For Honduras defender Maynor Figueroa, playing in the Central American country's second World Cup is a ``dream come true,'' with the side preparing for its opening match against Chile.
Honduras' only other appearance at the tournament was in 1982.
The squad landed in Nelspruit on Monday morning and trained at a nearby stadium, two days before the Group H match against Chile on Wednesday.
``We're very close now,'' Figueroa said. ``We're about to make our dream come true.''
Defender Sergio Mendoza said the nation would be focused on proving pundits wrong about how far Honduras can go.
``You can't say one team is favorite ... we all deserve respect,'' he said.
Honduras has fitness concerns over striker David Suazo and midfielder Wilson Palacios. Both players have right thigh muscle injuries.
Palacios looks set to be fit for Wednesday's match, but Suazo's problem is said to be more serious.
Both players stretched and jogged with the rest of the squad and did ball work between themselves during the 20 minutes of the session open to the media.
Coach Reinaldo Rueda is expected to give a better idea of what his team will look like at a pre-match news conference Tuesday.
Figueroa said it was important to make the most of the two days the team has before kick off.
``We've got to stay calm, take advantage of these two days to work as hard as possible and realize that it's going to be difficult, but not impossible,'' he said.
Figueroa said the Honduras team had spent ``several weeks'' analyzing the Chilean side, saying the South Americans were ``a very good national team''.
Mendoza, who returned from a one-year doping ban just in time to make Rueda's squad, refused to pick out individual Chile players to watch out for.
``I'm more interested in the team as a whole,'' he said. ``They always play well as a team.''
Honduras also faces Spain and Switzerland in later Group H matches.
