South Africa have already defied the odds to reach the World Cup 2026 knockout rounds for the first time in history.
Now, ahead of their round of 32 clash with co-hosts Canada at the Los Angeles Stadium on Sunday evening, Hugo Broos’ side stands before a massive opportunity to exceed expectations even further.
Broos says having crossed the first hurdle of making it past the group stage of the tournament, the hunger has grown. And with the pressure off, progressing to the last 16 is a real possibility. Bafana advanced to the knockout stage, having finished second in Group A behind Mexico.
The Bafana Bafana class of 2026 made history on Thursday by advancing to the second round of the FIFA World Cup for the very first time. South Africa beat the highly ranked South Korea who finished fourth in 2002, 1-nil in Monterrey to book themselves a place in the next round.
Their next opponents are Canada, ranked 31st in the world.
Another tough obstacle, but one Broos believe his side can overcome to defy the odds even further.
“I think we can already say that the World Cup is a success for us everybody expected and hoped that we should be in the second round and we are in the second round this is important but that does not mean again that we are happy and we just play the game tomorrow and go home. Once you are there you want more, and we want to win the game tomorrow also I think if we can show the same mentality and the same level that we played against South Korea then I think we have a chance to win it,” Broos says.
Broos says this is a very exhausting World Cup due to the travelling and different time zones, but Bafana Bafana are unaffected by the outside influences at the moment.
“You know when you feel good and that you won you are in the second round it gives you energy also that means that tomorrow we will be ready tomorrow to play that game and it means that the victory against South Korea gave us a boost of confidence and belief to do better again in the next game so we will try to do it, we will try to achieve our best level and we will try and get to the third round but like I said few minutes ago that will really be a miracle.”
Canada, who are playing in their third World Cup, advanced to the round of 32 with a win, a draw, and a loss to Switzerland in their final group match.
Broos, who is retiring from all football related activities at the end of the World Cup, says Bafana will not underestimate the Canucks because he wants to bow out in style.
Coach Broos stresses, “We prepare for every game the same way you know when you are in the World Cup there are no easy opponents even the worst team in the World Cup is a tough opponent for sure and that will not be different tomorrow. I agree when you sy it’s a different story because it’s a knockout system now you win or you lose. When you are in the group stage like us, we lost our first game and we knew that there were still two games to go and you can still reverse the situation. Tomorrow when Canada score one goal more than us we are out.”
Bafana reached the round of 32 at the World Cup, employing mainly locally based players, and their performances at this year’s l global showpiece have taken a lot of people by surprise.
One of the few Bafana Bafana players who ply his trade abroad, is defender Ime Okon.
The German-based defender says the players are all revved up and ready to do it for the entire South African nation.
Bafana defender Ime Okon says, “It’s very exciting to know that everybody is behind us and you know the support we’ve been getting from everybody back home really motivated us and it just helps us when we got onto the pitch we know that we are not only working for ourselves and our families but we know we working for the country back home and that just one extra motivation for us to die on the pitch.”
The match against Canada kicks off at 9 PM, South African time.
The winners will face either Morocco or the Netherlands in the round of 16 in Houston next Saturday.
-Reporting by Sifiso Ramara, Mawande Mateza
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