A national day of prayer will be held in South Africa today for a successful hosting of the World Cup – and for the national team, Bafana Bafana. Faith in divine intervention could be seen as a final sign of desperation from a country seeking to avoid the ignominy of becoming the first World Cup hosts to go out in the first round. But recent results suggest that the prayers are already being answered.

South Africa's 2-1 victory over Colombia, ranked 48 places higher in the world by Fifa, in a friendly last night has steeled nerves before the most crucial games in the country's history. The match, played in front of 75,000 fans at Soccer City, gave a tantalising glimpse of the tremendous colour and spectacle that will greet Africa's first World Cup when Bafana Bafana open against Mexico at the same stadium on 11 June. "South Africa has fallen in love with Bafana Bafana again, and that could spell trouble for World Cup rivals Mexico, Uruguay and France next month," the Mail & Guardian newspaper said.

There was plenty of optimism as South Africa had the initiative, the goalscoring touch and, not least importantly, the luck. Their Brazilian coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira, was certainly upbeat. "This was Bafana's biggest World Cup test in our preparations and the boys passed," he said. "This is an incredible stadium – a very intimidating stadium with vocal Bafana fans. I am looking forward to Mexico with a lot of confidence."

Such sentiments were unthinkable less than a year ago when Bafana Bafana seemed poised for meltdown. They did not even qualify for this year's Africa Cup of Nations finals after elimination by Sierra Leone, not one of the great powers of world football. A run of eight defeats in nine games spelled the end for Parreira's predecessor and compatriot, Joel Santana. There was also chaos behind the scenes with a bitterly fought election at the South African Football Association (Safa).

South Africa had known for six years that they would be hosting the World Cup but theirs was the last of the 32 teams to secure a training camp. Frantic attempts were made to arrange friendlies with teams whose diaries had been fully booked for a year. The chief executive of the Safa was replaced in January. The farce of it all is perhaps summed up by worries that West Ham's Benni McCarthy, the country's record goalscorer, is overweight and worthy of his nickname "five bellies".

Parreira, brought back in November for his second spell in charge, faced an almighty task to stop the rainbow warrior sinking. He ordered intensive boot camps in Brazil and Germany to build team morale and unity. That he has now gone 11 matches unbeaten suggests that the coach, a World Cup winner with Brazil in 1994, is doing something right.

South Africa have just climbed seven places to 83rd in Fifa's world rankings. They put in a fighting performance last Monday to hold 39th-ranked Bulgaria to a 1-1 draw. Players such as Itumeleng Khune, Thanduyise Khuboni and Siphiwe Tshabalala have gained in confidence.

"I'm impressed," Lucas Radebe, the former Leeds United and South Africa captain, said. "It shows Carlos has worked hard with them in the training camps. They're positive, you can see the confidence in the players. They believe in themselves. I'm more optimistic now about the World Cup. I think they'll get further in the tournament. They can reach the quarter-finals if they play the way they did against Bulgaria and Colombia. We've got enough to make a big impression.

"Performances like that encourage people to believe the team are going to perform and do them proud. Most of us are really behind Bafana and we can see that with the ticket sales. Hundreds were queueing for tickets this morning."

Bafana Bafana also have overseas-based players returning to the fold. Steven Pienaar, Everton's player of the year, came on at half-time against Colombia to bolster the midfield. "We're just enjoying training every day and the spirit is good within the team," Pienaar said. "We're definitely ready. The confidence is there and the spirit is high so now it is only the last bit of preparation to come."

After surviving Portsmouth's trials and tribulations last season, the captain, Aaron Mokoena, is surely ready for anything. Fulham's Kagiso Dikgacoi is also a Parriera favourite.

South Africa now have what politicians call "the big mo". Confidence is high, players and staff sound energised and the nation appears to be rallying behind them, with national flags flying from cars and buildings. There are likely to be more goals racked up when they play another hastily arranged friendly, against lowly Guatemala, on Monday. Then there is the secret weapon: the vuvuzela, an ear-bashing plastic horn that sounds like a herd of elephants. It could yet prove music to South African ears – and a pain in their opponents'.