{"id":509955,"date":"2026-06-25T05:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T05:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/509955\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T05:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T05:50:10","slug":"maseko-strike-sends-south-africa-into-first-world-cup-knockouts-with-win-over-south-korea-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/509955\/","title":{"rendered":"Maseko strike sends South Africa into first World Cup knockouts with win over South Korea | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

South \u200bAfrica celebrated a first World Cup knockout berth with jubilant scenes on Wednesday after Thapelo Maseko\u2019s second-half strike secured a 1-0 victory over South \u2060Korea, who still have a chance of advancing as one of the eight best third-placed teams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Maseko fired into the bottom corner in the 63rd minute to put \u2060South Africa \u2013 who will face co-hosts Canada in Los Angeles on 28 June \u2013 on four points behind \u200bGroup A winners Mexico, who beat the \u200cCzechia 3-0<\/a>. South Korea, \u200cwho started with talisman Son Heung-min on the bench, have three points.<\/p>\n

South Africa had failed to \u200cadvance from the group stage in their first three World Cup<\/a> appearances in 1998, 2002 and 2010.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a fantastic experience,\u201d South Africa coach Hugo Broos said. \u201cIt was so tough today, but it was a good game. I think tactically we were very good and it was difficult for South Korea<\/a> to find space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe scored, then there were 20 minutes of heart-stopping \u200cmoments. It\u2019s historical, and I\u2019m very happy for the guys. I\u2019ve been working with them for five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

South Korea\u2019s Son Heung-min reacts at full time as South Africa celebrate. Photograph: Mois\u00e9s Castillo\/AP<\/p>\n

South Korea, who enjoyed most of the possession but lacked \u200ba cutting edge and inspiration, made the brighter start when Kim Min-jae\u2019s header was cleared off the line by Aubrey Modiba after two minutes, before Lee Kang-in fired over from inside the penalty area shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n

Bafana Bafana gradually grew into the contest and nearly struck in the 19th minute when Maseko \u2060raced on to a through ball, only for Lee Ki-hyuk to produce a superb \u200blast-ditch tackle.<\/p>\n

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Maseko profile<\/a><\/p>\n

Goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu then \u200bmade an excellent double save, first \u200bdenying Thalente Mbatha before smothering Evidence Makgopa\u2019s follow-up effort.<\/p>\n

After soaking up the \u200bearly pressure against a \u200cSouth Korea side that \u200bstruggled to create \u200bclear openings, even with captain Son coming on at half-time, South Africa deservedly found the breakthrough.<\/p>\n

Tshepang Moremi slipped a precise pass into Maseko, who shifted the ball on to his preferred left foot before drilling a low finish into the bottom right-hand corner to send his side into the last 32.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South \u200bAfrica celebrated a first World Cup knockout berth with jubilant scenes on Wednesday after Thapelo Maseko\u2019s second-half…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-509955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}