Stephen Eustaquio struck a wonderful stoppage-time winner to guide Canada into the World Cup's round of 16 for the first time, as they earned a nervy 1-0 win over South Africa. 

Both sides were playing their first-ever World Cup knockout match, and South Africa were on the cusp of forcing extra time following a resolute defensive performance in Los Angeles.

However, Canada's captain prevented the additional half-hour with a pinpoint strike from the edge of the area, ensuring Jesse Marsch's men will face the Netherlands or Morocco for a quarter-final place next Saturday.

The co-hosts showed far more attacking intent throughout, though it took them 22 minutes to create a real chance as Derek Cornelius failed to make proper contact with Eustaquio's searching free-kick, sending a weak header skipping into Ronwen Williams' arms.

Eustaquio's set-pieces continued to provide Canada's best route to goal as a left-wing corner prompted an almighty scramble, with Aubrey Modiba making a heroic goal-line clearance from Moise Bombito's header and Williams smothering Tajon Buchanan's follow-up.

Richie Laryea then saw a penalty appeal waved away after going down under the challenge of Khuliso Mudau, and Canada went even closer just before the second-half hydration break. 

Niko Sigur slipped Tani Oluwaseyi in behind, but Williams made himself big to block the forward's effort and Mbekezeli Mbokazi brilliantly got in front of Jonathan David to clear before he could follow it in for a tap-in.

Marsch finally introduced the fit-again Alphonso Davies for his first outing of the tournament in the 75th minute, but Canada were still met with fierce resistance from South Africa as both Promise David and Jonathan David tried their luck.

However, just as it looked as though Canada were running out of ideas, Eustaquio took Ime Okon's half-clearance down on his chest before firing into the bottom-left corner to spark wild celebrations.

Eustaquio makes himself at home as Canada seal historic success 

The first round-of-32 tie in World Cup history had a novel feel, with both South Africa and Canada playing their first-ever knockout ties at the tournament. 

And the teams went about their business in very different ways, with Marsch's Canada growing more frenetic in their attacking play as the game went on and South Africa doing everything they could to frustrate the co-hosts. 

Their approach was summed up by the fact Williams broke the record (since 1966) for most successful passes by a goalkeeper in a World Cup match, finishing with 77 to comfortably pass Manuel Neuer's 51 for Germany versus Japan in 2022.

He also made a couple of smart stops to keep Canada at bay, but he was given no chance by the outstanding Eustaquio two minutes into added time. It was a fitting place for his heroics, too, given he is currently on loan at Los Angeles FC from Porto. 

He is only the third active MLS player to score in a knockout-round match at the World Cup, joining Landon Donovan (two goals) and Brian McBride.

Eustaquio had been at the centre of everything positive about Canada's play even before that strike, becoming only the second player on record (since 1966) to create five chances from set-pieces in a World Cup knockout-stage match, after Italy's Andrea Pirlo against Germany in the 2006 semi-finals.

Canada ended the game with 12 shots to South Africa's six, hitting the target seven times while their opponents did so once, while also winning the expected goals (xG) battle by 1.32 to 0.13.