Is South Korea still in the 2026 World Cup? Here are the scenarios

As the group stage of the 2026 World Cup winds down, the scenarios for which teams advance start to become more convoluted. 

That rings true for South Korea.

After a 1-0 loss to South Africa on June 24, South Korea finished third in Group A with three points. Now, it must wait for the rest of the group matches to finish to determine if it is one of the eight-best third-place teams that will advance to the knockout rounds.

As of right now, South Korea is looking pretty safe. It sits fourth in the third-place standings thanks to its opening win over Czechia and a -1 goal differential, one of the best marks among this crop of teams. It simply needs to wait it out and hope other third-place teams drop their last group matches.

South Korea knocked off Czechia 2-1 in its first match after falling behind 1-0 in the 59th minute. Two second-half scores from Hwang In-Beom and Oh Hyeon-Gyu led to the victory.

Since then, the Koreans fell 1-0 to both Mexico and South Africa, though the tight finishes will likely be what keeps it alive in the tournament.

If South Korea does advance to the Round of 32, it will play one of the 12 first-place teams. Its most likely opponents are Group G’s Egypt, Belgium or Iran, all three of which are still fighting to win the group. Egypt and Iran play on Friday, while Belgium faces last-place New Zealand later that night.

South Korea advancing would mark its second straight World Cup reaching the knockout stage. It upset Portugal during the group stage in 2022 in Qatar before losing 4-1 to Brazil in its Round of 16 match.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: South Korea still in 2026 World Cup? Here are the scenarios