Los Angeles
\nStephen Eustaquio hammered home a rasping strike from the edge of the penalty area in the 92nd minute to give Canada a 1-0 victory over South Africa on Sunday, propelling the co-hosts into the World Cup last 16 for the first time in their history.
\nEustaquio received the ball on the edge of the South Africa penalty area and powered it past diving goalkeeper Ronwen Williams in a thrilling conclusion to the first knockout-round match of the World Cup.
\nSouth Africa, who had had seemed content to play for extra time and a possible penalty shootout, made a few furious but unsuccessful attempts to level before the final whistle as the sun broke through the clouds at Los Angeles Stadium.
\nCanada will next face either the Netherlands or Morocco on July 4 in Houston for a place in the quarter-finals.
\n\u201cWe just kept believing, we kept pushing and I think we couldn\u2019t have imagined it any other way,\u201d Eustaquio said.
\n\u201cIt was an amazing goal. When I shot it, I felt everybody shot it with me. Everybody put a little bit of power on it, and it went to the back of the net, so I\u2019m very happy.\u201d
\nCanada coach Jesse Marsch said his team had chances throughout the match but were not \u201clethal enough\u201d.
\n\u201cAnd then it falls to Steph and I just hope he\u2019ll put it on frame and give it a chance and he buries it,\u201d Marsch said.
\n\u201cThe hard work from these guys, the character \u2014 they\u2019re Canadian heroes. That\u2019s what I told them at the end. They are now Canadian heroes. I\u2019m so happy for them.\u201d
\nTense match in LA
\nChances were scarce in a cagey first half, with little to separate the sides, who were both playing in the knockout rounds for the first time.
\nCanada\u2019s best opening came just before halftime when a corner sparked a scramble in the South Africa box, Moise Bombito sending a header goalward that was cleared off the line by Aubrey Modiba before Tajon Buchanan\u2019s close-range effort struck Williams in the chest.
\nMoments later, Richie Laryea went down in the area, prompting Canadian appeals for a penalty, but the decision not to award a spot kick stood after a VAR review, prompting loud boos from Canada\u2019s red-clad army of supporters, who dominated the stands.
\nMarsch continued to protest as the teams left the field at halftime, with Bombito appearing to urge him away from the referee.
\nFrustration grew for Canada in the second half as South Africa showed little urgency to press forward while maintaining an impenetrable defence.
\nCanada had another chance just before the second half hydration break when Tani Oluwaseyi\u2019s shot hit the keeper and Jonathan David was unable to head the ricochet home thanks to an excellent defensive effort by Mbekezeli Mbokazi to clear the ball.
\nBut Eustaquio\u2019s strike deep in stoppage time ended Canada\u2019s torment and sent their supporters into raptures.
\nHaving advanced from the group stage for the first time in three World Cup appearances, the co-hosts had to play their first game outside Canada at this year\u2019s World Cup on Sunday, with only three days\u2019 rest after a disappointing 2-1 defeat by Switzerland in their final group-stage match on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Los Angeles Stephen Eustaquio hammered home a rasping strike from the edge of the penalty area in the 92nd minute to give Canada a 1-0 victory over South Africa on Sunday, propelling the co-hosts into the World Cup last 16 for the first time in their history. Eustaquio received the ball on the edge of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":99595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99627,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99607\/revisions\/99627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}