South Africa 1-0 South Korea: Bafana Bafana reach knockout round after shock win | OneFootball

South Africa sprung a surprise win against South Korea to reach the Round of 32, where they will face Canada in Los Angeles.

Thapelo Maseko netted the only goal of the game, on the hour mark, when his excellent left-footed finish found the bottom corner.

As it happened

Min-Jae Kim came close to giving South Korea the lead after just two minutes when his header was cleared off the line by Aubrey Maphosa Modiba. Kang-In Lee also came close minutes later, firing narrowly wide of the post.

South Africa’s first sniff at goal came not too long after, when Maseko shifted the ball onto his left foot before seeing his shot superbly blocked inside the penalty area. A superb double save from Seung-Gyu Kim followed, who denied both Thelente Mbatha and Evidence Makpoga to keep the sides level after half an hour.

South Korea made a triple change at half-time, with Heung-Min Son, Jin-Gyu Kim and Jens Castrop replacing Hee-Chan Hwang, Seung-Ho Paik and Tae-Seok Lee. Hyun-Gu Oh nearly got the Taegeuk Warriors off the mark with an hour played, but his header was well saved by Kim.

A change for Bafana Bafana, with Oswin Appolis being replaced by Tshepang Moremi for the remaining half an hour. The goal came mere moments later and was created by Moremi. He set up Maseko before the winger picked out the bottom corner with a lovely low strike.

Myung-Bo Hong responded by making another change to his side, which saw Kim replaced by Jin-Seob Park for the remaining 25 minutes. Young-Woo Seol attempted a spectacular volley to get his side back on level terms, but fired well over the crossbar. The first yellow card of the match followed after Modiba brought down Lee.

Both sides made further changes with 15 minutes of regular time left to play. Oh made way for Gue-Sung Cho, and Maseko was replaced by Iqraam Rayners. Cho was almost immediately booked after his introduction, following a high challenge on Sphephelo Sithole. South Africa’s final change saw Jayden Adams replace Relebohile Mofokeng.

Park almost netted a dramatic late equaliser for South Korea deep into injury time; however, his header was saved, meaning South Africa advance from the group in second place, whilst South Korea will have to hope they make the cut as one of the eight best third-placed teams.