News, goals, and analysis – only on the official A BOLA app. World Cup World Cup For the first time in the history of the World Cup, a host nation will be forced to play a match outside its borders. Canada, one of the three countries organizing the 2026 World Cup, will have to travel to Los Angeles, United States, to face South Africa in the Round of 32. This unprecedented fact comes after the Canadian team’s defeat against Switzerland, which resulted in the loss of the home advantage. During the group stage, Canada played its matches in Vancouver and Toronto. It is worth noting that, until now, all hosts have always played their matches on their own territory. This has happened in both single-host World Cups and in cases of co-hosting, such as in 2002, when South Korea and Japan never left their respective countries. At that time, although the schedule could have allowed for crossovers between the two countries, the routes of the teams or the fact that they did not advance far enough in the competition prevented this from happening. The current format of the World Cup, with 48 teams and three venues, thus opens the door to these unique situations, with Canada having to play in the neighboring country as the visiting team.
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