South Africa completed an unbeaten warm-up to their World Cup tournament with a 1-0 win over Denmark this week, inspired by a stellar display from second-choice goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs.

First-choice custodian, Kaizer Chiefs’ Ithumeleng Khune picked up a nasty-looking side injury in Bafana Bafana’s 2-1 win over Colombia at the end of last month.

And while the injury only turned out to be bruising, Khune has had to watch while Orlando Pirates net-minder Josephs has staked a claim for a place in the starting line-up against Mexico in the tournament opener.

Josephs impressed in both the Denmark game and the previous week’s win over Guatemala, leaving coach Carlos Alberto Parreira with the clichéd “nice problem to have” with choosing his number one.

Ketlego Mphela’s 75^th minute winner against Denmark was the 25-year-old Mamelodi Sundowns striker’s sixth goal in five games, stretching South Africa’s unbeaten run of matches to 12.

And the Brazilian boss believes his team are ready to take to the big stage. He said: “The team is ready, and they showed it against Denmark.

“Our preparations show that the path we took was the right one. Now everybody has to respect us. We will fight in every game.”