Everton star Stephen Pienaar hopes the world gains a new impression of South Africa from the World Cup.

Pienaar is also driven by a sense of proving negative perceptions of his country wrong.

"People can say what they like about my country, but the World Cup is coming here for a good reason because we can stage the competition as well as anyone," he said.

"You always have to think about your own safety no matter where you are in the world, but although people talk about it being bad in South Africa in areas such as crime, most people just get on with their lives.

"It's not so different to how people talk about Liverpool in some parts of England.

"The media can make a place sound as though it has problems, but actually the reality when you are there is that most visitors have no problems at all and there are a lot of positive things people can talk about. I'd say to the people who are worried, 'You don't have to come if you don't want to, but it will still be a great tournament without you'.

"We know it's a safe place. Every country has its problems, but maybe certain prejudices make people paranoid about South Africa. There are difficulties there and I experienced that when I was growing up but you don't realise at the time because you're just getting on with your life.

"You get up, go to school and play in the streets. You don't think about how your family are going to get food to give you dinner at that age, even though I realise now that was always an issue. My best friends are still living in South Africa but a lot of them are in prison.

"I feel lucky I had an opportunity to go to the country's football school of excellence when I was younger and that was when I stepped up my game.

"I don't know what I'd be doing if I wasn't a footballer."