FIFA World Cup: Round of 32 bracket, schedule, predictions, Iran’s exit

FIFA World Cup: Round of 32 bracket, schedule, predictions, Iran’s exitKnockout matches begin with South Africa vs Canada as Iran exit, Africa make history and hopes for Messi-Ronaldo final rise.Published On 28 Jun 2026The knockout stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup begins on Sunday with South Africa taking on Canada in the first round of 32 tie.With the group stage complete, the full knockout bracket is now set. Nine African nations have reached the round of 32, Iran were eliminated after Algeria’s late qualification and the draw has left the door open to a Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo final.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Who’s playing whom in the World Cup 2026 last-32 knockout phase?list 2 of 4DR Congo fans celebrate reaching World Cup knockout stagelist 3 of 4South Africa and Canada open World Cup round of 32 – all to knowlist 4 of 4VIDEO: World Cup Day 17: Messi breaks record; DR Congo and Algeria advanceend of listHere’s the full round of 32 schedule, the South Africa vs Canada prediction and the latest World Cup news:What is Sunday’s schedule? South Africa vs Canada at Los Angeles Stadium, California, in the United States at noon (19:00 GMT). What are the predictions for South Africa vs Canada?This will be only the second meeting between South Africa and Canada. The sides’ only previous encounter ended in a 2-0 win for Bafana Bafana in a friendly in Durban in 2007.Canada, however, will be looking to end another unwanted record. They have lost both of their previous competitive matches against African opposition, falling 2-0 to Cameroon at the 2001 Confederations Cup before a 2-1 defeat to Morocco at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.Despite that history, the Opta supercomputer shows Canada as the clear favourites. They won 55 percent of 25,000 pre-match simulations while South Africa triumphed in 20 percent. The remaining 24.9 percent of its calculations ended level after 90 minutes, which would send the tie to extra time and potentially penalties.Overall, Canada are given a 67.8 percent chance of reaching the quarterfinals, compared with 32.2 percent for South Africa.When and where will the other knockout matches be played?Monday