Prateek Tanmay
3 min readJun 25, 2026 12:06 PM IST
In the seconds after the final whistle blew in Monterrey, Mexico, people took to the streets thousands of kilometres away under dark skies in South Africa as their football team progressed past the group stage of a FIFA World Cup for the first time. The victory was made even sweeter by the fact that they had defeated the heavily favoured South Korea, who are placed 26 spots above Bafana Bafana in the world rankings.
Thapelo Maseko scored in the 63rd minute to put South Africa ahead. After that, it was mostly South Korea with the ball but they struggled to create any clear cut chances and challenge South African goalkeeper Ronwen Williams. There was a late header from Park Jin-Seob that Williams saved and when the final whistle blew, the South Africans streamed onto the pitch from the bench while those who were playing sank to their knees.
Social media was flooded with videos of people dancing on the streets back home in South Africa in the wee hours of the day. The time difference meant that the sun was yet to rise in South Africa when the match was done but, going by the visuals on social media, that made little difference.
“South Africa will not win a game.”
Us at 5am ????????????
Round of 32: Here comes South Africa. ????#FIFAWorldCup #BafanaBafana pic.twitter.com/kdk2GzZYgW
— Steven Plug ???? (@stevestansa) June 25, 2026
South Africa?
What a country mann??????????#FWC26 #BafanaPride #BafanaBafana pic.twitter.com/vz1G9n6r7y— ??usinazo?? (@UsinazoKhumalo) June 25, 2026
This was at 5 am guys. ???????? on South Africa ???????? pic.twitter.com/rfH8SgbszS
— Dikonketšo ???????? (@Ketso28) June 25, 2026
Early dawn in South Africa and the streets are already alive.
History made, emotions everywhere & this is exactly why football means so much. #WorldCupwithMicky#FIFAWorldCup#BafanaBafana pic.twitter.com/ARtuvBel94
— Micky Jnr (@MickyJnr__) June 25, 2026
Hugo Broos, the grizzled veteran who is head coach of South Africa, was reduced to tears at the end of the match. “It was an emotional moment. We came here to Mexico and we wanted to survive the group stage… And that for me was really a moment of emotions, not only because we won the game, but also for me, because as I’ve said in the past it probably will be one of my last games of my career,” he said.
The 74-year-old, who was part of the Belgium squad that finished fourth at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, had said before the start of the tournament that he will be retiring after it. One would’ve expected the last match of his managerial career to be this game against Korea considering the gulf in individual quality between the two teams, and that South Africa were rank underdogs in a group that also had Mexico.
Instead, Broos will now be leading his team on June 29 in Los Angeles to face Canada in the Round of 32. The victory on Wednesday made him the oldest manager to win a match in FIFA World Cup history.
