By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South Africa stunned Korea Republic 1-0 to qualify for the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup for the first time – an astonishing turnaround after a dismal opening defeat.
The victory moved South Africa up to second in the table, behind Mexico, and left South Korea having to cling on to hopes of getting out of the group by being one of the best third-placed sides.
It was a game which rarely produced much excitement as South Africa were content with sitting back and waiting to hit their opponents on the counter-attack, while South Korea lacked quality in the final third.
Thapelo Maseko snatched an unexpected winner for South Africa, taking a touch to bring the ball to his left foot inside the box before stroking an effort through the legs of Jens Castrop and inside the near post.
South Korea rarely managed to threaten South Africa, with a tame Oh Hyeon-gyu header and an early Lee Kang-in strike among their rare chances.
South Africa had failed to advance from the group stage in their first three World Cup appearances in 1998, 2002 and 2010.
“It was a fantastic experience. It was so tough today, but it was a good game. I think tactically we were very good and it was difficult for South Korea to find space,” South Africa coach Hugo Broos said.
“We scored, then there were 20 minutes of heart-stopping moments. It’s historical, and I’m very happy for the guys. I’ve been working with them for five years.”
South Africa will take on Canada, the second-place finisher in Group B, in a knockout game Sunday at Inglewood, California. South Korea will now have to wait and hope that they advance as one of the eight best third-placed teams.
Meanwhile Morocco confirmed their progress to the World Cup last 32 but twice had to come from behind to get the better of plucky Haiti with a 4-2 win in an action-packed game on Wednesday and fell short of topping Brazil in the Group C standings.
Elsewhere Brazil romped into the second round of the World Cup as Group C winners with a 3-0 victory over Scotland on Wednesday, a result that left the Scots relying on other results going their way to progress.