By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider
South Africans across the country were awake in the early hours of the morning to give spirit to Bafana Bafana. The streets of the nation were awakened with eager feet and dancing hearts to support Bafana Bafana and in the end were met with sweet glory in a historic win for Bafana Bafana as they defeated Korea Republic 1-0 to advance to the knockout stages.
At 5am celebrations in the streets of Soweto, Durban, Bloemfontein and everywhere else across the country had erupted as Bafana defied the odds to turn their world cup campaign around and secure a historic place in the knockout stages to play against Canada in the 2026 World Cup on Sunday.
The match winner was scored by Thapelo Maseko whose goal proved the decisive measure in South Africa securing their position in the knockout stages.
“This win is just for those who supported us and those who actually didn’t support us too,” said Maseko in the post match interview.
“They said we had a 7% chance of getting out of the group and yet here we are. We are thankful for everyone, we keep going” he continued.
Maseko also highlighted the scrutiny that the players faced and commended his teammates for showing resilience and belief in themselves. “We’ve been through a couple of rough patches. From the first game, the media bashing us, the memes were trending. But this team showed that they are capable and strong and they have some mentality in them,” said Maseko.
South Africa’s journey in the history of World Cups has been a tumultuous and heartbreaking road as the country has only featured in the tournament four times in its entire history.
The first time Bafana featured in the tournament was the 1998 edition, which in itself was historic, as South Africa was banned from participating in the tournament due to the apartheid system and experienced countless sanctions and ushered in what was regarded as the golden age of South African football.
They qualified again for the 2002 edition failing to advance beyond the group stages. The third time that South Africa featured in the tournament was by default due to another historic moment which placed South Africa as the first and currently only African country to host the FIFA World Cup in 2010.
South Africa shook the world by opening the tournament with Siphiwe Tshabalala’s monumental goal as South Africa took the lead against Mexico which ended up in a draw
Their 3-0 defeat to Uruguay is what squandered their opportunity to advance to the knockout stages despite defeating France in their final game of that edition. South Africa then broke negative records by being the first team to host a World Cup and be knocked out at the group stages.
Since then South Africa failed to qualify for the next three editions of the World Cup following 2010. This time South Africa rose above the odds to qualify for this current 2026 edition of the World Cup and continued to defy the odds by finally being able to progress into the knockout stages for the first time in their history of the tournament.
South Africa will now prepare to face co-hosts Canada on Sunday 28 June to play in the round of 32.