Bafana Bafana won one game against South Korea (1-0), drew with the Czech Republic (1-1), and lost to Mexico (0-2) and Canada (0-1), for what would amount to four points on a league table and a -2 goal difference.
That is exactly the same record as Ecuador, with whom they share 25th place, and it also places them sixth among the 10 African competitors.
Morocco (joint seventh), Egypt (15th), Ivory Coast (19th), DR Congo (23rd) and Ghana (24th) are the teams from the continent that finished ahead of Bafana, while they fared better than Algeria (30th), Senegal (31st), Cape Verde (32nd) and Tunisia (47th).
Statistically, the worst team in the tournament was Iraq, who lost all three of their games, scored one goal and conceded 12.
Among the teams that will be desperately disappointed with their showing are Portugal (13th), the Netherlands (17th), Germany (18th) and Croatia (20th), while the surprise package has been Norway, who take fifth place statistically.
It has been a particularly poor tournament for Asia, with Japan their top-ranked side in 21st place.
The lowest-ranked European side was the Czech Republic (39th), while the other teams in South Africa’s Group A were co-hosts Mexico (ninth) and South Korea (34th). None of those teams will be particularly pleased, with the Mexicans having hoped for at least a place in the quarter-finals.
The top four must still be decided, with the semi-finals taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
France take on Spain, while defending champions Argentina meet England in the last four.