Who Canada would play in FIFA World Cup Round of 16 if they beat South Africa
The Canadian men’s national team has already made history.
Not only did they secureĀ Canada’s first win at a men’s FIFA World Cup, but they alsoĀ advanced to the knockout round for the first time ever.
And on Sunday in Los Angeles, Canada has a chance to add another chapter to the history books.
Canada isn’t a shoo-in to beat South Africa, but they are entering Sunday’s Round of 32 match as the favourite. While South Africa was ranked 60th in the world coming into the tournament, they did upset the 25th-ranked team from South Korea to make it this far.
Ranked 30th coming into the tournament, Canada has a 1-1-1 record, beating Qatar, drawing Bosnia and Herzegovina, and losing to Switzerland. South Africa also has a 1-1-1 record, with a loss to Mexico and a draw versus Czechia, prior to upsetting South Korea.
“They’re there for a reason. It’s going to be a really good game. It’s going to be a really good test for us,” Canadian defender Alistair Johnston told reporters on Thursday.
“I think that they’re also a very athletic team that’s obviously shown the ability to defend and keep a clean sheet…. I think that we match up well. I think it will be quite an open game, maybe a bit of end-to-end football. It’ll probably be pretty good for the neutrals as well. At the same time, I think that it suits our style of how we want to play in terms of being able to get out in transition, probably some more open space there. There’s no doubt it’ll be a bit of a track meet.”
Who will Canada play if they make it to Round of 16?
If the team can beat South Africa and make it to the Round of 16, the task will get a lot tougher for Canada.
If Canada wins, they’ll fly to Houston for a match on July 4.
The opponent will be the winner of the Netherlands-Morocco match, which is being held on June 29 in Monterrey, Mexico.
Ranked eighth heading into the World Cup, the Netherlands is undefeated in this tournament, beating Sweden and Tunisia, and drawing Japan. The Dutch also made it to the quarter-finals of the last World Cup.
Morocco is also undefeated, beating Scotland and Haiti, and drawing Brazil. Canada lost to Morocco four years ago in Qatar, before the North African side made a surprise run to the semi-finals.