8 hours ago
19
Key events
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.
33 min No one on the referees’ message board I frequent has commented on this game. Boooooo.
30 min DOUBLE SAVE! South Africa thread a pass through the defense, and Mbatha fires a rocket on goal. It rebounds to Makgopa standing on the 6, and he shoots – right at the keeper!
The second shooter was probably offside, though.
30 min South Korea with a shout for a free kick 25 yards out, but Tello isn’t buying it.
South Africa with a shout for a free kick near midfield, but Tello isn’t buying it.
29 min I believe we’ve hit the “this game needs a goal” phase.
28 min South Korea make a lot of smart precise runs on their corner kicks. It’s a refreshing change from the Wrestlemania Big … what’s the name for wrestling events with about 20 people? … that we see in other games.
26 min South Korea go long on the free kick for the offside infraction that preceded hydration time. They work on the right this time, and Hwang In-beom bangs a ball off a defender for a corner.
23 min Fridge raid! I mean … hydration break.
22 min South Korea attempt the same thing, but the cross sails out of play.
18 min Promising attack down the left for South Korea, then a cross all the way over the penalty area. Other players are in attendance, but they turn it over and …
South Africa has a 3-v-2 (3-v-3 if you include the keeper). Maseko has the ball and is in full sprint, but Lee Gi-hyuk recovers to make a vital block.
Off the corner kick, Kim Seung-gyu saves comfortably on a long-range shot.
17 min South Africa’s pressure doesn’t seem overwhelming, but South Korea have made some careless passes.
Speaking of which, South Africa booms a direct ball down the field, forgetting that there are no South African players in the vicinity. South Korea will reset.
16 min Free kick to South Africa, and everyone lines up across the top of the penalty area. Comes to nothing, but South Africa steal it back, and whirlwind of players in yellow descend upon the suddenly besieged South Korean defense.
14 min Another South African cross from a distant part of the field, and Makgopa rises above an inattentive defense to get his head to the ball but sends it well wide.
13 min A lull after a scintillating start. South Korea ratchet up the pressure again, though, pinning South Africa in their own half.
11 min First chance in Mexico-Czechia went to the underdogs from Europe, which won’t be welcome news for these teams as they chase second place in the group.
10 min South Africa test Kim Seung-gyu’s aerial prowess with a high cross, but the Korean keeper is up for it. Literally.
7 min South Korea go over the top, the ball is crossed close to the goal, Oh Hyeon-gyu scuffs his shot, and Lee Jang-in dashes through the penalty area to rip a shot just wide.
No shortage of chances so far.
5 min South Africa work the ball forward and earn a corner kick. The ball is recycled out to Mofokeng, who lashes a shot from 22 yards that might have been goalbound if not for a headed deflection from … it looks like Kim Min-jae again.
3 min South Africa reclaim possession and start dealing with the Korean press. I don’t envy them.
Got a replay of the corner – it was Bayern Munich defender Kim Min-jae who sent the glancing header just inside the near post, where Aubrey Modiba was there for the crucial block.
2 min Hwang Hee-chan (Wolves) gets free on the left and earns a corner kick. Snap header, and it’s CLEARED OFF THE LINE!
1 min South Korea play the ball back, and their three-man backline is at least 15 yards behind any of the midfielders. It almost as if they’re saying, “Yeah, that’s right. We’re playing with three. What are you gonna do?”
Kickoff
South Korea is in red. South Africa is in yellow. The referees are in black, and Tello blows the whistle.
I was worried for a bit that we’d start without a word from Peter Oh: “I’m looking forward to this clash of the Souths, and hoping that Oh Hyeon-gyu (no relation, unfortunately) has another ooh-aah moment. His winner against Czechia was oh so nice!”
And your last reminder for at least 15 minutes that Alex Abnos is tracking Czechia’s effort to do the impossible in Azteca …
In case I haven’t mentioned, this game is in Estadio Monterrey, in the Monterrey suburbs.
Reminder of what’s at stake
Here are the group standings:
6 pts. Mexico – group winner
3 pts. South Korea, 0 goal difference
1 pt. Czechia, -1 GD
1 pt. South Africa, -2 GD
So if South Korea win, they’re second in the group and will advance to face Canada in Temporarily Renamed Los Angeles Stadium.
If these teams draw, South Korea will be second in the group unless Czechia pull off the impossible and win in Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca against the home team. Even then, South Korea would almost certainly advance. I ran the odds today and found that the odds of any 4-point team being kept out of the round of 32 is less than 1%.
If South Africa win … repeat everything I just said about South Korea. If that happens, South Korea will have a long, nervous wait to see if they advance as a third-place team with a reasonable goal difference.
Referee with an interesting history
Facundo Tello (Argentina) is noteworthy for several reasons, including these:
1. He was the only South American referee selected to work at Euro 2024. Scotland were upset with him, to the extent that Steve Clarke questioned the practice of bringing a referee from another continent to the Euros. As we all know, European referees are infallible. Especially the usage of VAR in the Premier League. Polished and always correct. Is it clear yet that I’m not being serious?
Guardian podcasters reviewed the play in question and came up with a consensus “... maybe”?
2. He showed 10 (ten) red cards in the 2022 Argentine Champions Trophy final. Seven of them, though, were awarded when the player who scored Racing’s winning goal celebrated a bit too much for Boca Juniors, leading to a melee in which five Boca players and two Racing players were sent off. Until then, it was your run-of-the-mill 10v9 game.
His card-dealing has caused some trepidation in South Korea.
That said, he was also the referee when South Korea advanced to the knockout rounds in 2022 with a late winner against Portugal.
One other note: He was the referee for the DR Congo vs. Jamaica intercontinental World Cup qualifying playoff but had to leave injured in the 111th minute.
ARs are fellow Argentinians Juan Pablo Belatti and Gabriel Chade. More unusually, the head VAR is also from Argentina – Hernán Mastrangelo.
It’s a big evening for officials from Argentina: Yael Falcon Perez is the center ref in the other group match running at the same time, Czechia v Mexico.
Ian Williams takes up the task of finding matchups in any sport between South Africa and South Korea. He found three matches in hockey of the field variety, all draws. Back in men’s soccer, they met in the 1997 U-20 World Cup – also a draw. Finally, in 2019, South Korea took a 1-0 win over South Africa in the 2017 U-20 World Cup. That Korean team reached the final before falling to Ukraine.
Team XIs: Son benched
SOUTH AFRICA
Williams; Modiba, Mbokazi, Okon, Mudau; Sithole, Mbatha, Mofokeng; Appollis, Makgopa, Maseko
Relebohile Mofokeng and Evidence Makgopa replace Jayden Adams and Igraam Rayners, both of whom had started both games so far. The big change, though, is that Sphephelo Sithole returns after a one-match ban to replace Teboho Mokoena, who has South Africa’s only goal in this World Cup and was hailed as Bafana Bafana’s “glue player” in our team guide (see below). Mokoena is suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards. Themba Zwane received a three-match ban after seeing red in the opener.
All but seven South African players are in their country’s domestic league. Sithole (Tondela, Portugal) is one exception. Young players Mbekezeli Mbokazi (Chicago) and Olwethu Makhanya (Philadelphia) play in Major League Soccer. Kyle Foster (Burnley) is the only player who spent last season in one of the glitzier European leagues.
SOUTH KOREA
Kim Seung-gyu; Lee Gi-hyuk, Kim Min-jae, Lee Han-boem; Seol Young-woo, Paik Seung-ho, Hwang In-beom, Kim Moon-hwan; Lee Jae-sung, Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in
Lee Kang-in is the only holdover from the frontline that started the first two games. Hwang Hee-chan and Oh Hyeon-gyu start in place of Lee Jae-sung and … Son Heung-min? The man who spent a dazzling decade at Tottenham Hotspur and now plays with Los Angeles FC is available on the bench.
Our team guide notes some consternation over Hong Myung-bo’s switching from the safety of a back four to a more daring 3-4-3. Hong was in charge of South Korea’s winless 2014 campaign and returned to the job when former U.S. coach Jürgen Klinsmann was dismissed. (He also played a bit, I hear.)
As a child of the 70s, I’m slightly baffled that the John Denver classic Take Me Home Country Roads has become the unofficial theme song of this World Cup. I’m guessing very few of the people singing along have been to “the place I belong, West Virginia.”
It’s beautiful, though.
One team in the 48-team field chose a site in West Virginia for their training base. Can you name that team?
Preamble
South Africa have never advanced past the group stage of the World Cup.
Ever.
They were banned for decades and qualified for the final tournament for the first time in 2018, taking two draws and a loss. They picked up their first win in 2002 but agonizingly missed advancing on the goals-scored tiebreaker.
The only other time Bafana Bafana have qualified for the big dance was when they hosted in 2010, where they took a sensational win over France in their final group-stage game but missed the knockout rounds on goal difference.
South Korea have also hosted the World Cup in this century, and they made the most of it. In four previous appearances, they had not managed a win. In 2002, they won three games and reached the semifinals. They’ve qualified for every final tournament since then and reached the knockout rounds twice.
This is the first matchup between these two countries in the men’s World Cup. I’m actually trying to see if they’ve ever played each other in anything.
To follow the concurrent game in the group, please join Alex Abnos at the link below:
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s what everyone needs in the group:
Mexico are through as group winners and will face a third-placed team from Group C, E, F, H or I. South Korea could match their points total but Mexico beat them so would be top on head-to-head.
South Korea would guarantee qualification with a win or draw against South Africa.
Czechia would progress in second if they beat Mexico, South Africa beat South Korea and they ultimately finish above South Africa. Should they win and finish third they may have a route.
South Africa progress in second if they beat South Korea and ultimately finish above Czechia. Should they win and finish third they may have a route.
You can read all the World Cup permutations here:
