The first-ever Round of 32 game in a World Cup took place in Los Angeles as South Africa and Canada battled for a place in the Last 16, and the other 30 teams in this round have work to do to top the fun we had on Sunday.
Expectations were not very high for a meeting between a South African side that somehow found a way to sneak into the knockouts despite a very poor performance in the group stage and a Canadian team that lost the chance to play at home with a defeat in the group stage finale and came
into the game without the injured Ismaël Koné and with Alphonso Davies only fit enough to play the final 20 minutes.
But the match still delivered, with a really good tactical battle between a high-intensity, high-pressing Canada against a short-passing, patient South Africa. The stadium eventually grew tired of watching the Bafana Bafana pass the ball back to goalkeeper Ronwen Williams so often, but the strategy worked as South Africa created some really good chances from those long, patient sequences of possession.
Canada also had their big moments on set pieces and counter-attacks, and Davies’ introduction late in the second half injected more energy into the attack. But it looked as though we were headed for extra-time and possibly penalties, until Stephen Eustáquio scored the biggest goal in Canadian football history in the 92nd minute.
It was an amazing ending to a very fun battle that showed why the World Cup is just the best thing there is. Canada and South Africa were not expected to deliver such drama and entertainment, but they’ve now set a high bar for the rest of the knockouts.
