South Korea's patchy record against African teams gives Bafana Bafana hope

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/south-africa/W2ijYvlr/"]South Africa[/a] need to win to have a realistic chance of advancing to the round of 32, while a draw should be enough for the Koreans.[/p][p]It means the impetus will be on Bafana to chase the game, which is not necessarily their forte. [/p][p]The Koreans’ recent meeting with an African team did not go to plan as they were handed a 4-0 thumping by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/ivory-coast/G2FRjBgn/"]Ivory Coast[/a] in a friendly in Milton Keynes in March.[/p][p]It was a game they fixed to practice against African opposition in preparation for their last Group A game against South Africa.[/p][p]They also hosted [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/ghana/nNBjHale/"]Ghana[/a] in a friendly in Seoul last November, which they won 1-0.[/p][p]The meeting with South Africa is the first between the two counties but [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/south-korea/K6Gs7P6G/"]South Korea[/a] have had a total of 59 past matches against African teams.[/p][embed guid="b9f4e766-874b-4d97-aac4-049cde7ae173" url="https://x.com/BafanaBafana/status/2069362958497382690?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]At past World Cup finals, they have had four matches against African opposition with mixed results, starting with their first game of 2006 finals in Germany where they edged [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/togo/noW84S74/"]Togo[/a] 1-0 in Frankfurt but both sides failed to progress.[/p][p]At the 2010 finals, South Korea finished second in their group behind [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/argentina/f9OppQjp/"]Argentina[/a] but ahead of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/nigeria/EBE2Xb3l/"]Nigeria[/a] after a 2-2 draw with Super Eagles in Durban.[/p][p]In 2014 in Porto Alegre, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/brazil/I9l9aqLq/"]Brazil[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/algeria/nc87N1BR/"]Algeria[/a] beat them 4-2 at the finals where the Koreans finished bottom of their group while at the last World Cup in Qatar, they lost 3-2 to Ghana but still went through to the next round.[/p][p]South Korea have played against 16 different African countries and won 28 times out of 59 and lost 17.[/p]