Steven Pienaar, the South Africa midfielder, believes the hosts can reach the World Cup quarter-finals at the very least.
They kick off their campaign on June 11 against Mexico before further group games against Uruguay and France. All three teams are ranked higher than South Africa by Fifa, but Pienaar, who plays for the English Premier League side Everton, is confident the hosts can cause an upset.
"I rate our chances of doing well in the tournament very high. In fact I am very confident that we will go further than the second round," he told reporters in Johannesburg yesterday.
"We are definitely ready to go because the confidence is there, the spirit is there and I believe we will do well.
"The team has been doing well and I have been following their progress since they started with the training camps - Durban, Brazil and Germany - because I am part and parcel of the team even though I was not there [as he was finishing the season with Everton]. As for me, I am hopeful that I will get a chance to play against Colombia."
Pienaar was left on the bench in South Africa's 1-1 draw with Bulgaria on Monday. They take on Colombia in another friendly tomorrow in a warm-up for their tournament opener.
"As an individual I have always believed in myself, and I hope in the national team I will carry on the way I finished the season at my club," he added.
"I know a few players of Colombia and it's going to be a big test for us."
South Africa play another friendly against Guatemala next Monday.
* PA
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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