South Africa vs Canada live: Follow Bafana Bafana’s World Cup 2026 Round of 32 — scores, updates & result

Bafana Bafana are about to do something they have never done before. South Africa step out at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood this evening for a World Cup knockout match — the first in the nation’s footballing history.

Follow South Africa’s Bafana Bafana vs Canada live here:

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• Bafana Bafana vs Canada: Co-hosts wary of SA threat in World Cup’s Round of 32

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Three group-stage matches. Three hard-earned results. One extraordinary campaign.

Hugo Broos’s side were beaten 2-0 by co-hosts Mexico in their opener at the Estadio Azteca, reduced to nine men after red cards for Yaya Sithole and Themba Zwane. They came from behind to draw 1-1 with Czechia in Atlanta, Teboho Mokoena’s 83rd-minute penalty rescuing a point. And then, in Monterrey, they delivered: Thapelo Maseko’s 63rd-minute goal against South Korea sent Bafana into the knockout stage for the first time ever.

Tonight, they go further into the unknown.

Canada arrive at SoFi carrying the weight of expectation and a point to prove. Jesse Marsch’s team announced themselves to the world with a 6-0 demolition of Qatar in Vancouver, Jonathan David’s hat-trick entering Canadian sporting folklore as the first CONCACAF player to score three goals at a World Cup in 96 years.

A defeat to Switzerland on matchday three, however, denied them a home fixture in the round of 32 and handed the co-hosts a road trip south to Los Angeles.

The biggest story in Canada’s camp is the return of Alphonso Davies. The Bayern Munich left-back missed all three group games with a hamstring injury, spending the Qatar rout watching from the bench while Marsch used him as a decoy on the team sheet against the Swiss.

Tonight, Davies is expected to start at left-back, and his presence adds an attacking dimension South Africa have had no opportunity to prepare for in this tournament.

For Bafana, the major team news is equally positive. Mokoena, South Africa’s midfield anchor and the player Broos relies upon most to control tempo and protect the defensive line, returns from his one-match suspension.

Themba Zwane remains unavailable, serving the third and final match of his extended FIFA ban, but the return of Mokoena restores the structural spine Broos has built his system around.

The young central defensive partnership of Mbekezeli Mbokazi and Ime Okon, praised so warmly by captain Ronwen Williams after the South Korea victory, retain their places. It is worth remembering that Williams himself has been here before: at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final against Cape Verde, he saved four consecutive penalties to send South Africa through to the last four. Pressure, it would appear, does not concern him.

David needs no introduction after four goals in three games, a tally that makes him the tournament’s top scorer from the Americas and the man Canada will lean on to carry their round of 16 ambitions.

His hat-trick against Qatar made him only the second player in history to score three goals in a World Cup match for a host nation since Geoff Hurst in 1966.

History will be made tonight regardless of the result. Either South Africa reach a World Cup round of 16 for the first time, or Canada advance to the last 16 of any World Cup for the first time.

Stay with Afrik-Foot South Africa for live updates, confirmed line-ups and all the action from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.