Bafana Bafana and Kaizer Chiefs midfielder, Siphiwe Tshabalala was at his usual self, taking players on, on Friday morning at Orlando Stadium as Bafana Bafana coach, Joel Santana took the players through their paces ahead of the crunch opener against Asian champions, Iraq.

Kick off for the game is at 16h00 on Sunday at Ellis Park now known as the Coca Cola Park. Sunday 14 June, will mark the opening of the tournament also known as the “Festival of Champions”.

‘Shabba’ as the player is affectionately known, is one of the key players in the Bafana Bafana camp. He came on as a substitute against Poland last Saturday.

Despite that, ‘Shabba’ is expected to play a key role during the Confederations Cup.

“It is a big one for us. I would really love to take part in the tournament.”

Tshabalala revealed to kaizerchiefs.com that spirit in the camp is high ahead of the game on Sunday.

“We have all been working hard for the past couple of weeks and the moment has come now to measure ourselves against some of the best players in the world. The spirit here is high and we all have one mission to do well for the county in this tournament.”

The Soweto born who welcome an opportunity to train this morning in front of adoring fans at the Mecca of South African football as Orlando Stadium is affectionately known believes that Iraq is going to be very tough.

“We do not know a lot about them although we watched them playing against Poland in Cape Town earlier this week. I am sure the Technical Team has identified areas that we might exploit in their game.”

“We will be playing in front of a home crowd which is an advantage for us. A win against Iraq will set a tone for the tournament.

It is important that we do well before we start thinking about playing New Zealand and Spain who are both in the same group with us,” added Bafana Bafana’s no. 8.