Three things we learned from Bafana against South Korea

Bafana Bafana edged South Korea 1-0 in their final Group A encounter Monterrey Stadium and qualified for the last-32 round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup for the first time in their history.

A second half strike by Thapelo Maseko was enough to earn South Africa a spot in the knockout round of the competition.

Phakaaathi looks at three things we learned from the game.

Bafana Bafana make history

Bafana Bafana made history by qualifying for the knockout stage. Having failed to go past the group stage in their three previous appearances in this competition, in 1998, 2002 and as hosts in 2010, Hugo Broos’ charges held their nerves to beat South Korea in their last Group A to finish the group stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in second place behind hosts Mexico and by doing so automatically qualified for the last-32 round as runners up.

Positive start for South Africa

Unlike the two previous games against the hosts Mexico and Czechia, Bafana Bafana didn’t concede a goal in the first 10 minutes of the game. In fact, Hugo Broos created the better chances in the early stages of the encounter and with more clinical finishing, they should have taken the lead in the opening 20 minutes of the match. The likes of Evidence Makgopa, Thapelo Maseko and Thalente Mbatha all had chances to put South Africa in the lead before the half hour mark, but none of those chances were taken. Overall, Broos’ charges had seven shots on goal in the opening 35 minutes of the match and three of those were on target.

Maseko dazzles again

Thapelo Maseko continued his great run of form in the tournament. The AEL Limassol forward, who created the penalty that led to South Africa’s equaliser against Czechia in the previous game, was again the livewire on the right side of the Bafana Bafana attack, The speedy forward created all sorts of problems for the South Korean defence. Maseko had a great chance to put South Africa in the lead when he was played through by Relebohile Mofokeng in the 19th minute, but Lee Gihyuk ate up the ground and made a brilliantly timed sliding challenge to prevent the shot. He made amends for that miss in the second half when he put South Africa in the lead in the 63rd minute to book a last-32 round spot for the 2010 hosts.