The coach of the South Korean national team, Hong Myung-bo, claims that South Africa has been playing well lately, indicating that he has been watching Hugo Broos’ squad and is aware of the threat that Bafana Bafana poses in their group at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
This comes after Bafana was placed in Group A with South Korea, Mexico, and the winners of the UEFA play-offs between Denmark, Ireland, North Macedonia, and the Czech Republic. The United States, Mexico, and Canada will co-host the World Cup in June 2026.
“We’ve faced Mexico in September, and South Africa has produced excellent results recently,” said Myungbo.
“I was taken aback to see us being selected at the very beginning. You can’t ever assume that you can get a favorable draw at a World Cup. Our work to analyse our opponents will start now. These games will give us the base to build on.”
Possible to beat Koreans
Broos believes that Bafana can defeat South Korea.
“It’s not an easy group for us. First of all, we will face the hosts in the opening game at the Azteca Stadium, and it will be very difficult for us there.
“On the other side, we also have South Korea, which is possible [to beat]. But we are somewhat disappointed that we are going to also have the winner of the Denmark and Northern Ireland play-off.
“It will probably be Denmark, which is a big team. We will do our best, and let’s see where we end.”
Six of the 48 teams at the Fifa World Cup 2026 have yet to be determined and will only be known in March 2026.
Four will come from the 16-team UEFA play-offs, which will be contested by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Denmark, Italy, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Poland, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Türkiye, Ukraine and Wales.
Six teams—Bolivia, Congo DR, Iraq, Jamaica, New Caledonia, and Suriname—will compete for the remaining two spots.
Bafana captain hopeful
Bafana captain Ronwen Williams also shared his views, saying that they are not going to the World Cup to make up the numbers.
“I believe that we can do wonders at the tournament. We know South Korea; they are familiar faces,” Williams said on SuperSport after the draw was conducted.
“Some of us played against some of them at the Fifa Club World Cup in the US.
“I think it’s a fair group; it’s a good group. We believe that we are capable of getting out of the group.
“We do not want to put too much pressure on ourselves considering that it has been a very long time without playing in this prestigious tournament.”
