South Africa stun South Korea, advance in second place from Group A
June 24, 2026; Monterrey, Mexico; South Africa’s Thapelo Maseko scores their first objective. Obligatory Credit score: Eloisa Sanchez-Reuters through Imagn Pictures Thapelo Maseko’s second-half objective lifted South Africa to a must-win 1-0 outcome towards South Korea of their Group A finale in Guadalupe, Mexico, on Wednesday, sending Bafana Bafana to the World Cup knockout stage for the primary time.
Maseko put South Africa in entrance within the 63rd minute with a medical end, burying a shot from his favored left foot to the precise nook after a precision go by Tshepang Moremi.
Ronwen Williams preserved the lead with a save on Park Jin-seob’s header within the third minute of second-half stoppage time.
South Korea (1-2-0, 3 factors) wanted a win or draw to complete runner-up to Mexico and advance to the spherical of 32.
South Africa (1-1-1, 4 factors) needed to win and have Czech Republic lose to Mexico within the concurrent match to assert the second spot. Mexico (3-0-9, 9 factors) logged a 3-0 win over the Czechs (0-2-1, 1 factors), and when the hosts’ 1-0 lead was posted within the Guadalupe stadium within the fifty fifth minute, the South African followers joined the Mexicans in attendance in celebrating.
South Africa was written off by many after dropping the opening match of the World Cup 2-0 to Mexico whereas having two gamers despatched off.
The South Africans had didn’t get out of the group stage of their earlier World Cups in 1998, 2002 and 2010.
South Korea nonetheless have an opportunity to advance within the occasion as probably the greatest third-place groups, however they are going to want different outcomes to go their manner.
South Korea began as if it have been taking part in for the win with a number of forays into the penalty space within the first three minutes however quickly fell right into a conservative mode. That change allowed the underdog South Africans to have the higher of the play for the rest of the primary half.
If not for 3 saves by Kim Seung-gyu and poor ending, South Africa may have carried a lead into halftime.
South Korea’s Kim Min-jae’s header within the third minute was cleared off the road by Aubrey Modiba, however after that it was all South Africa.
South Africa had two possibilities within the thirtieth minute, solely to have Kim make back-to-back stops.
First, Thalente Mbatha discovered house on the prime of the field and put a well-driven strike heading in the right direction. Kim made the save however spilled the rebound. Proof Makgopa, who barely managed to remain onside, collected the rebound on the 6-yard field, however Kim was in good place for the denial.
–Subject Degree Media
