Lee's Korea suffers shock defeat to South Africa
Men's football•
A Korea Republic side featuring Paris Saint-Germain's Lee Kang-in lost 1–0 to South Africa at Monterrey's Estadio BBVA last night on Matchday 3 in Group A at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Thapelo Maseko scored the game's only goal as he found the back of the net shortly after the hour mark to earn a first win of the tournament for Bafana Bafana, who finished second in Group A as a result, five points behind a Mexico side that beat Czechia 3–0 at the same time to round off a perfect group-stage campaign for the tournament's co-hosts.
Meanwhile, this defeat for the Taegeuk Warriors sees them finish third in the group with three points, meaning that they'll have to wait until the end of Matchday 3 to find out whether they're one of the eight best third-placed teams.
SOUTH AFRICA 1–0 KOREA REPUBLIC (0–0 at HT)
FIFA World Cup 2026 – Group stage – Matchday 3 – Group A
Estadio BBVA (Monterrey, Mexico)
Goal: Maseko (63').
SOUTH AFRICA: Williams (c), Mudau, Okon, Mbokazi, Modiba, Mbatha, Sithole, Maseko (Rayners, 75'), Mofokeng (Adams, 80'), Appollis (Moremi, 62'), Makgopa. Coach: Hugo Broos.
KOREA REPUBLIC: Kim Seung-gyu, Lee Han-beom, Kim Min-jae (c) (Park Jin-seob, 65'), Lee Gi-hyuk, Seol Young-woo, Paik Seung-ho (Kim Jin-gyu, 46'), Hwang In-beom, Lee Tae-seok (Castrop, 46'), Lee Kang-in, Hwang Hee-chan (Son Heung-min, 46'), Oh Hyeon-gyu (Cho Gue-sung, 74'). Coach: Hong Myung-bo.
