3 min readJun 29, 2026 03:29 PM IST
History is written by winners and it will record that South Africa bowed out of the FIFA World Cup in the Round of 32 after a last-gasp goal from Canada.
But for a team derided as probably the worst in the tournament after a game and a half, making it to the knockout rounds for the first time in its history was a creditable achievement in itself. Beating a pedigreed side like South Africa to advance was a result of the team punching well above its weight and making optimum use of its limited resources, but it couldn’t prevent the heartbreak in injury time.
After the 0-2 defeat to Mexico – in which they had two players sent off – and the concession of the early goal against Czechia, one would have feared for them, but not only did they prevent any more Czech goals, but also fashioned a late equalizer to stay alive in the competition.
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Departing South Africa coach Hugo Broos is proud of his charges, but admitted that they lacked something in front of goal. Managing just two goals in four matches – one of them from the penalty spot – and not having a genuine threat up front was a major reason they went out.
“I don’t have complaints about the mentality but I think we can look back on this tournament with happiness because we got to the second round. I don’t think anybody expected that before the tournament,” Broos said after the 0-1 defeat in Los Angeles.
“It is sore now because we wanted to win today. It’s a disappointment, it’s very quiet in the dressing room at the moment. But on the other side, we have to be honest, we did very well for our first time in the World Cup after 16 years. We achieved the second round. For me, it was a very nice thing to do as a coach again. We did it very well.”
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The 74-year-old Belgian, who was part of the national team that finished fourth at the 1986 World Cup, knows where his wards came second-best. When a man of his experience who has stellar record as a manager at both club and international football – he guided Cameroon to the Africa Cup of Nations title in 2017 and had been South Africa manager since 2021, taking them to a third-place finish in the continental tournament in 2023 – one has to listen.
“It was a difficult game but I knew beforehand [it would be so] because I analyzed the opponent. They have two important [traits] in power and speed. We hoped we had an answer for that but it was not always the fact,” Broos told FIFA.
“You saw situations in the game that we could not follow and the duels, man against man, we lost sometimes or most of the time. We have to work on power and speed in South Africa,” he concluded.