Raúl Rangel walked onto the pitch at Estadio Azteca for warmups, took a knee at the goal line, pressed the Trionda to his forehead and closed his eyes in prayer. After he subbed out late in Mexico's 3-0 rout of Czechia to give Memo Ochoa his proper send-off and close out the group stage,

For the first time in its history, South Africa is through to the knockout stages of the World Cup after it pulled off a 1-0 upset win over South Korea.

South Africa have beaten South Korea 1-0 to book their place in the 2026 World Cup knockout stage. Thapelo Maseko scored the winner for the South Africans who will play in the knockouts for the first time in their history.

The starkly different receptions for Japan and South Korea's national teams have fueled debate over the contrasting expectations placed on the two footballing nations.

The average viewership for Korea's three group stage matches in the 2026 CONCACAF World Cup reached 23.97 million. Each of the three matches recorded

Ernst Middendorp has called on the South African national team to reduce their reliance on Mamelodi Sundowns players, arguing that the club's congested fixture schedule leaves key internationals overloaded by the time they join Bafana Bafana duty.