It was the draw Bafana Bafana fans dreamed of. South African national coach Joel Santana was all smiles when Bafana were paired in Group A with European champions Spain, Iraq and New Zealand when the draw for the Fifa Confederations Cup was made in Johannesburg on Saturday night.

World champions Italy, Brazil, Egypt and the United States are in

Group B which is by far the tougher of the two groups.

The tournament is used by world controlling body Fifa as a dress

rehearsal for the 2010 World Cup finals which will be held in South

Africa for the first time. Italy qualified as world champion. The other

six countries are all reigning continental champions and the tournament

is the biggest soccer event to be staged in South Africa.

Bafana qualified automatically as hosts and Santana could not have

asked for a better platform to make sure his much improved side gets to

the semifinals.

The two top teams in each group qualify for the semifinals.

"Luck does help but it does not mean we will win the cup but we are

lucky with the draw and it will show how much progress we have made,"

said Santana.

He said that the squad had shown a big improvement and that he and

his technical team had won the trust of the players and fans. "We will

show how competitive we can be."

Santana said he expected the support of the public and believed that

the country would rally around Bafana. "I fully believe that the whole

of South Africa is behind Bafana and are fully committed as are the

players to the Confederations Cup and World Cup."

He stated he was optimistic about Bafana's chances: "We realise we

are up against teams who are all champions in their own regions and it

will not be easy but we will be well prepared. We start preparing in

the New Year. I have 80 percent of the players finalised for the

tournament."

The Bafana coach again warned that Bafana could be the surprise

team of the tournament; "I am very proud to be coach of Bafana and we

are more than ready to spring a surprise or two."

Bafana kick-off the Confederations Cup against unknown little known

Iraq who are ranked 75th in the world five places above Bafana at Ellis

Park on June 14.

Spain and New Zealand meet in the other Group A match the Royal

Bafokeng Stadium the same night.

Bafana then play New Zealand who are ranked 60th in the world at the

Royal Bafokeng Stadium on June 17 at 8.30pm and finish their group

stage against Spain who are currently ranked number one in the world

at the Free State Stadium on June 20.

The seeded draw was televised live worldwide and conducted by Fifa

secretary general Jerome Valcke. South Africa were seeded as the top

seed Group A. The rules state that teams from the same continent cannot

be in the same group.

"That means that Egypt cannot be in South Africa's group and Italy

and Span cannot be in the same group," said Valke.

The New Zealand coach Frank van Huttum said: "We are not the

strongest team in the world but we are competitive. All our players

play in overseas leagues and we will keep the teams honest in our

group."