession-oriented quick passing attack, emphasizing the technical skill of players like Pienaar to compensate for their relative lack of physicality.
Flankers Siboniso Gaxa and Tsepho Masilela will need to maintain possession in the middle of the field to limit the scoring chances of the prolific offenses of Mexico,
France and Uruguay. Parriera, somewhat controversially, did not select South Africa's all-time leading goal-scorer Benni McCarthy for his squad. Questions had circled around the West Ham striker's level of fitness, but many believed that McCarthy would be selected because of his experience in international competition.