Bafana Bafana star Elias Mokwana confident despite Esperance's fall to Flamengo and vows readiness to tackle Chelsea - 'Fifa Club World Cup has just started'

Bafana Bafana star Elias Mokwana is confident that Esperance have learned vital lessons after a 2-0 defeat to Flamengo in their Fifa Club World Cup opening game.

Although the Tunisian heavyweights were beaten, the Bafana forward said the outcome would have been different had they capitalised on their chances.

Mokwana, who is making his debut in the tournament, came on in the second half and is hopeful that they still have huge chances of advancing.

“We learnt a lot from this game and will take the confidence into the next game [against Chelsea]. The tournament is only starting now; we need to just work harder in our next two games, and hopefully we will qualify [for the round of 16],” Mokwana said, as per iDiski Times.

“I think we didn’t take our chances in the second half; we started a bit slow. We could have started better and taken our chances – we have nothing to fear (against Chelsea),” he added.

Mokwana was also thrilled to see their fans who turned up to support them.

“I was so happy to see the fans; they support us everywhere we go, and hopefully they also come to our next games to help us qualify," he continued.

"It’s only the beginning of the tournament; we saw our mistakes in this game [against Flamengo].”

The opening loss means that Esperance lost some ground as far as the race to win a ticket to the next phase is concerned.

A loss in their next game would mean that Esperance have been eliminated from the global showpiece.

The Tunisian league champions will face Los Angeles FC, who were beaten by Chelsea 2-0, on June 21.

The last game for Mokwana's teammates in the group will come against the London-based Premier League side on June 25.