World Cup highlights: Brazil impress as South Africa secure historic qualification

Flashscore brings you the best of the tournament in our daily World Cup highlights. Here's what happened on day 14.

The highlights

The doubts and pessimism surrounding Brazil are now a thing of the past. After a poor performance in the draw with Morocco and doing what was expected against Haiti, the Selecao delivered their best performance in the 3-0 win over Scotland. The star of the show? Vinicius Junior, once again, with two goals.

The number 7 became the first Brazilian since Rivaldo and Ronaldo in 2002 to score in all three group stage matches. And Brazil finished top of their group for the 12th consecutive time - every edition since 1982.

Not so good for Morocco, whose 4-2 win over Haiti wasn't enough to top Group C. But it was enough to reach the knockouts for the second time in a row, something that had never happened before.

The story of the day, however, belongs to another team from the continent: South Africa, who secured a historic spot in the knockouts. Bafana Bafana stunned the world with a 1-0 win over South Korea and made it out of the group stage at the fourth attempt.

If you’re not tired of firsts, there was also Mexico, who won all three group stage matches for the first time ever. El Tri beat Czech Republic 3-0 and paid tribute to legend Guillermo Ochoa, who came on in the second half.

The other host nation to take the field didn’t have the same luck, but also reached the knockouts for the first time. That’s Canada, who lost to group leaders Switzerland 2-1, finished second in Group B, and will face South Africa.

We haven’t forgotten about the third-placed teams - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Scotland, and South Korea. They’ll endure the agony of waiting over the next few days to see if they advance as one of the top eight third-placed teams. Meanwhile, Qatar, Haiti, and Czech Republic are heading home early.

Goal of the day

Let’s break protocol and pick the most important goal instead of the most beautiful. Apologies to the day’s stunners, especially Haiti’s, but we’re opening the door to South Africa’s new legend.

Moremi sprinted down the left and crossed for Thapelo Maseko, who controlled and fired a shot into the corner to seal a historic win for Bafana Bafana. A beautiful team goal from a side that stuck to its style, building from the back, pass by pass.

Player of the day

This World Cup of stars also belongs to Vinicius Junior. If the spotlight is on Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, and Harry Kane, it’s time to put the Brazilian in the same bracket.

The Selecao’s star capped off his group stage with two goals and a 9.3 rating in the revamped Flashscore system. Vini dazzled with five successful dribbles out of eight attempts and posted the highest individual expected goals (xG) in this World Cup: 3.06.

Best of social media

South Africa’s celebrations will go on for hours, no matter when you’re reading this. Dancing and singing for their historic qualification filled the Bafana Bafana dressing room - all accompanied by a great feast.

And speaking of singing, with every great performance from Vini Jr., new tributes pop up across social media. Enjoy this beautiful voice and see you tomorrow.