The Kaizer Chiefs legend also shared his thoughts on how far the current team can go, and welcomed FIFA's expanded World Cup format, saying it offers African nations a fairer chance to compete and shine on football's biggest stage.

Q: Thinking back to the World Cup in 1998, what were the highlights that stand out for you?

A: And I must say that, even though we were novices and playing in our first World Cup, we were full of confidence that we could cause an upset and do South Africa proud.

We lost against the host country (France), who would go on to win the tournament, in our opening match, and then we played Denmark and Saudi Arabia, which were both draws.

We got really close to qualifying for the knockout stages. I think we gave a good account of ourselves in that tournament.

So, the pride of being part of that first Bafana Bafana team to go and compete with the best in the world at the World Cup, and then what we did in France, those would be my highlights from that period.

Q: Realistically, how far do you see Bafana Bafana going at the World Cup?

I guess the World cup is a difficult tournament to predict. Anything can happen. We know that there are those that are deemed small teams and those who are deemed bigger teams, but the game has evolved and, anyone can beat anyone the day. We saw that at the World Cup in Qatar when Saudi Arabia beat Lionel Messi's Argentina. Anything can happen.

I strongly believe that when Bafana Bafana arrive at the tournament, if the players and the group is in the right frame of mind and they apply themselves physically and mentally, and they play football with the DNA of South Africa, with passion, enthusiasm and a great spirit, which I think is our special weapon. If they can do that, then I truly believe that it's possible that South Africa can progress to the knockout stages.

What's your view on the expanded format of the World Cup?

In my view, expanding the tournament was the proper and correct thing for FIFA to do because Africa has been taken for granted over the years in regard to qualifying for the tournament. I think there has been a lack of respect for Africa on the international football stage, and that is starting to be addressed.

I thought it was a good move for FIFA to expand the format to allow Africa to have 10 positions for them to qualify for the World Cup.

For too many years, other continents have had greater opportunities to qualify for the tournament, so I'm pleased to see more African teams getting the opportunity to shine on the world stage.

Let's talk about Europe. At the 2022 World Cup, ten European teams could qualify to Africa's five. At the tournament in the summer, there will be 16 European countries competing and ten African nations. There is still a disparity, but the gap is getting smaller and there is a greater opportunity for African teams to compete now.

I believe that it was not fair for Africa to be given only five slots for them to qualify at previous tournaments.

The new leadership within FIFA has made a lot of drastic changes that will give more African nations opportunities. We appreciate it.

As Africans, I can imagine what would have happened if this was announced before the 1998 World Cup.

If you look at what will happen in the summer, with the third-best placed teams going through, then I think our team from 1998 would have played in the knockout stages.

In 1998, only five African teams were allowed to qualify for the tournament, and that deprived us of a lot of chances (to get into the knockout stages of the tournament). It made Africa feel unwanted from the world's biggest football event.

There's so much that I can say about that situation. But we're not talking politics - let's look forward. We appreciate that FIFA is finally starting to give more opportunities to African nations to compete at the biggest sporting event in the world.

Doctor Khumalo was speaking to Vodacom Soccer on behalf of 10bet.

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