South Africa’s Bafana Bafana are out of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after conceding a late goal to 1-0 loss to co-hosts Canada in their round of 32 tie at the Los Angeles Stadium on Sunday. 

The encounter was the first match of the knockout phase, reducing the number of remaining African teams in the tournament to eight as the actions in the round will resume on Monday. 

The South Africans looked like the team with the momentum early on in the match and had several close opportunities to land the first blow but failed to utilise their chances.

Neither side managed to break the deadlock, and extra time appeared inevitable until the second minute of five minutes of added time, when Stephen Eustaquio fired home from just outside the box to score the winner for Canada.

South Africa mounted a late attacking push in search of an equaliser, but it came too late as Bafana Bafana’s historic World Cup journey in North America came to an end.

Meanwhile, the Canadians, who will play their remaining matches outside Canada after finishing second in their group, will face the winners of the round of 32 match between The Netherlands and Morocco in the last 16.