Who is the referee for South Africa vs Canada?

The group stage is over. Bring on the knockout stage.

The World Cup round of 32 kicks off with just a single game on Sunday as co-hosts and Group B runners-up Canada play on neutral ground for the first time this summer.

Standing before them are another second-placed side, Group A runners-up South Africa, who booked passage through to this stage with a victory over South Korea last time out.

Joao Pinheiro showed a straight red card in his only other game at this World Cup (Image credit: Getty Images)

No other games will be played on Sunday, allowing this game to take centre-stage.

The clash is set to be played at SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles area, with kick-off set for midday local time (8pm UK time).

Joao Pinheiro is at his first major international tournament (Image credit: Getty Images)

The referee for the occasion is Portugal’s Joao Pinheiro.

This will be the 38 year old’s second game of this World Cup, which is Pinheiro’s first-ever major international tournament outing.

His last game was Switzerland’s somewhat bizarre victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the Swiss running out 4-1 winners despite not opening the scoring until the 74th minute.

That late flurry of goals came after Pinheiro showed Bosnian Tarik Muharemovic a straight red card for a DOGSO offence with ten minutes to go.

Fellow Portuguese Bruno Jesus and Luciano Maia will be the linesmen.

Canada won their first two games before losing to Switzerland to finish second in their group (Image credit: Getty Images)

UAE’s Omar Al Ali will be the fourth official, with Mohamed Al-Hammadi serving as the reserve official.

Details of the VAR crew are yet to be confirmed at time of writing.