World Cup 1/16 Finals Begin: Canada Faces South Africa

The World Cup has reached the knockout stage, and tonight at 22:00 the first Round of 16 match is scheduled, where host nation Canada takes on South Africa, who advanced from the group stage through the playoffss. Canadian forward Promise David has scored one goal during the tournament and provided one assist.

The FIFA World Cup 2026 has reached a critical phase, the group stage is complete and tonight, Saturday 28 June, the Round of 16 begins. The first knockout match will see one of the tournament's host nations Canada face off against South Africa at 22:00, who qualified for the playoffs through the final group stage match.

Canadian forward Promise David has drawn attention, with South African national team experience and a previous stint at Estonian top-league club Nõmme Kalju on his CV. In the current World Cup, David has scored one goal against Switzerland in the group stage's final match and additionally provided one assist.

South Africa reached the knockout stage as the last qualifier from their group, but the tournament has shown that advancing from the group stage does not guarantee anything in itself; the playoffs starts everything from scratch.

The knockout schedule is tight: all 16 Round of 16 pairings and exact match times are available in Õhtuleht's special World Cup section. A text-based live blog tracks each match day in real time, and with the help of artificial intelligence, match events are also covered in live blog format during evening hours.