The third time was a charm for South African striker Thapelo Maseko, who was hailed as his nation’s hero Wednesday night.
On a South African counterattack in the 19th minute, Maseko received a through pass with plenty of time and space between him and the South Korean net. He took extra touches to set up a left-footed shot, allowing defender Lee Gi-hyuk to make a sliding challenge and prevent the shot.
Six minutes into the second half, Maseko received the ball again at a similar spot from a similar pass. Once again, the extra touches to put the ball on his left foot were too slow, and the Koreans prevented him from taking the shot.
Good fortune found Maseko 12 minutes later. This time, he took a slight, quick touch with his left foot and rifled a shot past South Korean goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu to break the deadlock and win the match. The service was provided by Tshepang Moremi, who made a clever move inside the box before passing the ball to the right side and into the path of Moseko.
With the win, South Africa finished second in Group A, behind Mexico. The game was played in Monterrey Stadium, Mexico. South Africa appeared in the 1998, 2002, and 2010 World Cups, but never made it past group play.
The Bafana Bafana lost to Mexico 2–0 and tied Czechia 1–1, while South Korea lost to Mexico 1–0 and beat Czechia 2–1. Which eight third-place teams advance will be determined after group play wraps up on Saturday.
Although South Korea was favored to win, the side began the game appearing as if it was playing for a draw, with parallel or backward passes and few balls played forward.
Even though South Korea dominated possession, it committed several turnovers due to careless flicks and blind passes.
South Africa, meanwhile, made several long crosses into its opponents’ penalty boxes, but often the ball was played to unoccupied spaces.
Son Heung-min, touted as the greatest Asian player of all time, did not start due to a lackluster performance in prior matches. As a second-half substitute, he created some space in the final third with his speed and strong dribbling skills but was unable to create a serious offensive threat.
South Korea’s best chance came in second-half stoppage time. Park Jin-seob headed the ball at close range but struck it right into the hands of South African goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.
A reporter during the post-game press conference broadcast on FIFA’s media site asked South Korean coach Hong Myung-Bo whether the players experienced food poisoning or some other type of disruption. Myung-bo said there were no unusual circumstances ahead of the match to blame for the dismal performance.
“The performance itself was not so good,” he said through an interpreter, adding that the June 24 match was the worst of the three in group play. “I guess I made the wrong decisions, and that was the reason we had a bad result—nothing more, nothing less.”
South Africa’s coach, Hugo Broos, credited his players for fighting for every ball in this match and silencing the “big mouth” critics who denounced the team’s play last week.
“Tactically, it was very good,” he said during the post-game press conference. “We had very quick players on the pitch. … We found the spaces in the good moments.”
Broos, 74, previously announced that he’ll retire after this tournament and return to his native Belgium. Working with this team for the past five years, he said, has been a pleasure, and he considers every player a friend.
“Today, you saw a team that believes in themselves,” he said. “The mentality in this group is amazing. I think it’s an example for many teams. Everybody is working for everybody.”
