MONTERREY: South Africa beat South Korea 1-0 on Wednesday to reach the World Cup knockout rounds for the first time in their history — an astonishing turnaround after a dismal opening defeat.
The Bafana Bafana, playing in a World Cup for the first time since they hosted it in 2010, were widely written off after their 2-0 loss to Group ‘A’ winners Mexico in the tournament’s curtain-raiser.
But they battled to a draw against the Czech Republic and came out on top of what was effectively a shootout with South Korea for second place in Monterrey, thanks to Thapelo Maseko’s second-half strike.
South Africa coach Hugo Broos said it was difficult to put his side’s achievement into words.
“We scored that goal, and it was 20 minutes of heart-beating and hoping that the game should be finished as soon as possible,” said the Belgian.
“So yes, we are in the second round. It’s historic. But I’m very happy for the guys. I’ve worked with them for five years. And what we did in those five years is amazing.”
South Africa will face co-hosts Canada in Los Angeles on June 28.
South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo made a shock call by leaving captain Son Heung-min — considered by many to be Asia’s greatest-ever player — out of the starting line-up.
Myung-bo said he had deliberately left Son on the bench in the hope the forward could exploit tiring South African legs after the break, but conceded his side never found their rhythm.
“We thought that when the opponents had a lot of energy it would be better to use Son later in the game, when they started losing energy and there was more space. We wanted to use him when they were weaker,” Hong said.
Son replaced Hwang Hee-chan at halftime but had little impact.
“We prepared well, but compared to our previous matches we made too many mistakes in midfield. That’s why my players lost confidence. We knew how we should have played, but we should have done better. Today’s performance was simply not good enough,” Hong added.
South Korea finish third in Group ‘A’ with three points from three games. Qualification depends on results from other groups.
“We always talk about just the results,” said Hong. “In terms of the process of preparation and how we can put that onto the playing field, that is something that I had thought about.
“Of course, if we had known the results already beforehand, then I probably would have made some different choices, but I had a strategy in mind.”
The Korean coach said the result was his responsibility.
“Ultimately, it comes down to me,” he said. “I guess I made the wrong decisions and that was the reason why we had a bad result. Nothing more, nothing less.”
‘STUPID MISTAKES’
In the other Group ‘A’ match, Mexico — who had already secured top spot with two opening wins — completed their first round with a 100 per cent record after romping past the Czech Republic 3-0 in the Estadio Azteca.
Mexico move on to a last-32 match in the same stadium on June 30 while the Czechs return home after finishing bottom of the group.
Mateo Chavez gave Mexico the lead in the 55th minute and Julian Quinones took advantage of disarray in the Czech defence six minutes later to extend the lead.
Alvaro Fidalgo completed a sparkling evening for the Mexicans as he smashed in a cross four minutes into added time.
Mexico even brought on goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa as a second-half substitute, allowing the veteran to play in a sixth World Cup finals at the age of 40.
The Czech Republic finished at the bottom of the group with only one point and their coach Miroslav Koubek blamed “stupid mistakes” and exhaustion from heavy travel for his team’s exit.
Koubek cited a draw with South Africa as a critical missed opportunity, which left the Czech Republic with just one point from their opening two matches.
He further added that heavy travel between venues, including flights to Mexico City, left players exhausted, questioning why Mexico were not required to travel to Dallas.
Published in Dawn, June 26 , 2026