Both South Africa and Canada will be appearing in the World Cup finals for the first time.
Published June 27, 2026
South African manager Hugo Bruce laughed a lot and groaned a little as he prepared for the biggest game of his 38-year career as a tactician.
Bafana Bafana (The Boys), who reached the finals of the World Cup for the first time, will face Canada in their first last-32 match in Los Angeles on Sunday.
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The 74-year-old Belgian grandfather’s joy comes from succeeding where various coaches, including famous Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira, have failed.
Winger Thapelo Maseko’s goal gave South Africa a 1-0 win over higher-ranked South Korea in midweek, securing them second place in Group A and qualifying for the finals.
This was a triumphant end to a mini-league campaign that started with a poor performance for Bafana two weeks ago, with a 2-0 loss to co-hosts Mexico.
They improved slightly in a 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic thanks to Teboho Mokoena’s late penalty, but many South Africans were feeling pessimistic ahead of the match against South Korea.
But the team won, showing a passion that had been largely absent from previous games. A more clinical finish would have given Mexico a wider margin of victory.
Looking back on the victory over South Korea, Bours told AFP that the team he has coached since 2021 “believed in themselves.”
Bruce, who led Cameroon to victory at the 2017 African Cup of Nations (AFCON), said: “It was a very emotional moment for us to get through the group stage for the first time.”
“We weren’t good against Mexico, but we were a little better against the Czech Republic. I mean, we had to beat South Korea. There was a lot of pressure on us, but we did it.
“We’re ready to play against the Canadians. My team will play for 90 minutes, longer if necessary. Let’s hope for another good result.”
If South Africa defeats Canada, who is 22nd above them in the world rankings, they will face either the Netherlands or Morocco in a tie for the last 16.
However, while happy after being eliminated from the first round of the 1998, 2002 and 2010 World Cups, the Blues were also angry at some of the criticism after losing to Mexico.
“There’s been a lot of criticism from current and former coaches, players and some supporters. They should know that I’m doing things my own way.
“I don’t read trash on social media. I don’t listen to people who think they’re important. They’re better off shut up. They’re better off shut up.”
“Someone suggested that a statue should be erected by South Africans in my honor. I told them to make it out of wood so that it would burn quickly if it failed.”
After the 2010 World Cup, South Africa endured a decade of slump, often missing out on AFCON qualification and missing out on three consecutive World Cup tournaments.
When Bruce took over as manager in 2021, fewer than 200 people attended Bafana. Before departing for the 2026 World Cup, they attracted 50,000 supporters for a warm-up match.
After finishing third in the 2024 AFCON and advancing through the 2026 World Cup qualifying group that included Nigeria, Bafana slumped.
They were eliminated in the last 16 of the 2025 AFCON, but went winless in seven games before beating South Korea.
Bruce partly blamed AFCON’s premature exit from Morocco on allegations that he was a racist and sexist ahead of the African Games.
Angered by centre-back Mbekezeli Mbokazi’s late arrival to training, Mr Brus said the player would “enter a hotel room as a black man and leave as a white man”.
A South African Football Association official defended Bruce, telling AFP: “It was an unfortunate choice of words for a tongue-lashing in a country with a problematic racial background.”
Bours, who was part of the Belgium squad that reached the semi-finals of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, was also unhappy that Mbokazi chose to leave Soweto club Orlando Pirates for Chicago Fire this year rather than move to Europe.
He described the defender’s mixed-race agent as a “nice lady who thinks she knows a lot about football”. None of the lawmakers’ threats of charges of racism or sexism materialized.
