Johannesburg - Bafana Bafana striker, Katlego Mphela, says a win against Thailand at Mbombela stadium will boost the team's morale ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Speaking shortly after the team's training session at Marks Park grounds on Wednesday, Mphela said the team will use Sunday's fixture to prove that they are a team to be reckoned with.
"As a team we need some wins to boost our morale and we have to start by winning the match on Sunday against Thailand in order to boost our morale ahead of the World Cup," he said.
The Mamelodi Sundowns leading goal scorer said the team was not worried or concerned about the French national team which beat Bafana Bafana 3-nil in the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.
"We are focusing on our opening match against Mexico. At this stage, all we are thinking about is to beat Mexico. We are not concerned about France.
"I don't believe that they will beat us again not because they struggled to qualify for the tournament, but because we will be ready," he said.
Bafana's opening match will be against Mexico at Soccer City on 11 June, followed by Uruguay on 16 June at Loftus Versfeld stadium in Tshwane. The team will lock horns with France in the Free State at Vodacom Park stadium on 22 June.
Mphela said he was confident that the national team, whose spirit was high at the camp, would proceed to stage two of the tournament.
He said the team's days of struggling to find the back of the net will be a thing of the past during the spectacular as he has been working hard in sharpening his goal scoring skills.
His teammate and defender Matthew Booth shared Mphela's sentiments.
"We are not focusing on other teams, but on building up our team's strength. If there are people who think that we are the underdogs, we are ready to prove them wrong," he said.
Booth said although the match against Thailand will be difficult, a win is a must for the team.
"We don't want to embarrass our fans anymore. Everyone at the camp knows that we are expected to bring the winning mentality of the games back ahead of the tournament," he said.
According to Mphela and Booth, all players at the camp are working hard to impress the coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira, who is expected to trim the 29-man squad to 23 in early June.
The match against Thailand will kick off at 3pm on Sunday.
