New Delhi, June 26 -- MONTERREY - Twenty-eight years from their first World Cup to their first knockout win, and it came in sixty-three minutes, from a cross that Tshepang Moremi drove low across the penalty area and a header that Thapelo Maseko barely needed to guide home. In the moments after the final whistle, Hugo Broos stood at the edge of his technical area with both arms spread wide, his face tilted up toward the roof of Estadio BBVA as if checking whether the building could hold the weight of this.

South Africa beat South Korea 1-0 on Thursday in Monterrey, and Bafana Bafana are through to the last 16 of a World Cup for the first time in their history.

This was not a result built on luck. South Africa entered the first knockout ...