South Africa Will Make a Big Breakthrough in the World Cup

The road to the World Cup may have been short for South Africa but the hosts plan  on making an extended trip into the knockout rounds

How they got here
The Bafana Bafana’s battle for qualification ended in 2004 when South Africa overcame challenges from Morocco, Egypt, and a joint bid by Libya and Tunisia to win the rights to host the 2010 World Cup. While qualification was not a concern, it has still been a rocky road on the field for South Africa since that success.

The first bump came in 2006 when, after qualifying of the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, South Africa failed to make it to Germany. Worse was to come as lacklustre performances in the Cup of African Nations, failing to make it past the group stages for three straight years, culminated in failure to qualify for the 2010 competition in Angola. In the last year however South Africa has managed to turn its performances around, making it out of the group stages on the Confederations Cup which it hosted last year.

Who to watch
Steven Pienaar is the undisputed star of the host nation, which lacks the talent of the squads of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Having won two Eredivisie titles with Ajax in the Netherlands, Pienaar endured an unhappy season at Borussia Dortmund before a move to Everton in 2007 saw a return to form for the midfielder. Since his move Pienaar has been at the heart of an Everton team which has come close to Champions League qualification on several occasions and this experience will stand to him in the World Cup.
With Benni McCarthy out of favor, the only other area to find talent is in defense where Siboniso Gaxa and Maccabi Haifa’s Tsepo Masilela have shown promise. With few outstanding names going into the tournament it’s likely that one or two relatively unknown South African players will surprise in the tournament. Don’t let the lack of well-known players deter you from the Bafana Bafana when looking at World Cup betting.

How they will perform
There is no sporting competition on Earth, bar maybe the Olympics, where home field advantage matters more than in the World Cup. In the 80 year history of the competition the host nation has never failed to get beyond the first round. This includes a weak Swiss team in 1954, the inexperienced US squad from 1994, and most recently a Korean team without a single well-known player in 2002. World Cup hosts build their team over four years to focus on one month-long period, on familiar ground for all of the players. Throw in the advantage of referees under huge pressure to favor the hosts and there is no way South Africa fails to progress. In raw talent they stack up poorly compared to their group rivals but these games aren’t being played on a neutral field on any given Sunday. South Africa will make it to the second phase.

For the best World Cup odds check out Sports Interaction’s online sports book.