Canada v South Africa Betting Markets
The first of the round of 32 matches at the 2026 World Cup takes place on Sunday 28 June, with the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles hosting a clash between Canada and South Africa. The co-hosts would have dearly loved to have remained on home soil, although a 2-1 defeat against Switzerland in their final Group B encounter means that Les Rouges will now have to travel south to line up here.
Canada began their campaign with a 1-1 draw against Bosnia when they came from behind to secure a point. Then followed a 6-0 hammering of Qatar before that defeat against the Swiss. Those performances were on the whole encouraging. It explains why the bookies make the Canadians a 1.70 chance to claim a normal time win against South Africa.
There's only 1.33 available that the Canucks go through by hook or by crook. It's certainly a favourable fixture against a South Africa side who have looked plain ordinary so far. They barely laid a glove on Mexico in the tournament opener at the Azteca. Then came a match against Czechia where they fell behind before being kindly awarded a penalty.
That point ended up being precious. Bafana Bafana were able to grind out a 1-0 success against South Korea and they are priced at bigger than 4/1 to get a normal time win. It gives them a less than 20% chance of success in ninety minutes, although you could argue that they have been defensively sound since caving in against Mexico.
The pressure will be on the hard-working hosts, with Canada motivated to get the job done. We are happy to consider a 1-0 or 2-0 win in favour of the Canucks. Once they get their noses in front, they might well steer themselves to the end.
Goals Under/Over
The bookies have already priced up this market and Under 2.5 Goals is priced at 1.66 to happen. This suggests that there's a 60% chance that there will be two or less scored during the ninety minutes. It's pretty typical to find that sort of odds when it comes to the knockout stage of the World Cup. Statistically, the numbers tend to drop when there's more jeopardy involved.
We think this game could be fairly straightforward. In the sense that Canada are likely to force the issue against opponents who finished second in arguably the weakest group of the tournament. A goal or two goals will see the Canucks probably keep Bafana Bafana at bay. The only converted efforts from the African side were a penalty against the Czechs and a winner against South Korea.
BTTS
As we've explained above, South Africa might struggle to score. They are certainly not full of goals. Their Expected Goals number throughout the group stage was super low. They could barely leave their half against Mexico, didn't look like scoring against a poor Czechia team before Thapelo Maseko scored a second-half winner in a tight game against South Korea.
Forward player Evidence Makgopa has a modest six goals across twenty-nine games and he's not that prolific for Orlando Pirates. The central attacking midfielder Relebohile Mofokeng has only notched one goal during fifteen games for his country and we're fairly confident that Canada can stop the South Africans.
Therefore, the best bet we could probably go for is BTTS No. You can combine this with a Canada win and you stand to potentially land a return. Although the Canucks lost 2-1 to Switzerland in their final group game, their XG was pretty strong at 1.66 compared to their opponents' tally of 1.11.
Captain Jonathan David can certainly pack a punch in an attacking position, with Cyle Larin also pressing for a start. The chance creation should be strong and earn a straightforward win.
First Goalscorer
Jonathan David will lead out the co-hosts and the Canadian forward has notched forty-two goals across eighty international appearances. The player has struggled to make a scoring impact for Juventus since arriving in Turin in 2025, although he was previously able to find the net for Lille on a consistent basis. That came after scoring plenty of goals for Gent.
Cyle Larin has shone for Southampton for much of the previous season and he's also capable of adding some cutting-edge to the team. The 31-year-old has scored thirty-two goals across ninety-three games for his country.
Promise David is definitely pressing for inclusion after scoring as a substitute against Switzerland and it was a well-taken goal, with Nathan Saliba able to find the net as part of that 6-0 win against Qatar. However, it was Jonathan David who was able to score a hat-trick on that occasion and he could be the man to fire the team in front.
As for South Africa, Teboho Mokoena converted a penalty against the Czechs and perhaps he's the best option as any Bafana Bafana goal could be from the spot kick.