Johannesburg - Unperturbed by doubts over their ability to stage Africa's first World Cup, confident South African football officials say they will be up to the task in 2010.
A poor public transport system is seen as the country's biggest concern, with worries over whether the country will have the capacity to move the hundreds of thousands football fans who will descend on the country for the quadrennial event.
Violent crime is also a concern, although the country has a good record having hosted major sports events such as the Rugby World Cup and the Cricket World Cup without any major incidents.
Recent media reports suggested Fifa had secretly been working on an emergency plan to move the event to Australia if South Africa is unable to meet expectations, but the world governing body shot down the claims.
The head of Fifa's South Africa office, Australian Michael Palmer, said Fifa had very high hopes for Africa's first World Cup.
"From Fifa's point of view, as long as the integrity of the competition is going to be guaranteed, then Fifa will be happy," Palmer told AFP.
"But we have bigger hopes for this - that the 2010 World Cup will change the world's perception of the African continent and provide wonderful opportunities for people in the future.
"The hope is that it will be the sporting event that does the most good for a country and a continent."
The plan is to upgrade five stadiums and build two new ones for the semi-finals, in the Indian Ocean city of Durban and south-coast city of Cape Town.
There are also new stadiums planned for the northern town of Polokwane, the north-east city of Nelspruit near the world famous Kruger National Park and the southern port city of Port Elizabeth, with South Africa budgeting R5.5bn for stadiums and a further R8bn to upgrade the country's airports and public transport system.
South Africa has already signed the stadium and host city agreements with Fifa, although no work has yet been done on the building or upgrading of any World Cup stadia.
Palmer said FIFA was "not worried at all" about the stadiums and confident that South Africa would have them ready in time.
His views were echoed by Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of the SA 2010 Soccer World Cup Local Organising Committee.
"The stadiums are a very important issue and they will be ready. There's no margin for error, we cannot fail. As South Africans have done many times before, we are going to succeed," said Jordaan.
