South Korea to wear home kit against South Africa in final group-stage match

South Korea will wear their red home kit when they face South Africa in their final 2026 World Cup Group A match Thursday.

Hong Myung-bo's side take on South Africa at Estadio BBVA in Guadalupe, Nuevo León, Mexico, at 10 a.m. Korea time Thursday.

South Korea sit second in Group A with three points after a 2-1 comeback win over the Czech Republic in their opener and a 1-0 defeat to Mexico in their second match. A draw against South Africa would be enough to advance to the knockout round as group runners-up, but the team has vowed to go for the win.

"These kinds of matches are difficult and tricky," coach Hong said at the pre-match news conference. "If you think a draw is enough, you can run into trouble. We will prepare to win — no giving up."

The team will wear their home kit — a red top with black shorts — for the match. It is the same strip they wore when they came from behind to beat the Czech Republic 2-1 in the group opener.

In that match, Ladislav Krejci gave the Czechs the lead in the 59th minute, but Hwang In-beom equalized in the 67th minute before Oh Hyeon-gyu scored the winner in the 80th minute to give South Korea their first victory of the tournament — making the kit a symbol of good fortune for the squad.

South Africa will also wear their home kit, a yellow top and shorts. The Bafana Bafana lost 2-0 to Mexico in their opener in yellow and drew 1-1 with the Czech Republic in their second match in a black away kit.

With South Africa's outfield players in yellow, South Korea's goalkeeper has been assigned a green kit — a change from the yellow jersey worn in the previous two matches.