South African national coach Joel Santana was all smiles when Bafana 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 Spain 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."