‘We Shut Up Big Mouths,’ Says South Africa’s Coach Broos After Knockouts Qualification

South Africa will face Canada, one of the tournament co-hosts, in Los Angeles on Sunday, with a place in the last 16 up for grabs.

South African players celebrate the 1-0 victory in the 2026 World Cup Group A football match between South Africa and South Korea at the Monterrey Stadium in Guadalupe, Mexico, on June 24, 2026

The African team, playing in the tournament for the fourth time, finished second in Group A behind co-hosts Mexico, who had a perfect record of three wins out of three.

South Africa, who last featured at the World Cup when they hosted it in 2010, were widely written off after their 2-0 loss to Mexico in their opening match.

But they battled to a draw against the Czech Republic and came out on top in what was effectively a shootout for second place in Monterrey, thanks to Thapelo Maseko’s second-half strike.

“I’m very proud of the performance of my team, and I think we gave an answer to all those big mouths of the last weeks that thought that we had to change something,” said a defiant Broos. “We just did what we did. We just did what I wanted to do and this is the result.”