There was a carnival atmosphere inside the Moses Mabhida Stadium where almost half of the expected 56,000 capacity crowd had taken their seats with a little under 45 minutes to go before the clash.

Roads leading up to the iconic 2010 World Cup venue were all jammed with traffic as the city came to a standstill.

The weather also played its part with a cool evening breeze greeting the players as they ran out for their warm-up to rapturous applause, the sound of vuvuzelas and an expectant, albeit relaxed, crowd waving the national flag.

Earlier the few hundreds that decided to arrive early at the ground had their eyes firmly fixed on the giant screens at the venue and witnessed Ghana become the first team through to the semi-finals when they beat Cape Verde Islands 2-0 in Port Elizabeth.

Hosts Bafana Bafana have qualified for the knockout stages for the first time in 11 years and will be seeking to reach the last four for the first time since 2000.

Coach Gordon Igesend sprung a bit of a surprise earlier when he axed striker Katlego Mphela from his starting XI and replaced him with midfielder Reneilwe Letsholonyane for a more balanced-looking line-up.

This was one of two changes made by the South Africa boss, who also brought in Siboniso Gaxa for the suspended Anele Ngcongca.

Lehlohonolo Majoro was declared fit again and took his place among the substitutes.