The final group game of the World Cup between Bafana Bafana and Korea Republic will raise concerns for two players of the local team, Oswin Appollis and Lyle Foster.
Bafana and Korea will meet at the Monterrey Stadium, in the city of Guadalupe, Mexico, on Thursday at 3 in the morning.
The local team needs to win this game to have a chance to advance to the Last 32. In the first two games, they were beaten by Mexico 2-0 and tied with Czechia 1-1.
Korea also need three points to ensure they progress. Mexico won 1-0, and Czechia bowed 2-1 in the opener. A point can help it since it has three points.
Although South Africa will meet Korea for the first time at the senior national team level, they have met twice in the Under-20 World Cup.
They met in the group stage of the FIFA World Youth Championship, which was played by the Under-20 teams in 1997, the match ended 0-0.
They met again in the group stage of the Under-20 World Cup in Poland in 2019, and Korea won 1-0.
Appollis and Foster are the players who were present in the team coached by Thabo Senong who are in Bafana to face Korea.
Appollis started the game but came off midway through the second half, while Foster came off the bench midway through the second half.
On the Korean side, the player who was present when the teams met in 2019 and is still present is Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Lee Kang-in.
This year’s game could be an opportunity for Appollis and Foster to soothe old wounds if coach Hugo Broos includes them in the squad to play.
Foster started the opening match of the World Cup against Mexico but did not appear in the second match against Czechia. Appollis came off the bench in Mexico but started the second against Czechia.