{"id":214828,"date":"2026-06-25T10:09:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T10:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/maseko-strike-sends-south-africa-into-first-world-cup-knockouts-with-win-over-south-korea-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T10:09:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T10:09:40","slug":"maseko-strike-sends-south-africa-into-first-world-cup-knockouts-with-win-over-south-korea-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/maseko-strike-sends-south-africa-into-first-world-cup-knockouts-with-win-over-south-korea-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Maseko strike sends South Africa into first World Cup knockouts with win over South Korea – The Guardian"},"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>.
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.
South Africa had failed to \u200cadvance from the group stage in their first three World Cup<\/a> appearances in 1998, 2002 and 2010.
\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.
\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
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.
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.
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Goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu then \u200bmade an excellent double save, first \u200bdenying Thalente Mbatha before smothering Evidence Makgopa\u2019s follow-up effort.
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.
Tshepang <\/strong>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

source<\/a><\/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 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.Maseko fired into the bottom corner in the 63rd minute to put \u2060South Africa \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":214829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-214828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}