BAFANA Bafana captain Aaron Mokoena goes straight into the history books today just after the start of their international friendly with Bulgaria.

Mokoena, known as "Mbazo", will be making his 100th appearance in the colours of South Africa.

Bafana Bafana take on Bulgaria in an international friendly at Orlando Stadium in Soweto at 8.35pm.

"It's a great honour, but for me it is not about caps, the most important thing is to contribute to the success of Bafana" said Mokoena.

"Our preparations for the 2010 World Cup are going well. Everybody in the camp is working hard - we want to see the team doing well.

"Bulgaria are a very good side, they have several players playing in England. Bulgaria and the other countries we will be playing are important for our World Cup preparations."

Dimitar Berbatov, who plays for English giants Manchester United, is the all-time leading goal scorer for the Bulgarian national team with 48 goals from 77 appearances.

Berbatov recently announced his retirement from international soccer. But they have other good players in the Italian-based striker Valeri Bojinov and Aston Villa midfielder Stiliyan Petrov to trouble Mokoena and company.

Ranked 34 by Fifa, Bulgaria have featured in seven World Cup finals with their most recent outing at France 1998.

They reached reached the semifinals in USA 1994 when former Mamelodi Sundowns coach Hristo Stoichkov top-scored with six goals.

Mokoena said the players and the entire team were impressed by the support from South Africans.

"It is important for the home team to enjoy the support of everybody. We saw what happened in the past three World Cup finals.

"In 1998, France struggled in the build-up to the World Cup but went all the way to win it.

"Germany were faced with a similar challenge in 2006 but won a bronze medal.

"We appeal to South Africans to unite, we need to go into the World Cup as one nation."