Sit down. Take a deep breath. Pour yourself something.
Because on June 25 at 03:00 SAST, South Africa play South Korea in Guadalupe, Mexico. And if Bafana Bafana win that match, something happens that has never happened before in the history of South African football.
They go through. They make the World Cup knockout rounds. They become the first South African team to survive the group stage at a FIFA World Cup.
That sentence has been sitting in the future for twenty-eight years, since South Africa first qualified for the 1998 tournament in France. Every time we have been at a World Cup, we have stood at the edge of that boundary and not crossed it. 1998. 2002. 2010 on home soil. Three attempts. Three group stage exits.
June 25 is the fourth attempt. And we are still in it.
How We Got Here
Let us be straight about the road. It has not been pretty. Mexico beat us 2-0 in the opening game at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. A result that stung, even if it surprised nobody who had looked at the respective FIFA rankings. Mexico were at home. Mexico were dominant. We went down fighting but we went down.
Then Wednesday night happened. Czechia scored in the 6th minute and an entire country’s heart rate went up sharply. For 77 minutes we pushed and probed and created and refused to score. Teboho Mokoena stepped up in the 83rd minute, drove a penalty into the bottom corner, and South Africa had their first World Cup goal in sixteen years and their first World Cup point in twenty-four.
One point. Both Bafana and Czechia on one point each with one game to play. Mexico already through with six points. South Korea on one point from one game. The mathematics are tense but they are not impossible.
Here is what the table looks like heading into the final group games:
| Team | P | W | D | L | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| South Korea | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| South Africa | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Czechia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
What Bafana Need
The path is straightforward. Uncomfortable, at 3am, against a South Korean team that is technically gifted and tactically excellent. But straightforward.
Win: and South Africa almost certainly advance. Finishing on four points in Group A would make South Africa either second (ahead of South Korea and Czechia) or third with a very strong chance of being one of the eight best third-placed teams. In either case, the knockout rounds beckon.
Draw: possible, with the right result elsewhere. One additional point would take Bafana to two, which is likely not enough to finish second but could work as a third-place qualifier depending on how other groups finish. Not ideal. Not a plan. But not dead.
Lose: and the dream is over. South Korea win Group A’s remaining spot. Bafana go home. Thirty years since their first World Cup qualification, still waiting for a knockout round appearance.
The target is clear. Win the match.
South Korea: The Opponent
South Korea are not easy. They were never going to be easy. They have two world-class midfielders capable of controlling the tempo of a match, an organised defensive structure, and the experience of regular World Cup qualification to draw on.
Their 2002 semi-final, on home soil, was the high-water mark of Asian football at the World Cup. This generation of Korean players carries that legacy as both inspiration and expectation. They will come into the Guadalupe match knowing that a win takes them through. Knowing that a draw might be enough depending on other results. Knowing, in other words, that they can afford to be conservative.
That is Bafana’s challenge: to break down a team that has every incentive to sit behind the ball and wait.
The good news is we know how to play this game. We have done it before. The Czechia draw, frustrating as it felt for long periods, showed a team that can create chances, that can build pressure, and that has the quality from the spot if the moment arrives. Ronwen Williams behind us means we go into every match knowing that a single mistake at the back is unlikely to be fatal.
South Korea are beatable. Three weeks ago, they lost to Mexico 1-0 in the group stage. They are not invincible.
The Players Who Can Make the Difference
Oswin Appollis is the player South Korea will fear most. His pace, his directness, and his ability to beat full-backs in one-on-one situations create the kind of danger that technical defences struggle to prepare for. If Appollis gets a run at the Korean back line on the counter, something can happen.
Teboho Mokoena is the heartbeat. He drives. He wins ball. He turns defence into attack with one pass. Against South Korea’s midfield, he needs to be at his absolute best for the full ninety minutes.
Relebohile Mofokeng off the bench, or potentially from the start, adds a dimension that no defender particularly wants to deal with late in a match when legs are tired and minds are stretched. He is twenty years old at a World Cup. Nothing about his composure suggests he finds that fact daunting.
And Ronwen Williams behind all of it, commanding his area, organising his defence, ready to produce the save that keeps everything alive if South Korea threaten.
What It Would Mean
I do not want to understate this. South Africa qualifying from the group stage at the 2026 FIFA World Cup would be one of the most significant moments in South African sporting history. Not just football history. Sporting history.
This country has given the world Tshabalala’s goal. It has given the world the vuvuzela. It has given the world the extraordinary act of hosting a World Cup in 2010, of showing that Africa could host the greatest football tournament on earth and do it with joy and colour and a pride that brought tears to the eyes of people who had never been to Johannesburg or Cape Town or Rustenburg in their lives.
Now it has the chance to give the world something else. A Bafana Bafana team that fought through adversity, that came back from a goal down against Czechia in the 83rd minute, that went to North America without fear, and that on June 25 in the middle of the night in Mexico, crossed the line that no South African football team has ever crossed.
The round of 32 at a FIFA World Cup. We go through.
All we have to do is win one more football match.
Come on, Bafana. The whole country is staying up.
FAQ: Bafana Bafana vs South Korea World Cup 2026
When do Bafana Bafana play South Korea at the World Cup?
South Africa face South Korea on Wednesday, 25 June 2026 at Estadio BBVA in Guadalupe, Mexico. Kick-off is at 03:00 SAST.
What does Bafana Bafana need to qualify from Group A?
A win against South Korea would put South Africa on four points and almost certainly secure qualification for the round of 32, either as group runners-up or as one of the eight best third-placed teams.
Has South Africa ever qualified from the World Cup group stage?
No. South Africa have appeared at four FIFA World Cups (1998, 2002, 2010, 2026) and have never advanced past the group stage.
What is South Africa’s current standing in Group A?
After two matches, South Africa are on one point following a 2-0 loss to Mexico and a 1-1 draw with Czechia.
Who scored for Bafana Bafana at the 2026 World Cup so far?
Teboho Mokoena scored South Africa’s only goal at the 2026 World Cup, converting a penalty in the 83rd minute of the 1-1 draw against Czechia on 18 June.
Internal Links:
- Bafana Bafana vs Czechia 1-1 Match Review
- Bafana Bafana World Cup Squad Guide
- South Africa World Cup Group A Hub
- Africa at the World Cup 2026
- FIFA World Cup 2026 Hub
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