South Africa fans hail historic World Cup knockout entry after Korea win

As South Africa’s football team danced the night away in Guadalupe’s Monterrey Stadium after making World Cup history, fans in Johannesburg were celebrating in the streets long before the sun came out and heralded what would become an unparalleled day in the nation’s football history. Two red cards, one loss, a draw and a win later, South Africa did it all in their group stage matches at the World Cup and advanced to the knockout round of the tournament for the first time. Recommended Stories list of 4 items end of list Thapelo Maseko fired into the net in the 63rd minute to give Bafana Bafana a stunning 1-0 win over South Korea , who now straddle the uncertain line between possible round of 32 qualification or elimination. Monterrey Stadium will long reverberate with the raw emotions of South Africa fans and players celebrating the win in a fairy-tale ending to their group stage run that began with a disastrous opening match loss for Hugo Broos’ side. While much of the nation had yet to wake up to the team’s historic achievement, die-hard football fanatics sacrificed sleep to watch the South Korea kickoff at 3am, oblivious to the quiet countdown of history about to be made. A couple of hours later, as the sun began to make its presence known, the streets were filled with supporters dancing and celebrating South Africa’s feat in their pyjamas and winter clothing; some 10,000km (6,200 miles) away, the team danced the night away in their locker room in Guadalupe, Mexico. …