South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said the host nation was not afraid of any of the teams it drew in Group A of the 2010 World Cup."We are going to play the ball on the ground," Parreira said after the draw in Cape Town Friday.
"We are going to prepare ourselves, we are not afraid. Mexico are a good side, France have got players in the Champions League and they are good side."
Hosts South Africa, who will play Mexico on June 11 in the tournament opener were also drawn against two-time champions Uruguay.
Parreira, who guided his native Brazil to the 1994 World Cup title, said his mission was to guide South Africa to the last 16.
South Africa are set to stage training camps in Brazil and Germany as part of their preparations for the finals.
If South Africa fail to make it past the first round, it will become the first host nation not to reach the second round since the World Cup was first staged 79 years ago.
Parreira said the draw indicated that there was no easy group.
"It is the only World Cup we cannot say who is the Group of Death. There is no easy group. It is the best balanced World Cup in history. We are the only group that has two former world champions in France and Uruguay.
Parreira, who rejoined Bafana in November when his countryman Joel Santana quit after a disappointing 17-month reign, added: "This is the hand we have been dealt and what we will have to face.
"We have to prepare ourselves in a possible way to make sure we go past the first round.
"I do not look at the first game. If we get a good result against Mexico and lose against Uruguay and France it will not matter.
"We have to look at the group as a whole and not focus on the first game.
"The bottom line is that we face three difficult games and face them in a positive way."
Mathew Booth, a towering defender with Bafana Bafana, never expected to be drawn against an easy side.
"It's a tough group, we never expected it to be easy. But I don't envy the Mexicans playing in front of 90,000 vuvuzelas (trumpets)."
Former South Africa captain Neil Tovey said they had been drawn in a tough group, but believed France were beatable.
"It's a very, very tough group, but as the host nation we have to qualify for the next round," Tovey told AFP.
