Stephen Eustaquio struck in stoppage time as Canada beat South Africa 1-0 in Los Angeles on Sunday and reached the World Cup last 16 for the first time in their history. The co-hosts dominated long spells of the first knockout-round match but needed a late finish to finally break South African resistance.
Canada will now face either the Netherlands or Morocco in Houston on July 4, while South Africa’s tournament ended after their first appearance in the knockout stage.
Jesse Marsch entered the match without Alphonso Davies in his starting line-up despite the Bayern Munich wing-back returning from a hamstring injury. Canada still took control early and pushed South Africa deep into their own half.
Eustaquio almost created the breakthrough in the 22nd minute when his free kick picked out Derek Cornelius inside the six-yard area, but the defender mistimed his header.
South Africa defended with numbers and looked for counter-attacks. Canada continued to press and almost scored before half-time when Moise Bombito’s header came off the line before Ronwen Williams blocked Tajon Buchanan’s follow-up effort.
The pattern barely changed after the break. Canada held possession and stretched the pitch, while South Africa sat deep and waited for transitions.
Niko Sigur later slipped Tani Oluwaseyi through on goal, but Williams made another important save before Mbekezeli Mbokazi cleared Jonathan David’s follow-up effort.
Davies entered in the 75th minute and quickly changed the pace of the attack. He immediately drove at defenders and created openings for Jonathan David and Promise David, but Canada still lacked a finish.
That changed in the second minute of stoppage time. Jacob Shaffelburg attacked down the right and delivered a cross that South Africa cleared only as far as Eustaquio. The Porto midfielder controlled the ball with his chest and drilled a first-time finish into the bottom corner.
Canada finally found the goal they had chased all evening and moved one step deeper into the tournament.
