Former France star Christian Karembeu is looking forward to the first World Cup to be held in Africa and believes that a team from the host continent can go all the way and win the competition. The ex-Sampdoria and Real Madrid midfielder, born on the Pacific island of New Caledonia, won the World Cup with France in 1998. He is hopeful that the competition can dispel many of the negative assumptions people have about Africa. "I am very proud, very proud South Africa can host a very big tournament," he told Goal.com. "Every eye will see how Africa is, who is Africa and I think Africa is ready to show who they are. I think this is a great moment for Africa to be himself and I don't think people already know about Africa, but this will settle many misunderstandings. Fortunately we have this World Cup and Africa will live his life, his rhythm. "FIFA tried to make this happen and it's a great dream come true for the continent and also for Europe. I think we need only to have fun and hope some African team can perform well all the way to the final. "There are many teams with a chance, we know that [from] last year with the Confederations Cup [when] Brazil remained the leader. We know about Spain, Italy, but I think the best challenger now is an African team - Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Bafana Bafana [South Africa]." Karembeu has been impressed by what he has seen of the host nation's team in the run-up to the tournament. "I saw the games, [Carlos Alberto] Parreira has brought the confidence to the team and [there's] just a great atmosphere with the people supporting the team," he added. "Also in the pitch they played some good quality passes and quality games. I think they will surprise everybody because of the Brazilian touch I can see they are very sensible in the games they played. I think they are going to have a great World Cup. "I see now that the game is more on the ground, players playing good passes. I think this is what will work for Bafana Bafana." As for whether he'd like to follow Parreira into international management, Karembeu was not so sure. "I don't know about that," he smiled. Source: Goal.com