[Official] South Africa in the same group as the World Cup, and Panama in March will hold two consecutive warm-up matches

*This content was translated by AI.

South Africa, which is in the same group with the South Korean national soccer team at the 2026 FIFA North American World Cup, will play two consecutive games against North Korea-China-U.S. team Panama in the A-match warm-up match next month.

The South African Football Association announced on the 6th (Korea Standard Time) that "the South African national team will play two home warm-up matches against Panama on March 27 and 31 to prepare for the North American World Cup."

The South African Football Association said, "Panama is a high-quality Central American team that is competitive, physically strong, and tactically well-organized. It will provide an opportunity for the South African national team to test North American World Cup," he added.

South Africa ranked 60th and Panama ranked 33rd in the FIFA rankings. Panama is also the second team to advance to the World Cup finals in eight years since the 2018 Russia Games.

South Africa was in Group A with the winners of the Korean, Mexican, and UEFA playoff passes D (Denmark, Czech Republic, Ireland, and North Macedonia) at this World Cup, while Panama was in Group L with England and Croatia, Ghana.

For South Africa, it means a "virtual Ghana match" for Panama, on the contrary, compared to the match against Mexico, which is also the first match of the North American World Cup and the opening match.

However, South Africa's decision to play two consecutive warm-up matches against Panama is bound to tilt its head, given that it is not common to play two consecutive warm-up matches against the same opponent during the A-match period, and that is only three months before the opening of the World Cup.

Like most other African teams, they are belatedly looking for an opponent in the warm-up match in March due to the schedule of the African Football Confederation (CAF) Nations Cup, and eventually playing two games in four days against Panama in March.

Naturally, from South Africa's point of view, a warm-up match in preparation for Korea or the UEFA PO Pass D winner in the same group is expected to be possible only through the warm-up match period from May to June, just before the World Cup.

However, since Group A of the World Cup group stage has the fastest opening of the tournament, it is unclear whether South Africa will be able to play two warm-up matches just before the World Cup.

The Korean national team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, is also known to be considering playing only one warm-up match just before the World Cup, considering that the first match of the World Cup is faster than other groups. South Africa even plays its first game of the tournament a day earlier than South Korea.

In some cases, the possibility that the South African national team will play in the 2026 North American World Cup without a warm-up match against the Asian team cannot be ruled out. South Korea and South Africa will clash in the final group match of the tournament.

Meanwhile, Hong Myung-bo Team will play an away warm-up match against Austria in Vienna, Austria, at 3:45 a.m. on April 1. Prior to this, the first match in March, which will be held on March 26-27, is undecided, and the possibility of an exhibition match with Ivory Coast has recently been raised through Ivory Coast media.

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*This content was translated by AI.