South Africa v South Korea: World Cup 2026 – live

Key events

22m ago

Goal! South Africa 1-0 South Korea (Maseko 63)

55m ago

Halftime: South Africa 0-0 South Korea

2h ago

Kickoff

2h ago

Team XIs: Son benched

3h ago

Preamble

86 min The peripatetic Castrop works on the left and earns a corner. Taken quickly, played over the 6-yard box and headed back to the center, but then cleared. They’ve looked somewhat dangerous on set pieces.

85 min Williams powerfully leaps off his line and punches clear. Two players drop to the grass, but they get back up.

84 min South Korea work down the right, and this cross isn’t that bad. It’s headed out for a corner.

83 min South Korea go over the top to Castrop, who crosses … behind both South Korean forwards in the box. This team aren’t playing like a team we’ll miss in the round of 32.

Mary Waltz writes: “South Korea seems to have no imagination, they seem so unlikely to score. South Africa seems more likely to score another on the counter.”

I’d love to see a stat on the accuracy of their crosses. It has to be 20% at most.

80 min Mofokeng barely beats the count to get off the field as he’s substituted out. Jaylen Adams is the new man in. That’s three South African subs, but did they use all their windows?

79 min South Africa get the free kick and again try to run everything parallel to South Korea’s high defensive line. South Africa clearly expected South Korea to defend this way, but nothing they’ve tried has succeeded.

78 min Lee Kang-in plays one-man keepaway from the South African defense, finally passes, gets it back, then tries to thread a pass to a couple of forwards. But South Korea just aren’t finding those spaces.

Yellow card to Cho for a very high boot.

76 min Mudau with the clothesline tackle on Son, curiously not worthy of the referee’s cards. Didn’t he have a reputation for flashing plastic?

74 min Final sub for South Korea. Cho Gue-sung replaces Oh Hyeon-gyu.

For South Africa, Rayners replaces the goal-scorer Maseko. who claps toward the crowd even though there’s no notable ovation. Did anyone realize that he scored?

72 min South African fans are dancing. It’s very festive. But the majority of the crowd was leaning toward … well, Mexico first, but South Korea second. They seem less interested.

Yellow card to Modiba for plowing into Castrop, who has been lively here in his first game of his World Cup debut.

69 min: Drink!

Mark Maniak writes: “Enjoying your MBM, as well as that of Alex Abnos. They come across as more entertaining than the respective games. …

Sorry to hear that.

“I don’t know if you know the answer to this question, but looking at the mind boggling third place possibilities, I’m wondering what sort of mechanism did FIFA come up with to determine who plays whom in the 32 team Squamish that passes for the first knockout stage. Mexico, for example has at least 4 or 5 possible opponents from various third place finishers. Then there is the question of how the 2nd place finishers line up with the various 1st place finishers. My head is already spinning.

“I may just sleep through that stage. Wake me when we get to 16.”

I don’t know, but the people who created our Bracketology page do!

65 min South Korea can’t find a way through, and Castrop fouls in frustration.

A fourth South Korean sub – Park Jin-seop replaces … Kim Min-jae? Seriously? The Bayern Munich man who has had South Korea’s best scoring chance and several great defensive plays?

Oddly enough, that interrupted the crowd’s celebration of the Mexico goal. It’s as if they didn’t quite know what to do when someone scored in the game for which they bought tickets.

Goal! South Africa 1-0 South Korea (Maseko 63)

This time, the South Korean defense leaves a seam for the AEL Limassol forward to fire a laser along the ground inside the near post.

63 min Moremi replaces Appollis as the crowd goes wild – because they’ve seen the Mexico score.

Make it 2-0 Mexico. Second place is there for the taking.

60 min SHOT ON GOAL! It’s a good cross for South Korea, headed to the far post, but Williams scrambles to make the save.

60 min As you were. South Korea possess. South Africa steal and try a fast break. South Korea disrupt. Repeat.

Peter Oh responds: “Oh no you didn’t Justin Kavanagh! I could not have imagined that on this Twelfth Night (or thereabouts) of the World Cup I’d suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune, witnessing Korea perform The Comedy of Errors. Hong Myung-bo had better turn up the heat on the hair dryer at halftime because I’m not ready to give up on my Midsummer Night’s Dream!”

58 min Maseko has become the lone threat for South Africa, which means South Korea can easily gain possession when he loses it.

South Korea go the other way quickly but maybe too quickly, losing possession quickly.

Makgopa falls to try to draw a foul, but no one’s buying it.

57 min Son makes a run through the middle. He passes left to Castrop, he crosses for … nobody.

So the live standings would be

9 pts. Mexico

4 pts. South Korea

2 pts. South Africa

1 pt. Czechia

We have a goal in the other game. Both teams will be happy to learn that it’s for Mexico.

54 min Maseko looks lively again, but Lee Han-beom smartly slides to cut out a dangerous pass.

52 min More South Korean possession, and they’re exploring each flank. Looks like the right side is the winner, but a cross over the box eludes Castrop.

51 min Maseko in space! He turns back to his left foot, but two South Korea defenders are there for the block. In fact, replay confirms that the ball hit both of them. Teamwork.

49 min Corner for South Korea, who are starting the second half as they started the first.

Never mind – VAR hath decreed that this shall be a goal kick.

48 min This is better from South Korea, but Kim Jin-gyu overruns a nice pass.

South Africa turn it back over, and Son ponders a shot from 22 yards but taps it wide instead. Wrong choice – it rolls out of play.

47 min They kicked off while I worked to list all those subs. South Korea in possession, as they were for much of the first half without much success after the first few minutes.

Son Heung-min is coming in. So is Kim Jin-gyu.

And a THIRD substitution. Jens Castrop of Borussia Mönchengladbach checks in.

Son sprints across the field to the team huddle.

Players departing: Paik Seung-ho, Lee Tae-seok and … Hwang Hee-chan? Really?

USA-Türkiye tomorrow. Not much at stake. Let’s see who drew the assignment for that one … me? Dang.

Hey, it seemed like it’d be a pretty big deal until the second games in the group. It’ll be fun to see the USA’s bench players in action.

Alex Abnos evidently found the first half of Czechia-Mexico a little dull. Go check in with him and tell him this game’s better.

Huh – just saw another replay of the double save on a South African flurry, and maybe Makgopa was not offside. He’ll rue missing that one.

Trey Brock writes: “I think the only way this match could’ve been any more more Southern is if they held it in South Carolina or South Dakota.”

Well out of South Alabama comes a country boy, says he’s lookin’ for a man named Jim.

Joshua Reynolds checks in: “So far it looks like South Korea have been the biggest disappointment at this World Cup. I thought they would be through the group stage absolutely no problem.”

They’re 45 minutes away from taking second in the group, but they looked less than sharp for the last half hour.

Halftime: South Africa 0-0 South Korea

A half that was kind of dull except when it wasn’t. Each team has the ability to conjure chances out of thin air.

45 min +4 Mudau makes a sharp, clean slide tackle to derail a South Korean attack.

A South African corner will likely bring this half to a close.

45 min +3 Offside again on South Africa. South Korea take a very long free kick. South Africa respond with a very long clearance.

45 min +1 OK, fine – four minutes.

South Africa scale back the pressure, giving South Korea a chance to remember how to pass. It works for a bit, but a ball down the right has too much pace and goes out for a goal kick.

45 min Offside call on South Africa as we await what should be three minutes of stoppage time.

Justin Kavanagh throws down the humor gauntlet: “So if Peter Oh was to, say marry the daughter of tonight’s referee, Señor Tello, any offspring would be entitled to use the positively Shakespearean hyphenated name of Oh-Tello! But let’s face it, the card-happy Argentine official would show Oh the red card before he got through the chapel door for his bad pun-ditry alone.”

43 min Another South African shot, this one blocked. South Korea reclaim but give it back again. The passing is so sloppy now.

42 min South Africa run a set piece they’ve clearly run on the training ground a few times, with a cross chested down to the feet of Mofokeng, who shoots high.

40 min Is everyone exhausted from the frenetic pace? South Africa win a free kick, and I think I could’ve gone to the concession stand in a different city before they put it back in play.

They work it up the field and earn a more dangerous free kick 35 yards out, and everyone is in a neat line 25 yards out.

38 min A lightning-quick attack from South Africa, and Maseko pivots into the center channel before unleashing a shot from 22 that sails just over the bar.

South Korea seem to be starting to drop a midfielder deep to help the three-man backline.

37 min The xG count favors South Africa, but that surely includes the shot that surely would’ve been ruled out by the AR’s flag had it gone in.

35 min South Africa go on transition like Magic Johnson’s Lakers, but the Korean defense respond well.

34 min South Africa swarm the South Korean box again, but the Koreans recover, and Mbatha bowls over Yang Hyun-jun at midfield for a free-kick.

Hwang Hee-chan shoots from distance, but it goes wide.