South Africa midfielder Steven Pienaar believes the host nation can reach the World Cup quarter-finals at the least.

Bafana Bafana kick off their campaign against Mexico on June 11 before further group games against Uruguay and France. All three teams are ranked higher than South Africa by FIFA, but Everton man Pienaar is confident the hosts can upset the odds.

"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 said.