Comment: Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer, at the CTICC

Cape Town – So which smart alec, then, said South Africa might somehow be dealt a charitable hand in the FIFA World Cup 2010 draw?

Instead the host nation have it all to do in Group A … and maybe even that is an understatement.

Bafana Bafana, to put it bluntly, barely have one match they can obviously “target” for a win: present world rankings suggest they’ve got an uphill battle to burgle even a point against any of established world powerhouses Mexico, Uruguay or France.

It is true that, considering their lamentable global status of 86th, South Africa were not going to find any comer a particularly palatable thought.

And there were discernible gasps rather than whoops from the patriot-laden VIP ranks of the Cape Town International Convention Centre as Bafana’s tournament fate – er, sorry, itinerary – was confirmed.

At least their lanky, crowd-favourite central defender Matthew Booth, an on-stage guest for the grand occasion, put on a defiant immediate face, suggesting that Mexico, their opponents in the opening game at Soccer City in Johannesburg on June 11, “won’t envy being subjected to the noise of 90 000 vuvuzelas”.

Hmm. Mexico is a country not exactly wanting itself for stadium din or emotion, and they lie 15th in world terms, a chasm-like 71 spots ahead of South Africa.

There is no rest for the wicked as Bafana, even if they get a surprise “something” out of the opener – which can sometimes be a testy, unpredictable affair, granted – then face the similar might of Uruguay, making an 11th finals appearance and past champions in 1930 and 1950.

The Uruguayans are only four notches shy of Mexico on the current pecking order and tackle Bafana on June 16 at Loftus.

It is a poignant day in South Africa’s political history, and this will doubtless be employed as a rallying cry for the national team to play out of their skins in Pretoria.

But even that may not be sufficient; there will be no Bakkies Botha at hand to scare the daylights out of Uruguay in rugby’s famous Blue Bulls habitat.

As if that isn’t enough, there is rich irony – not to mention further uphill task – in who South Africa close their group oligations against: the world’s most fashionable present villains in France.

Bafana tackle “Hand-ball Henry” and company in Bloemfontein on June 22, at least buoyed by the knowledge that, from a grand old distance, 99 percent of the Republic of Ireland will be squarely behind the rank underdogs for that one!

France, however, will have put the qualifying furore against the Irish well behind them when they turn out in the Free State and, indeed, may well be smarting over failing to be placed among the eight seeds in the draw.

They are entitled to be miffed as they are seventh in the rankings, sandwiched between Germany and Argentina, both of whom cracked the seedings.

There is also the not exactly piffling matter that the French were runners-up at the last World Cup, in Germany in 2006, surrendering only to eventual champions Italy on penalties in the final.

It is mischievously tempting to brand Bafana’s group draw “Issa Disaster II”, when you consider that in South Africa’s first ever World Cup tournament match, at Marseille in 1998, a certain Pierre Issa’s infamous defensive eccentricity saw the host nation prevail 3-0 en route to claiming the trophy.

Still, calamity has not visited Bafana yet – we haven’t even officially turned over the calendar to 2010, after all -- and one does not wish to sound overly bleak over their now-known trio of red-letter dates ahead.

Sometimes South Africa actually play their best football, strangely, against blue-chip sides and stuff it up more royally against foes they are considered to have a shout against.

And if they do defy great odds and manage to advance to the round of 16 in 2010, we might gleefully be able to trumpet this time: “Issa miracle!”

Rob is Sport24's chief writer

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