29 June 2026 – Bafana Bafana bowed out of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after a heart-breaking stoppage time 0-1 defeat to tournament co-hosts Canada in a Last 32 match played at the Los Angeles Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Stephen Eustáquio broke South African hearts when he powered Canada to the Last 16 of the global tournament following his goal scored in the 92nd minute. The Canadians will now face either Morocco or the Netherlands in the next round.
“We are disappointed because we wanted to win. It would have been a little miracle to get to the third round, but we do not have to be too disappointed. What we achieved here was good, and I am very happy and very proud of my team,” coach Hugo Broos said.
SAFA President Dr Danny Jordaan said while the defeat was disappointing, Bafana Bafana can hold their heads high after making history during this tournament.
“It is sad that we are bowing out of the World Cup today, but we have to applaud this team after what they did in this tournament. They made history on Wednesday this week when we qualified for the second round for the first time ever after beating South Korea 1-0 in the last group match in Monterrey. We will take this with us when we go back home and build on it,” said Dr Jordaan.
South African Football: Benni McCarthy , a former player for both Ajax Cape Town and Orlando Pirates, is South Africa’s all-time leading goal scorer in the national team.
Spunky Comet
So I\’m real good friends with this guy named Juan Ted. Now, Juan is a pretty astonishing guy. He can steal ANYTHING he wants to. Literally anything. It could be the shirt off your back, the wallet in your pocket, or I\’m even sure he\’d find a way to steal your house (And your spouse too). So anyway, one day Juan and I are sitting around watching TV, and they announced that the hope diamond will not be on display anymore and is now getting moved to an undisclosed location. So as we hear this, Juan says \”I\’m gonna steal it\”. Now I know how good Juan is at this kind of stuff, so I just tell him good luck and he goes on his way. Eventually he narrows his search down to a small cave in South Africa. When Juan gets there, he doesn\’t see any guards or anything outside the cave, so he just walks in assuming he was wrong about where the diamond was. He wanders around for a while until he sees a long lit hallway with the hope diamond at the end of it. Confident in his abilities, he strolls over to the diamond and picks it up before realizing its a trap! Suddenly, red lights flashed, armed men came running out, sirens went off. You could hear one of the men say under his breath \”We finally caught Juan Ted.\” But Juan, being the best thief in the world, said \”Not quite. On the count of three, I will disappear.\” As the men looked around confused, Juan began to count. \”Uno. Dos.\” And he disappeared without a tres.
Moonflower
Fun South African Fact: The South African Rovos Rail is considered the most luxurious train in the world.