“Secondly, football is not like arithmetic where you talk about therefore, yes it has been said that the nation that doesn’t know their background will perish.

“We know they haven’t beaten us but we are living in the current and swallowed by the moment and it will be a good thing to maintain that record that Ghana hasn’t beaten us.”

Mashaba expects the encounter to be a cagey affair given the high stakes.

“It is going to be a game full of caution, it is not a kind of game where you throw everything at the other team and remain vulnerable at the back. But it is going to be an interesting game, it is going to be an end to end game because they will want to score and we will want to score.

“The one who scores first will become comfortable, with the pressure decreasing but both teams will be looking at scoring early.

“We have respect for Ghana. For them to be here means they worked hard and they are a good side, they deserve to be here. We will give them the respect they deserve but come 90 minutes we will lose respect for each other and see who is going to come out tops.”

SA’s record vs Ghana

27/11/94      Four Nations Cup      Ghana 2-1      H 31/01/96      Nations Cup Finals    Ghana 3-0      H 21/09/96      Four Nations Cup      Ghana 0-0      H 06/02/00      Nations Cup Finals    Ghana 1-0      N 24/01/02      Nations Cup Finals    Ghana 0-0      N 20/06/04      World Cup qualifier   Ghana 0-3      A 18/06/05      World Cup qualifier   Ghana 0-2      H 15/10/08      Friendly                   Ghana 2-1      H 11/08/10      Friendly                   Ghana 1-0      H

Source: Kickoff