Bafana Bafana have the chance to prove their World Cup doubters wrong when they face Germany in an international friendly on Saturday night.
The 2006 World Cup hosts are also looking to silence their critics following an unconvincing 2-0 win over minnows Azerbaijan in Baku last month.
Defender Philipp Lahm believes the clash with South Africa will provide his team-mates with the perfect platform to rediscover their form ahead of the crucial World Cup qualifier with Russia and the return tie with Azerbaijan.
"It's important we find our rhythm this weekend and get some self-confidence to take into the Russia game," he said.
"We were not convincing in Baku, but this week's training sessions have gone really well and I am fully convinced we will play much better against South Africa and Azerbaijan than we did last time.
"It has been important to train together for a long period of time this week to really iron out any problems in our game."
Coach Joachim Loew has a few injury problems to deal with. Goalkeeper Robert Enke is suffering from a bout of flu and will definitely not be between the sticks for the Germans. He is expected to return against Azerbaijan, but will be replaced by Bayer Leverkusen's Rene Adler for the friendly.
Michael Ballack (groin), Lukas Podolski and Mesut Ozil (knee) all sat out Wednesday's training session and are unlikely to be risked in the encounter, while defender Marcell Jansen has withdrawn from the squad.
Germany are still expected to overcome the 2010 hosts despite their absentee list as South Africa's record against European opposition leaves a lot to be desired.
However, Bafana are confident of causing an upset following their Confederations Cup showings, despite recently losing 3-1 Serbia in a warm-up match.
"We know our record against European opposition in Europe is not great but we are not going to let that worry us," left back Siboniso Gaxa told his club Mamelodi Sundowns' official website.
While Katlego Mashego revealed to Football365.co.za that his national team-mates need to step up a gear if they plan on downing Germany.
"It's time now for us to take our game a step up and try and wins games and get games under our belt because we didn't do well in the last match," he said.
"We must start improving and winning games so that people will really feel that we have a good chance at the World Cup."
The overall conclusion from the Bafana camp is that the side needs to start converting their goalscoring opportunities if they aim to record a victory.
Striker Bernard Parker summed up the squad's aim: "We are well organised as a team, as we showed in the Confederations Cup, now we are going to show that we have more of a killer instinct. We are trying to improve from the last games we had and take it into upcoming games."
Parker is expected to partner Katlego Mphela up front. It is in midfield and at the back where Bafana may struggle, as first-choice goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune is sidelined along with midfield duo Teko Modise and MacBeth Sibaya. Meanwhile, right back Bryce Moon failed a fitness test and will not feature in the encounter.
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