The knockout stage of the World Cup will begin Sunday with Canada facing South Africa at SoFi Stadium in a matchup of teams that had previously not advanced past the group stage.
South Africa finished second behind Mexico in Group A with a 1-1-1 record. Canada and Bosnia-Herzegovina were both 1-1-1 in Group B, with Canada taking second with a plus-5 goal differential. Bosnia-Herzegovina had a minus-1 goal differential.
Canada is 32nd in the unofficial rankings released after Saturday’s 7 p.m. World Cup matches by FIFA, soccer’s global governing body. South Africa is 54th.
The rankings are based on a point system where points are added to or subtracted from a team’s total based on the latest result. The ranking is considered unofficial until all matches are approved as international ‘A’ matches. The latest official ranking was released June 11, the day the World Cup began.
Both teams are beneficiaries of the expansion of the World Cup field to 48 teams with 32 advancing to the knockout stage. The field had been 32 teams with 16 advancing to the knockout stage from 1998 to 2022.
Canada was 0-6-0 in World Cup play before its 1-1 tie with Bosnia-Herzegovina June 12 and 6-0 victory over Qatar June 18. South Africa was 2-5-2 before a 1-1 tie with the Czech Republic June 18 and a 1-0 victory over South Korea Thursday.
Canada’s roster includes three players from the Los Angeles Football Club — midfielders Mathieu Choiniére, Stephen Eustáquio and Jacob Shaffelburg.
Six other Major League Soccer players are on the roster, including Orlando City goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau, who played for LAFC in 2022 — when it won the MLS Cup and Supporters Shield for having the best regular-season record — and 2023.
The rest of the roster consists of three players who play in the English second division, two each in the Spanish first division, Italian first division, French first division and Belgian first division and one each who play in the English Premier League, German first division, Croatian first division, Scottish Premiership, Belgian second division and English third division.
Canadian coach Jesse Marsch ended his playing career by playing for the defunct Carson-based Chivas USA from 2006-09.
Crépeau was Canada’s goalkeeper in all three of its group stage matches with a 1.00 goals against average.
Canada captain Alphonso Davies will be available to play after missing all three group stage matches because of a hamstring injury suffered during Bayern Munich’s Champions League semifinal second leg against Paris Saint-Germain on May 6, Marsch said.
Marsch has called the left back Canada’s best player.
South Africa’s roster consists of 19 players who play in the South African Premiership, two in MLS, one each who play in the Portuguese first division, Norwegian first division, Cyprus’ first division, English second division and German second division.
Canadian defender Joel Waterman and South African defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi are teammates with MLS’ Chicago Fire FC.
Unlike in the group stage when no extra time was played, if a match in the knockout phase \ends in a tie, two 15-minute halves of extra time are added. If the score is still tied after extra time, the game is decided in a penalty shootout.
The Opta supercomputer gives Canada a 67.7% chance of advancing to the round of 16 based on 10,000 pre-match simulations, South Africa a 32.3% chance of advancing.
The noon match will be televised in English by Fox and in Spanish by Telemundo.
The winner will play the winner of Monday’s Brazil-Japan round of 32 match in a round of 16 match Saturday in Houston.
A protest is planned at noon on Century Boulevard near the stadium by Project World Cup Spotlight and 50501 SoCal, seeking to draw attention to immigration enforcement and civil rights issues during the World Cup, organizers said.
Project World Cup Spotlight is seeking for “the global community to look beyond the stadiums and examine the human rights realities unfolding throughout the 2026 FIFA World Cup host nations,” according to a statement.
A free watch party will be held at West Hollywood park from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will include soccer activities, vendors, music and a beer garden.
Free watch parties will be held at Seoul International Park in Koreatown, the Whitsett Sports Complex in North Hollywood and Sylmar Recreation Center as part of the Kick It In the Park program organized by various city of Los Angeles departments that also include youth soccer clinics, neighborhood programming and community resources.
Attendance is limited to 1,000 people at a time. Alcohol sale, possession and consumption is not permitted. Attendees are advised by organizers to bring blankets, chairs, snacks and reusable water bottles.
More information is available at kickit.lacity.gov.