Bafana Bafana midfielder Thembinkosi Lorch is hoping the team can rise to the occasion when they take on hosts Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations last-16 encounter at Cairo International Stadium this Saturday.
READ: Lorch opens up abou AFCON snubs
Lorch has experienced football on the continent with Orlando Pirates in the CAF Champions League and has played in North Africa against Tunisian giants Esperance, so he is not likely to be overwhelmed by the big crowd at Cairo International Stadium, should he get an opportunity to play on Saturday.
Despite progressing to the last-16 of AFCON, Bafana have not been too convincing up to this point but have an opportunity to cause the biggest upset of the competition by knocking out the hosts who have been in fine form.
Bafana finished with just one victory against Namibia, while they were beaten by Ivory Coast and Morocco.
The team has been criticised for the negative football that they've been playing, with no shots on targets in their matches against Namibia and Morocco.
"It's going to be a big game for us, especially playing against Egypt. They are playing in front of their supporters, so we just have to show that we also have good players in the team. We have to show our experience and our talent," Lorch said.
"It gives motivation, because people will say we did not play well from our first game. So this one everyone wants to do their best to make our nation proud. For this game we just have to believe in ourselves and forget about what people are saying. We have to do this for ourselves, so that our supporters can get confidence from us."