South Africa will make World Cup history for all the wrong reasons if it fails to beat France in its last group game and becomes the first host in the 80-year history of the competition to go out in the first round.

"It will be a disaster for us, the home country, to go out in the first round," midfielder Steven Pienaar said after Wednesday's 3-0 loss to Uruguay which left South Africa with only one point from two matches.

Failure to beat former champion France at Bloemfontein on Tuesday will mean the fans won't have their own team to cheer on for the rest of the month-long tournament in their own country.

"It's going to be tough now, it's going to be difficult," Pienaar said. "We have to watch tomorrow's game (between France and Mexico) and hope for a draw."

As disappointing as it would be if South Africa does go out, Pienaar said the nation would not lose interest.

"It won't change the World Cup," he said. "People are having fun."

By the time Uruguay scored its third goal in injury time, however, Loftus Versfeld stadium was half empty.

The fans had given up on their team after Uruguay striker Diego Forlan had fired a penalty into the roof of the net in the 80th minute to go with his 25-metre strike in the 24th.

The South Africans fought hard but could not match the Uruguayans for organisation and skill and the cold truth was that they have a lot to do to become a force in world football.

"Uruguay played with great patience, which we didn't have at the same level," said South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, a Brazilian with a wealth of experience who guided his own national team to World Cup glory in the United States in 1994.

"I'm most disappointed with conceding the third goal when the game was almost over. It was unnecessary. Now we have a morale obligation to fight to the very end against France, we can't put our heads down."

Asked how he felt about the outcome, defender Bongani Khamalo replied: "Really bad. You see the final result, it looks horrible.

"As long as there's a chance, we have to believe. There's one more game. Obviously, the result tomorrow will tell a lot."

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