Brazil Neymar Barcelona
Brazil forward Neymar will be the cynosure against South Africa. Reuters

World Cup hosts Brazil will look to continue their good form when they take on South Africa in an international friendly in Johannesburg.

Brazil, apart from winning the Confederations Cup in their homeland last year when they outclassed world and European champions Spain in the final, have looked pretty good in the friendlies as well, winning their last six.

The South Africa match will be one of the final ones - the Selecao have two more friendlies -- before the real action starts at the World Cup in June, where Brazil will look to win the prestigious title as hosts for the first time.

"We are playing at home with confidence and with the players we have we are really thinking about winning it," Brazil technical director Carlos Alberto Parreira said.

"We have experience and the people behind us as they were in the Confederations Cup - that was a really wonderful mood which I have never seen in Brazil before.

"We can focus on the World Cup with the energy of the people behind us, and you cannot believe how important that is.

"After 1950, when we did not win the World Cup at home, we have a second opportunity and we do not want to miss it."

One player, however, who will definitely not take any part for Brazil in the World Cup finals, or the preceding friendlies is Diego Costa, who decided to turn up for Spain instead. The Atletico Madrid striker has been one of the best strikers in Europe this season, but Parreira insisted Brazil would not miss the services of the prolific forward.

"Diego Costa has been with us once, even twice he actually played," Parreira added. "And then for a certain period we didn't select him because we had to look at so many other players, but he was in our sight.

"Then, when we decided to bring him back for the Confederations Cup, he had already made the decision as he was invited for the Spain national team. He made his decision and we have to respect it. He is not a Brazilian player any more. He made his decision to play for Spain, but Brazil will survive without him, don't worry.

"He is a good player, we would like to have him but we are not going to be crying and say how we miss him. There is life after him."

Luiz Felipe Scolari and Brazil will need to be wary of their opponents on Wednesday, with South Africa winning five of their last six games, which also included a major scalp courtesy a 1-0 win over Spain at Soccer City, the venue of the Brazil encounter as well.

While all eyes will be on the likes of Neymar and Hulk, Brazil will do well to be wary of Bernard Parker, who has scored five goals in his last four appearances, with the feather in the cap being the winner against Spain.

"It is not every day that one gets to play against five-time world champions," South Africa manager Gordon Igesund told the South Africa Football Association's official website. "This is a great opportunity for us to continue from where we left off against Spain last year. We played Brazil in Sao Paolo and narrowly lost 1-0 [in 2012].

"They are the hosts of the 2014 World Cup, so they will definitely be taking this match seriously as you can see from the squad they have selected. I also have a lot of confidence in the squad I have selected and I believe we will be very competitive on the night. This should be a very good challenge for the players."

International friendly: South Africa vs Brazil Live TV Information (Match starts 7 pm local time, 10.30 pm IST, 12 pm ET, 5 pm GMT)

Country TV Broadcaster
Brazil SporTV Globo
US Bein Sports USA
Canada Bein Sports Canada
United Kingdom BT Sport 2
Middle East Bein Sports Arabia
Australia ESPN
South Africa SuperSport
Rest of Latin America DirectTV

International friendly: South Africa vs Brazil Online Live Streaming Information (7 pm local time, 10.30 pm IST, 12 pm ET, 5 pm GMT):

Country Online links
Brazil HERE
US HERE
UK HERE
Middle East HERE
Canada HERE
Australia HERE
South Africa HERE
Latin America HERE