Co-hosts Canada might have felt burdened as the first home team to play a World Cup knockout match away after finishing second in Group B, which forced them to travel to Los Angeles, having just made national football history by qualifying for the knockouts for the first time.
The sea of boisterous fans in red, Canadian and local, gave them extra power as they surged forward tirelessly against an ultra-defensive South Africa, the Bafana Bafana, also having got out of the group stage for the first time, happy to apply a low defensive block and push the game as deep as it would take them. Extra time and penalties seemed okay, as their lone shot on target showed.
However, two moments of inspiration from their leaders turned the match around, as Canada found the winning goal two minutes into added time, the 1-0 win ensuring their World Cup dream will continue, though it means facing the winners in the Netherlands versus Morocco tie.
Key moments
Big, tight football matches are often won on key moments, and it can’t get more significant than a game where a win would mean the first last 16 spot and defeat the flight home. And two moments settled the issue for the co-hosts with the lowest world ranking (No. 30. Mexico are No.9, USA is No.15).
Stephen Eustaquio, the captain and designated free-kick and corner-kick taker, showed ice-cool nerves and perfect technique as he chested a feeble defensive clearance off Alistair Johnston’s right-wing cross and volleyed low to Ronwen Williams, the SA goalkeeper who had been outstanding until then but was helpless despite diving full stretch to the right.
Eustaquio’s leadership stood out, although the man who plays for Los Angeles FC in MLS had handed the captain’s armband to Alphonso Davies, the Bayern Munich fullback, who was brought on by American coach Jesse Marsch in the 75th minute for his first World Cup action.
Davies, who kept out due to an ACL problem and then injured his hamstring a third time this year, was electric.
Playing higher on the pitch to the left, his very first touch was a brilliant pass, but fellow substitute Promise David’s shot from the top of the box was just wide. Davies’ toe-poke inside the box beat the packed SA defence, but Jonathan David could not get enough height to his shot at the near post, allowing Williams to save.
Canada had already crossed a barrier for the first time – getting out of the group – that they could not in their previous World Cups, in Mexico 1986 and Qatar 2022. South Africa’s Hugo Broos, 74, too, had achieved a first, as the oldest coach to take a nation to the knockouts. Having fought back to qualify after losing to Mexico on the opening day of the World Cup, Broos had said it was like winning the final itself, but urged his team to keep dreaming.
Canadian heroes
However, the Canadian enterprise was rewarded in the end. Marsch gathered the players around for a spirited victory speech, declaring: “You guys are Canadian heroes!”
Canada perhaps should have put the match to bed much earlier. Jonathan David volleyed wide from a corner, and Derek Cornelius could have buried a free header from five yards following Eustaquio’s freekick anywhere, but didn’t get proper contact and sent it straight to Williams.
On some of the other occasions, it was South Africa’s outstanding 20-year-old centre back Mbekezeli Mbokazi, who plays for Chicago Fire in the MLS but is seen as a possible big-money target for a European club, who showed remarkable skill and maturity in his challenges. None was better than his block to prevent Tani Oluwaseyi from taking a proper shot on goal in the second half.
South Africa’s rare, and best, chance came and went when Ikraam Rayners, who had just come on as a substitute, failed to bring down a long pass on top of the penalty box with only Canada goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau to beat.
Canada also could not make two chances count off a late corner from the left, as South Africa’s crowding tactics paid off. But in the end, Eustaquio made sure Canada will not be left out of its own party at least for some time.
