South Africa stun South Korea to make World Cup history

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.

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 curtainraiser.

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 heartbeating and hoping that the game should be finished as soon as possible,” said the Belgian.