South Korea Awaits World Cup Knockout Stage Fate

GUADALAJARA, Mexico, June 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea remained in position to sneak into the knockout stage of the FIFA World Cup on Thursday with two more matchdays left in the group stage.

South Korea are in sixth among the 12 third-place teams after Groups D, E and F finished up their play Thursday across the United States.

South Korea finished third in Group A on three points from a win and two losses. They fell to South Africa 1-0 in Guadalupe, northeastern Mexico, on Wednesday, when a win or a draw would have sent them directly to the round of 32 as the Group A runner-up.

South Korea's knockout status is now at the mercy of other teams.

With the tournament having expanded from 32 to 48 nations, eight best third-place teams get to play in the knockout stage, along with the top two countries from each of the 12 groups.

South Korea began Thursday in fourth place among third-ranked teams, with Bosnia and Herzegovina, after finishing third in Group B on Wednesday, having already secured their knockout spot with four points.

Then on Thursday, Ecuador and Sweden joined them at four points -- with the former upsetting Germany 2-1 and the latter playing Japan to a 1-1 draw.

In Group D, Paraguay finished third with four points after a goalless draw with Australia and they are now fourth among third-place nations.

Croatia in Group L and Algeria in Group J each have three points with one match remaining.

Among the teams that have finished their group play, South Korea and Scotland are the only two teams with three points each.

The goal difference is the first tiebreaker for third-place teams, followed by the goals scored.

Teams in Groups G, H and I will play their final matches on Friday, followed by Groups J, K and L on Saturday.

If South Korea qualify for the knockouts as the third seed out of Group A, they will either play Germany, the Group E winner, at Boston Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, at noon Monday (1 a.m. Tuesday in South Korea), or face the Group G winner at Seattle Stadium in Seattle at 1 p.m. Wednesday (5 a.m. Thursday in South Korea).

After two matches, Egypt lead Group G with four points, with Iran (two points), Belgium (two points) and New Zealand (one point) behind them. Egypt and Iran have a chance to win the group.