South Africa beat South Korea 1-0 on Wednesday to reach the World Cup knockout rounds for the first time in their history, an astonishing turnaround after a dismal opening defeat.

The Bafana Bafana, playing in a World Cup for the first time since they hosted it in 2010, were widely written off after their 2-0 loss to Group A winners Mexico in the tournament’s curtain raiser.

But they battled to a draw against the Czech Republic and came out on top of what was effectively a shootout with South Korea for second place in Monterrey, thanks to Thapelo Maseko’s second-half strike.

South Africa coach Hugo Broos said it was difficult to put his side’s achievement into words.

“We scored that goal, and it was 20 minutes of heartbeating and hoping that the game should be finished as soon as possible,” said the Belgian.

“So yes, we are in the second round. It’s historic. But I’m very happy for the guys. I’ve worked with them for five years. And what we did in those five years is amazing.”

South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo made a shock call by leaving captain Son Heung-min — considered by many to be Asia’s greatest-ever player — out of the starting line-up.

Read moreWorld Cup 2026: Vinicius Junior scores twice as Brazil beat Scotland to reach last 32

The Asian team started strongly, with stand-in captain Kim Min-jae’s powerful header blocked on the goalline by Aubrey Modiba before Lee Kang-in flashed wide.

South Africa quickly settled, playing with hunger and adventure, but their finishing was wasteful.

They seemed certain to take the lead in the 30th minute when the ball fell to Evidence Makgopa after South Korean goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu parried Thalente Mbatha’s shot.

But Makgopa could only tamely poke the ball straight at the goalkeeper from close range.

Son came on at the start of the second half, one of three changes made by coach Hong as he sought to change the script.

Early in the second period Maseko squandered another good position while South Korea forward Oh Hyeon-gyu tested goalkeeper Ronwen Williams at the other end.

As news filtered through from Mexico City that the host nation were leading against the Czech Republic, there was an added sense of urgency.

South Africa seized their moment with Tshepang Moremi crossing to Maseko, who this time kept his cool, firing home inside the near post in the 63rd minute.

South Korea pushed hard in the closing stages but ran out of time, meaning South Africa will face co-hosts Canada in Los Angeles on June 28.

Ochoa’s sixth World Cup finals

Co-hosts Mexico topped the group with nine points after winning all three of their matches.

El Tri completed their first round with a 100% record after romping past the Czech Republic 3-0 in the Estadio Azteca.

Mexico move on to a last-32 match in the same stadium on June 30 while the Czechs return home after finishing bottom of the group.

Read moreWorld Cup 2026: Vinicius Junior scores twice as Brazil beat Scotland to reach last 32

Mateo Chavez gave Mexico the lead in the 55th minute and Julian Quinones took advantage of disarray in the Czech defence six minutes later to extend the lead.

Alvaro Fidalgo completed a sparkling evening for the Mexicans as he smashed in a cross four minutes into added time.

Mexico even brought on goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa as a second-half substitute, allowing the veteran to play in a sixth World Cup finals at the age of 40

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Emma Raducanu can win more grand slam titles if she chases happiness rather than ranking points and stops worrying about her critics.

That is the view of her former coach Mark Petchey as the British number one prepares for her latest crack at Wimbledon.

A year ago, Petchey was in the middle of a successful short-term spell guiding the 23-year-old, but his broadcasting commitments meant it could not become permanent.

Raducanu is now back with Andrew Richardson, the coach who helped her to the US Open title in 2021 that launched her to superstardom but has made the intervening five years a wild and challenging ride.

“I love Emma to bits,” Petchey, who first coached Raducanu as a teenager, told the Press Association.

“I’ll take a bullet for her. I think her situation is so unique. I don’t envy her life, being judged every single week on a result that happened five years ago, that was an amazing story, was an absolute fairy tale.

“She’s a hell of a tennis player. But it’s challenging because, if you don’t win another one, it’s deemed a sub-optimal outcome.

“And I think, for her, it’s been a very hard process to grow up as an 18-year-old, in the glare of the spotlight, with everything that came – everyone would have done the same, but they say they wouldn’t have done the same. That’s the thing that I find really hard, the cognitive dissonance from people.

“She can win another one for sure, I’ve always believed that about her. If she can find a way to just do the ordinary in an extraordinary way, every single day, and not look for a shortcut back to where she was in ’21, she’ll be fine.”

Petchey helped Raducanu out again this spring but is not prepared to give up his other roles, which also include tennis ambassador for Neilson Active Holidays, to take on the post permanently.

Speaking from the latest addition to Neilson’s portfolio, Mangia’s Torre del Barone Resort in Sicily, Petchey says he is delighted to see Raducanu and Richardson reunited.

“There’s so many things I love about it. We obviously had a conversation because my situation was never really going to change and she needed to find somebody.

“And I think going back to what she remembers as an amazing time of her life is perfect, and I think it will be very positive for her. I think they will have a great relationship.

“I also think that it was necessary almost for both of them, to have this time again, because there’s so many people that said she should never have got rid of Andrew. Even if it doesn’t work, at least you can cross that off the list.”

Petchey has had as close a view as anyone of the goldfish bowl in which Raducanu operates and the scrutiny that accompanies her every move.

“I thought I knew quite a lot about what to expect,” he said. “There is a mystery about Emma that really fascinates people. And it’s like, ‘Oh, OK, these people are borderline obsessed about everything’.”

Raducanu has not made it beyond the fourth round of a grand slam since her New York triumph and this has again been a stop-start season after a post-viral illness ruled her out for two-and-a-half months, but a run to the final at Queen’s Club has tilted the balance back towards optimism.

“Everyone knows that things could have been handled differently – but not by her,” said Petchey.

“She was 18. That’s not on her, but there are a lot of adults in the room that clearly will need to look at themselves.

“The lucky thing for her is she won it so young, she had this period to figure stuff out, and she’s now just 23 and has still got a lot of runway ahead in tennis if she decides to use it. Especially on the grass, because there’s no question in my mind this is her best surface.

“I think she needs to live and have her career from here on in on her terms. You get a zero pointer? F*** it. Who cares? Don’t play the tournament. Just do what’s going to make you happy.

“Give yourself the chance at the four majors, because I’ll back you against anyone.

“Don’t worry so much about the ranking and worry more about being in the right position to have a run at a tournament every single time you tee it up, because you’re not like everyone and don’t feel like it’s a negative.

“You could have the longest career of all time if you decide to do that. If you keep doing it like everyone else is telling you to do it, and everyone else is doing it, you’re probably going to have a short career. People are going to criticise anyway, whichever way you do it.”

As for whether Petchey might have a role again in the future, the 55-year-old will leave the door open.

“If she needs me,” he added. “The best thing is probably when my phone doesn’t beep, because then I know she’s happy.”

Chris Waller’s stable is looking to God’s Window to lead their charge in the W J McKell Cup at Rosehill, with stablemate Rotagilla highly likely to compete in Queensland.

Rotagilla has remained in Brisbane since achieving a third-place finish at Eagle Farm earlier this month. Waller’s assistant trainer, Charlie Duckworth, has confirmed the horse will participate in Saturday’s Tattersall’s Mile (1600m) at the same venue, foregoing a middle-distance race at Rosehill.

“He is already up there anyway, and 2000 just sees him out because he wants to get a little bit keen, so he will stay over the mile up there instead,” Duckworth conveyed.

“He is a good little horse. He just needs speed on, and Tim (Clark) gets on well with him. That’s another factor for keeping him up there.”

With Rotagilla’s Brisbane assignment confirmed, God’s Window will be the sole representative from the stable in the Listed W J McKell Cup (2000m), which is the feature event on the Rosehill card.

Waller has a previous victory in the winter feature, having won with Skyman in 2022. God’s Window is arriving in strong form, having won over a mile at Randwick two starts ago and finishing second to Formal Display over the same course and distance on June 6.

Now in his second Australian racing campaign, God’s Window was considered competitive enough overseas to contest the 2024 Epsom Derby. While his wins have been over 1709m, he has secured placings in races extending to 2414m.

“Both runs back over a mile have been really good,” Duckworth commented.

“He has drawn slightly sticky, but he is relaxing better than he ever has, which has been a bit of a concern for him.

“He had a tick over trial last week. He’s right in it.”

Market leaders concur, with God’s Window listed as the $3.70 favourite. Zaphod, a placegetter in the Gosford and Lord Mayors Cup, is at $5, while Rotagilla is a $8.50 chance in Brisbane.

Check out the latest racing odds for the W J McKell Cup and consider backing God’s Window.

The 2026 NBA offseason is heating up quickly. After the Bucks sent Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Heat on Monday, another blockbuster could be brewing with ESPN reporting that Charlotte Hornets All-Star LaMelo Ball could potentially be moved by this weekend.

Charania noted that Ball wants to be in Charlotte and that his relationship with the team is in a “good place,” but that might not matter with the Hornets suddenly fielding “aggressive offers” that could make a deal too good to pass up.

Who might these teams trying to trade for Ball be? Marc Stein and Jake Fischer are reporting the Timberwolves and Raptors. Chris Haynes is also reporting Minnesota. 

And that’s seemingly just the start of the list. This situation appears to be developing quickly.

Changing mindset on score-first guards

It’s worth noting what we just saw from Jalen Brunson and pondering how much his playoff performance — and New York’s championship — might be reinvigorating the market for these one-way, ball-dominant point guards. 

For a minute, this was the most rapidly depreciating player archetype in the league. The Hawks couldn’t trade Trae Young for a sack of nickels and wound up having to salary dump him to the Wizards. The Bucks decided that paying Damian Lillard $113 million over five years to play for someone else was better than keeping him. 

Fats forward, and Young has gotten a $212 million contract from the Wizards, who apparently believed there were multiple max offers about to come Young’s way. And now a bunch of teams want Ball. There appears to be a bidding war for his services. 

Ball is an extremely talented player, as we saw in the playoffs, how important shot creation is, even if it’s coming from a defensively deficient source. 

The Knicks just showed the basketball world that it is indeed possible to surround such these one-sided stars with enough defensive infrastructure to make them competitively viable on the highest level. Is Ball or Young on Brunson’s level? Absolutely not. But Ball, at 6-foot-8, has the size to eliminate at least one of the concerns with these types of guards. 

He can be a disruptive defender, and we have seen him scale back some his playground antics on the offensive end. Last season he trimmed his turnovers to a career-low 2.8 per game, and he has scored north of 20 PPG to go with seven-plus assists in each of the last five seasons. 

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He’s far from a perfect player, but the bottom line is the Hornets were 9.9 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court last year, per Cleaning the Glass, and Charlotte was one of the best teams in the league from January on. You can’t call him a total losing player with much credibility anymore. 

Ball’s scoring efficiency still leaves a lot to be desired, but he’s a plus 3-point shooter on high volume despite a pretty difficult shot diet. There is no questioning his ability to create offense for himself and others, and he is an incredible pace-pusher. There’s some Tyrese Haliburton in there. A much bigger Trae Young at worst. Imagining Ball on a team like the Wolves, alongside Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, with that kind of defensive support in place, is an intriguing prospect to say the least. 

Why would the Hornets want to trade LaMelo Ball?

It begs the question: If Ball is this good, and the idea that his type of player can lead competitive teams is now back on the radar, why would the Hornets want to get rid of him? Well, for starters, Charania noted “aggressive” offers. You don’t necessarily have to want to trade a player to be moved to do so by an offer you can’t refuse. 

Besides that, we’ve just taken a total glass-half-full look at Ball. There is still a lot of carelessness in there, and again, the scoring inefficiency is real. It’s hard to imagine a team winning a championship with its point guard launching one-footed 3-pointers as a matter of routine. Plus, he makes a lot of money. He’s owed more than $130 million over the next three years. 

By moving off Ball, Charlotte could be ahead of the curve on a depreciating player, and in doing so could free up a lot of immediate flexibility by taking back expiring money to resign Brandon Miller and begin to build in earnest around him and Kon Kneuppel. 

Perhaps the Hornets could even use Ball to get into the Jaylen Brown sweepstakes by way of a multi-team deal. Whatever the case, the options are much more open with Ball off the books. For a while, it didn’t seem like that would be possible. Again, it wasn’t that long ago that teams were of the mindset that you couldn’t win with the ball-dominant, defensively deficient point guard unless his name is Luka Dončić. Hell, the Mavericks didn’t even think they could win with Dončić. 

But that belief seems to be flipping. How much does Brunson’s success have to do with that? Who knows. But either way, Ball is back in the good graces of the trade market, and things appear to be heating up quickly. 

AEW star Christian Cage’s rival revisited the veteran’s past on tonight’s Dynamite. The Patriarch was one of the most underrated stars of the global sports entertainment juggernaut. He debuted with Adam Copeland as a tag team. In just a few years, the Rated-R Superstar was pushed to the moon. Meanwhile, Cage got lost in the shuffle. Eventually, the two stars retired from action for many years. The two stars eventually returned to WWE and are currently with All Elite.

A few months after his WWE debut, the Patriarch wore Oakley’s Over the Top sunglasses. He wore the sunglasses for the 5-second pose schtick. The fashion was bought back by David Finaly tonight. Finlay and his teammate Clark Connors are set to battle Adam Copeland and Christian Cage for the AEW World Tag Team Championships at Forbidden Door later this week. The two teams have been ambushing each other ahead of their match.

Tonight on Dynamite, the War Dogs collided with Cope and Cage backstage. While the veterans had an upper hand in the brawl, things turned around quickly for them as Clark Connors and David Finlay choked them with wires. In the end, David wore the over-the-top sunglasses and gave a 5-second pose, revisiting Christian Cage’s gimmick in WWE.

Christian Cage brutally roasted War Dogs’ David Finlay last week

One-half of the current AEW World Tag Team Champions has been known for taking brutal shots at his opponents.

While talking about the War Dogs and their match at Forbidden Door on last week’s Dynamite, Christian Cage claimed that WWE legend Fit Finlay should have never given birth to David.

“I’ve never come across another tag team that’s actually named after their mothers. And Finlay, if you’re supposed to be some sort of gift to the wrestling business from your father, he should’ve done all of us a favor and let you run down the inside of his leg,” he said.

It will be interesting to see if War Dogs emerge victorious at Forbidden Door.