World Cup: Union’s Makhanya advances with South Africa as Jean Jacques, Haiti bow out
The World Cup will continue for the Union’s Olwethu Makhanya.
South Africa’s 1-0 win over South Korea late Wednesday night earned Bafana Bafana second place in Group A, allowing it to advance out of the group for the first time in program history.
South Africa recovered from a disastrous opener in which it lost 2-0 to Mexico and saw two players sent off. It drew Czechia, 1-1, in Atlanta last week and then topped the Koreans in Monterrey behind Thapelo Maseko’s goal in the 63rd minute.
“Amazing, incredible,” said Maseko, who plays his club soccer in Cyprus. “It’s an incredible feeling for me. I feel like I’m dreaming almost.”
“Amazing. I’m lost for words,” South African goalie and captain Ronwen Williams said. “Proud is an understatement. The amount of pressure that this team was under, not only on the field but off the field, and of the players to show up today when our backs were against the wall, when I saw the publications posting the potential teams to go out of the group and we had no percentage chance to advance, that fueled something inside of us, that everyone is against us. We will use that as motivation, as energy to fight. And the fight that the guys showed today was amazing.”
Makhanya has not yet appeared in the tournament. He earned his first international cap in a pre-tournament friendly but hasn’t yet figured into coach Hugo Bross’ plans.
South Africa is in the World Cup for the first time since hosting the 2010 edition and qualified for the tournament for the first time since 2002. It failed to advance from the group stage in its three previous appearances: 1998, 2002 and 2010.
It will meet Canada in the Round of 32 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. Canada finished second in Group B, missing out on the chance at more games in its home county in the knockout stages.
The World Cup experience has been the opposite for Danley Jean Jacques, the Haitian midfielder who became the first active Union player to take part in a World Cup. He played all but 10 minutes of Haiti’s campaign, but Les Grenadiers lost all three matches in Group C to exit the tournament.
Jean Jacques went the full 90 in a 1-0 loss to Scotland in Foxborough, then was on the pitch for all 90 minutes of a 3-0 loss to Brazil in Philadelphia last Friday that made Haiti the first team eliminated from the World Cup.
He started and went 80 minutes in a 4-2 loss to Morocco on Wednesday to culminate Haiti’s World Cup campaign. Haiti is in its first World Cup since 1974. It remains in search of a first point, having lost all six matches across both competitions.