This is how “the boys” did it… South Africa’s numbers on the historic qualifying night | sports

The South African national team reached the qualifying rounds of the World Cup for the first time in its history, beating South Korea 1-0 on Wednesday at Monterrey Stadium in Mexico in the third and final round of Group A competitions.

Making history

The “Boys” team qualified for the elimination rounds of the World Cup for the first time in its history, becoming the seventh African team to reach this round in the tournament.

This is the third victory for the South African national team in the history of its participation in the World Cup, and its first at the expense of a team from outside the continent of Europe.

This is the third time in the history of the World Cup that an African team has defeated an Asian team while keeping a clean sheet, as South Africa joined the teams of Cameroon (against Saudi Arabia in 2002) and Côte d’Ivoire (against North Korea in 2010).

Thabelo Maseko scored in the 63rd minute to give South Africa their first lead in a World Cup match since 2010; Including today’s match, the South African national team has not lost any match in the World Cup in which it was ahead (won 3 matches and tied 2 matches).

Thapelo Maseko’s goal is the first goal in the history of the World Cup scored by a player active in one of the Cypriot league clubs.

The last 11 goals scored by South Africa in the World Cup were scored by 11 different players.

Rilubuhele Mofokeng created 4 chances in today’s match, and only Teboho Mokoena (against the Czech Republic in 2026) and Quinton Fortune (against Paraguay in 2002) have been bettered by South African players in a single World Cup match, who each created 5 chances.

South Korea only took 8 shots during the match, which is the second fewest shots allowed by South Africa in a World Cup match, after the five shots they allowed against Slovenia in 2002.

South Africa had 31.5% of possession in this win, their lowest possession rate in any World Cup match, while South Korea recorded 68.5% possession, their highest possession rate in a World Cup match since 1966.

Son Heung-min started 12 consecutive World Cup matches with South Korea before facing South Africa, as he came on as a substitute at halftime, reaching his 13th match in the tournament, and he is only bettered in South Korean history by Hong Myung-bo (16 matches) and Park Ji-sung (14 matches).