In their 0-0 draw with Nicaragua at Orlando Stadium on Friday in their last home friendly before the FIFA World Cup, Bafana Bafana fell well short of the standard they will need in order to get out of Group A.
The first half produced two gilt-edged chances for Hugo Broos' side. One saw a passage of play started by an exquisite Themba Zwane backheel outside the box end with the Mamelodi Sundowns attacking midfielder failing to connect with Kamogelo Sebelebele's cross from the right.
Sebelebele - deployed on the right wing rather than at right-back, where Thabang Matuludi started - won a penalty on the stroke of half-time, but Lyle Foster hit the post.
Other than those two chances, and a few moments of dazzling trickery - including another Zwane backheel pass - Bafana Bafana fans had almost nothing to cheer about.
The stadium began to fill out in the second half, with latecomers likely unable to make kick-off at 6pm on a Friday. It appeared to give the team a boost, as did the introduction of Oswin Appollis on the left wing.
Appollis was at the heart of a flurry of chances created early after the break. His stinging 49th-minute shot forced an uncomfortable scooped parry from Erick Pineda Castrillo, but the Orlando Pirates winger still lacked support from his lethargic teammates.
Thapelo Maseko forced a save from a powerful shot of his own in the 62nd minute. As the clock ticked into the final minutes, a pinpoint Relebohile Mofokeng free-kick delivery led to Pineda Castrillo having to make an astute double-save. Jayden Adams subsequently had a near miss.
The crowd did its part in the last few minutes, but even the fans are not above critique. Despite the late arrival of many spectators, the stadium which had been packed 13 days prior for Orlando Pirates' 0-0 draw with Durban City now had plenty of empty seats.
Bafana Bafana played in front of a full house at their previous friendly in Cape Town on March 31 against Panama. Johannesburg is admittedly a better option for a training camp due to altitude and a large proportion of the national team players being based there.
Football fans in Johannesburg are admittedly spoiled for choice due to having South Africa's three biggest clubs within reach. (Mamelodi Sundowns play their home games in nearby Pretoria, but their training base is in Midrand.)
Still, Bafana Bafana needed to feel on Friday night that the country is behind them, and the turnout at Orlando Stadium was not befitting of a country about to face some of the world's best teams.
Nobody can accuse Bafana Bafana fans of lacking passion. Football is the best-supported sport in the country, and when the national team is either at its best or playing in an area they do not usually grace, the love truly shows.
However, the contrast between the incredible atmosphere at major games involving Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and to some extent Mamelodi Sundowns over the course of the past season with the lively, but not inspiring mood at Orlando Stadium on Friday should be a lesson to the South African Football Association (SAFA).
That lesson is: despite the progress over the past five years under Broos, South African football is not yet out of the woods. Many fans still identify more with their clubs than their shared national team.
The fans who showed up at Orlando Stadium did, to some extent, make up for a shortage in numbers with spirit. The loudest cheers were reserved for surprise inclusion Bradley Cross, who came off the bench at left-back.
At club level for Kaizer Chiefs, he has cemented his status as a fan favourite by being willing to showcase the types of skills on the ball which those outside South Africa may call 'showboating', but those who grew up in footballing communities and attend matches generally adore - particularly as many players grew up playing on dusty streets with no goalposts where skills which incentivised pure trickery over traditional technique.
That said, it was not Cross, but Zwane, who gave Bafana fans the best show on Friday night in terms of the merits of his skill on the ball alone, with fans still filtering into the stadium at the time.
Appollis was the most incisive player on the pitch - the quality that will be most important in North America, far above even the most heartwarming trickery. Sebelebele and Mofokeng had bright moments.
However, there was precious little of substance to inspire optimism ahead of South Africa's trip to Mexico, where they will play a friendly against Jamaica before kicking off the World Cup against the co-hosts on June 11.