Johannesburg - Bafana Bafana play France next Tuesday at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
On paper, the game could be one-sided as there is a clear gulf in class between the players from the reigning world champions and those of South Africa.
However, Bafana Bafana historically do have a tendency of picking up their socks and delivering competitive performances when they are up against the big-guns of world football.
Here IOL sport writer Eshlin Vedan looks at the times Bafana actually inflicted defeat upon European nations.
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1-0 win against Spain (2013)
This was probably the highlight of Gordon Igesund’s reign in charge of the national team. It came in a friendly international at the FNB Stadium with Bernard Parker scoring the only goal of the game after 56 minutes.
2-1 win against France (2010)
This win was hardly a surprise. It came against a crisis-laden French team which was in disaster mode and according to reports not even training owing to the players losing confidence and trust in then coach Raymond Domenech.
1-0 win against Poland (2009)
This game was a warm-up to the 2009 Confederations Cup at the Orlando Stadium. Joel Santana’s side were fired up as they prepared to host the other continental champions in the build-up to the 2010 World Cup. They delivered a polished performance as Terror Fanteni scored the only goal of the game after being set-up by Steven Pienaar.
1-0 win against Slovenia (2002)
This result was historic as it was Bafana Bafana’s first-ever world cup win. Siyabonga Noomvethe scored what proved to be the only goal of the game in the fourth minute. The result gave Bafana Bafana a strong chance of advancing to the last 16 of the World Cup.
Unfortunately, Andre Arendse’s howler in the 3-2 defeat to Spain put paid to Bafana’s chances of progressing beyond the group stage. Had they drawn against Spain, they would have made it to the knockout stages.