Chiefs midfielder Abia Nale watched his clubmates Itumeleng Khune, Reneilwe Letsholonyane and Siphiwe Tshabalala star for Bafana Bafana at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and has drawn inspiration from their performances on the world stage.

“Seeing my friends and teammates playing on the big stage has been a major motivator for me. It has shown me that if I work hard I to will be able to get my chance. The target for me is to be at the World Cup in 2014.”

Nale has told kaizerchiefs.com that if he wants to be at the carnival in Brazil in four years time the best way for him to ensure he makes it there is by doing his best week in and week out for the ‘Amakhosi’.

“If I play regularly and do well for my club then the time will come for me to be able to help my country. I can’t force anything to happen but I can play at my best for Chiefs and that will hopefully help my chances of playing regularly for the national team."

The kick-off to the new season is weeks away, when Chiefs will host Nale’s former team Lamontville Golden Arrows for their first Absa Premiership encounter of the 2010/2011 season on the 28th of August in Johannesburg.

Nale believes it will do the team’s course good if they do not do not make lofty promises ahead of the new campaign, but he is promising an improvement from last season. “Going into a new season we have to be positive and set ourselves goals and targets that we believe are gettable.

"The first step is that me must be willing to do more and do better than we did previously, but we are not going to put ourselves under unnecessary pressure by saying we are going to win so many trophies.”

For Chiefs to be competitive in the new season Nale believes that they will have to labour hard in every fixture. “If we work hard now in the pre-season and carry this on when the season begins, coupled with showing consistency in our performances game after game, everything will work out in the long term for us.”