South Africa Make History: Bafana Bafana Advance to World Cup Knockouts for the First Time

South Africa secured a historic 1-0 victory over South Korea on Wednesday night, advancing to the knockout stage of the World Cup for the first time in their history.

Thapelo Maseko scored the only goal in the 63rd minute, finishing a precise cross from Tshepang Moremi. Bafana Bafana finished second in Group A behind Mexico, who won all three of their group-stage matches.

South Africa will now face Canada, the second-place team from Group B, in the Round of 16 on Sunday at Inglewood, California.

This breakthrough ends years of frustration for the South Africans, who had failed to advance from the group stage in 1998, 2002, and during their hosting year in 2010.

They opened this tournament with a 2-0 loss to Mexico, then earned a hard-fought 1-1 draw against the Czech Republic with a late equalizer. Going into their final group game, they sat behind both Mexico and the favored South Koreans — but delivered a stunning upset to qualify.

South Korea started their campaign strongly with a 2-1 comeback win over the Czech Republic, but suffered a 1-0 loss to Mexico in their second match. While they still have a slim mathematical chance of advancing depending on other results this week, it looks unlikely.

The Taegeuk Warriors have a proud history as the first Asian team to reach the knockout stage in 2002, where they famously finished fourth. They also advanced to the Round of 16 in both 2010 and 2022.