For the first time in their history, South Africa will play in the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup.
Bafana Bafana secured a monumental 1-0 victory over South Korea, sealing second place in Group A.
The historic milestone sparked early-morning celebrations across South Africa, where fans took to the winter streets at dawn, reviving the blaring vuvuzelas not heard at this volume since the country hosted the tournament in 2010.
Manager Hugo Broos praised his team's performance, saying, 'Today you saw a team that believed in itself. I think we played a very good game tactically. It was very good; everyone did their job.'
Qualification was something no one saw coming, and marked a miraculous turnaround for a squad that was heavily criticised and dismissed by pundits just a week ago.
South Africa's tournament began in disaster, but they showed greater discipline and eventually secured a 1-1 draw against Czechia with a depleted squad.
Against South Korea, the surprising benching of their talismanic captain Heung-Min Son emboldened the African side to be more aggressive and physical.
Captain Ronwen Williams turned the team's underdog status into motivation, saying, 'When I saw the publications posting potential teams to go through the group stage and we were given no chance, you know that fuels something inside of us.'
The victory was a crowning achievement for 74-year-old Broos, who became the oldest manager to ever win a World Cup match.
South Africa will take on Canada in the next match, and the team is expected to draw motivation from playing in Los Angeles rather than in front of a home crowd.
