Co-hosts Canada and South Africa meet in the last 32 for the first time, with Alphonso Davies set to return from injury.
CO-HOSTS Canada and South Africa will both make World Cup history when they meet in the opening game of the knockout round on Sunday.
Neither nation has ever reached this stage of international football’s showpiece event and they could not have asked for a grander stage than the spectacular SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
South Africa are one of nine African sides to have reached the last 32, making the continent the major beneficiary of the expanded 48-team format.
The Bafana Bafana looked dead and buried in a 2-0 defeat to Mexico in the tournament opener but a spirited 1-0 win against South Korea fired them into uncharted territory.
Canada celebrated going through too — but slipping to a 2-1 defeat to Switzerland in their final group game cost them their ‘home’ status that the group winner would have enjoyed.
So they have been forced to head to the United States.
Their American coach Jesse Marsch is banking on the “X-factor” of returning superstar Alphonso Davies to elevate his team in Sunday’s showdown.
Bayern Munich defender Davies was sidelined for the entire group phase due to a hamstring injury and Marsch said he relished the return of the undoubted star of Canadian soccer.
“Now that we have Alphonso back and healthy and ready to perform, I think it’s a big moment for the team and a big boost for the team,” Marsch said on Saturday.
“He’s a big X factor for us,” he added.
“Being on the pitch, the belief they have in him, the belief he has in himself, I think changes the possibility of what the potential of our team is, and what we can do in this tournament,” Marsch said.
South Africa’s veteran Belgian coach Hugo Broos said reaching the last 32 meant “we can say already now that the World Cup is a success for us,” but he insisted his side was hungry to go even further.
“That doesn’t mean now that we are happy and that we just play the game tomorrow and go home. Once you are there, you want more, and we want to win the game tomorrow,” he said.
“I think if we can show the same mentality and the same level that we played against South Korea, then I think we had a chance to win it — even if Canada is a very tough team.”
- Wild end –
On Saturday, the Democratic Republic of Congo became the latest underdogs to roar at this World Cup, battling into the knockout rounds for the first time while Iran’s rollercoaster campaign ended in elimination.
A chaotic finale to the group phase saw Austria and Algeria fill the final two berths in the last 32 after battling to an extraordinary 3-3 draw in Group J — a result that dashed Iran’s hopes of advancing from their group.
A win for either Austria or Algeria would have allowed Iran to squeeze into the last 32, but Sasa Kalajdzic arrowed in a header in the sixth minute of injury time to snatch a draw for Austria and spark pandemonium in Kansas City.
It was the final act of another enthralling day at the tournament which saw DR Congo emulate fellow African minnows Cape Verde by reaching the knockouts following a 3-1 defeat of Uzbekistan.
DR Congo’s win in Atlanta — their first ever victory in a World Cup match — was enough to secure third place in Group K, setting up a dream clash with England in the next round.
“We love our national team. We love what we represent. I think tonight we just showed what it means for us is just to fight no matter what,” said DR Congo striker Yoane Wissa.
England laboured to a 2-0 win against Panama that left them top of their group, but with questions hanging over their ability to win the World Cup for the first time since 1966.
Lionel Messi meanwhile scored his sixth goal of the tournament — and 19th in all World Cups — as reigning champions Argentina beat Jordan 3-1 to make it three groups wins out of three. They face surprise qualifiers Cape Verde in the next round on Friday.
