Chris Sutton, the BBC pundit nicknamed the "human octopus," has predicted a victory for South Korea's national football team against South Africa.
South Korea, led by manager Hong Myung-bo, will face South Africa at 10 a.m. KST on Wednesday at Monterrey Stadium in Guadalupe, Nuevo León, Mexico, in their third Group A match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America.
South Korea hold a 1-1 record, having come from behind for a 2-1 victory against the Czech Republic in their opening match before losing 0-1 to Mexico. A win against South Africa would secure second place in the group and improve their chances of advancing to the round of 16.
Sutton, who earned the "human octopus" nickname for his high prediction accuracy during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, again favored South Korea in this match.
According to the BBC, Sutton correctly predicted the results of 12 of the 24 first-round group stage matches in this tournament and got 14 right in the second round, maintaining a relatively high prediction accuracy.
Having earlier forecast a 1-2 defeat for South Korea in their match against Mexico, he this time predicted a 2-0 win for South Korea against South Africa.
"South Korea are a far better footballing side than South Africa. Just as Mexico did, South Korea should be able to create plenty of scoring chances against South Africa," Sutton analyzed.
He continued, "South Africa still have hope of advancing from the group stage after scoring a late penalty equalizer against the Czech Republic." But he added, "However, South Africa's performance against Mexico was not good."
Artificial intelligence (AI) also predicted that South Korea would defeat South Africa 2-1 to close out their final group stage match with a win.
South Korea will start the match with Son Heung-min (LAFC) on the bench. Operating a 3-4-2-1 formation, Oh Hyun-gyu (Beşiktaş) will lead the line as the lone striker.
Behind him, Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) and Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) will support the attack. Lee Tae-seok (Austria Wien), Hwang In-beom (Feyenoord), Baek Seung-ho (Birmingham City), and Seol Young-woo (Crvena Zvezda) will take charge of the midfield and flanks, serving as the link between attack and defense.
The back three will be formed by Lee Ki-hyeok (Gangwon FC), Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), and Lee Han-beom (Midtjylland), with Kim Seung-gyu (FC Tokyo) guarding the goal.
Son Heung-min, along with Jens Castrop (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Eom Ji-sung (Swansea City), and Cho Gue-sung (Midtjylland), will prepare to enter from the bench.
If South Korea win or draw their final match against South Africa to finish second in the group and advance to the round of 32, they will compete with Canada, runners-up in Group B, for a place in the round of 16.
