FIFA World Cup recap: South Africa make history, Neymar plays at last

South Africa pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament by beating South Korea 1-0 and thus qualifying for the World Cup knockours for the first time ever

South Africa's Thapelo Maseko (12) celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the World Cup Group A match against South Korea. (AP Photo)

By: Sports Desk

5 min readJun 25, 2026 09:12 AM IST First published on: Jun 25, 2026 at 06:35 AM IST

Neymar finally making an appearance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup looked set to finish as the biggest highlight of the day, until South Africa pulled off one of the biggest shocks of the tournament and beat South Korea 1-0 to secure their first ever spot in the knockout stages of the tournament. While Korea dominated possession towards the end of the match, they were largely tepid for the rest of it and a 63rd minute strike Thapelo Maseko proved to be the decisive goal in the match. South Africa will take on Canada, the second-place finisher in Group B, in a knockout game Sunday at Inglewood, California.

Bafana Bafana had failed to advance from the group stage in 1998, 2002 and as host in 2010. South Africa opened its World Cup with a 2-0 loss to Mexico before using a late goal to earn a 1-1 draw with Czech Republic. It entered its final group-stage game trailing Mexico and favored South Korea before shocking the Taegeuk Warriors. South Korea opened this World Cup with a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Czech Republic and lost to Mexico 1-0 in its second game.

Thapelo Maseko scored what turned out to be South Africa’s winning goal. (AP Photo)

Brazil make light work of Scotland

Brazil made short work of Scotland with a 3-0 win courtesy of a brace by the mercurial Vinicius Jr and a lone strike from Matheus Cunha. The result enabled the Selecao to top their group stage for the 12th consecutive World Cups.

One of the biggest stories coming out from the match though is the return of Neymar Jr in Brazil colours since October 2023. The 34-year-old had been recovering from a calf strain and last played for Santos in Brazil’s top flight on May 17. The Brazil superstar checked in during the 76th minute against Scotland with the team leading 3-0 and well on its way to clinching a spot in the knockout stage that starts next week.

Neymar is Brazil’s career scoring leader with 79 goals in 129 international appearances entering Wednesday. The 34-year-old appeared in each of the past three World Cups for Brazil, scoring eight goals.

Neymar is Brazil’s career scoring leader with 79 goals in 129 international appearances entering Wednesday. (AP Photo)

“We played well, it was much like the match against Haiti (a 3-0 win). It was a more complete performance and we’re pleased. Now comes the best bit… There were lots of positives, we didn’t concede a goal. Neymar’s introduction is important and could help us a great deal,” coach Carlo Ancelotti said after the match.

For his and Brazil’s opponents Scotland, they now have to wait to see if they can finish as one of the 8 best third-placed team and qualify for the next round. Time will tell. Take a day or two to see. As a collective we didn’t want to put ourselves in a position of having to watch every game and hope for favours. If you ask me now, I don’t think it’s enough. I don’t think we’ve done enough. Time will tell, maybe I’ll be proved wrong and we’ll get another shot. I hope that’s the case. The next couple of days will be horrible and long. We have to deal with it,” captain Andrew Robertson said after the match.

Morocco suffer a scare

Morocco were given a scare by the already eliminated Haiti in the first half when the minnows took the lead twice before the Atlas Lions roared back with a 4-2 win at Full Time. Lenny Joseph’s ⁠backheeled ‌effort off Morocco keeper Yassine Bounou gave Mexico the lead before Achraf Hakimi equalized. After that Wilson Isidor would score from a thunderbolt of a strike before Ismael Saibari levelled the scoring again with the two teams heading into half time at 2-2.

In the second half, Morocco would deny Haiti their first points of the World Cup when two late goals from subs Soufiane Rahimi and Yassine Gessime helped them win the match and qualify for the Round of 3 as the second-placed team from Group C, just behind Brazil on goal difference.

Messi celebrates 39th birthday

Lionel Messi celebrated his 39th birthday on Wednesday during a World Cup that, at least for now, has brought him nothing but joy: Defending champion Argentina has already qualified for the knockout stage, and its captain has become the tournament’s career scoring leader. Messi marked the occasion alongside his teammates at Argentina’s training base in Kansas City, Missouri. This is his sixth World Cup and the fifth time he’s had a birthday during the tournament. The exception was the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which was played in November and December.

Messi has scored all of Argentina’s goals so far: three in its opening win over Algeria and two more in its victory over Austria. He has 18 for his World Cup career, two better than Miroslav Klose and Kylian Mbappé. On social media, Messi shared a photo of himself with a cake, alongside some of his teammates. The cake was from Pan Caliente, a Kansas City bakery owned by an Argentine pastry chef. In another picture, Argentina players posed alongside Messi, all wearing T-shirts featuring a personal photo of themselves with the captain.

(With agency inputs)