Cape Verde will continue to grab the headlines by becoming the smallest nation to ever reach the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup but there were other note-worthy moments including South Africa, Côte d'Ivoire and DR Congo progressing past the group stages for the first time.
Here is a round-up of the biggest stories from across North America this week.
South Africa
As they did in 2010, South Africa kicked off the World Cup against co-hosts Mexico as their low pre-tournament expectations were only reinforced by a disappointing 2-0 defeat.
A point against Czech Republic in a 1-1 share of the spoils put them in a strong position to qualify if they were victorious against South Korea in their final group stage clash.
Thalepo Masesko proved to be the hero for Bafana Bafana with the 22-year-old's strike just after the hour-mark booking a tie with Canada in Los Angeles tonight.
Morocco
Widely touted as a dark horse for the tournament, Mohamed Ouahbi's side have certainly lived up to the billing and progressed to the round of 32 having finished as runners-up in Group C.
They started strong with a 1-1 draw with Brazil before edging past Scotland in a 1-0 win thanks to Ismael Saibari's strike inside two minutes. A thrilling 4-2 comeback win over Haiti secured back-to-back knockout-stage appearances for the first time in their history with late strikes from Soufiane Rahimi and Gessime Yassine securing the three points.
Morocco will now face the Netherlands in the early hours of Tuesday morning in one of the standout matches of the tournament thus far.
Côte d'Ivoire
Les Elephants have been one of the surprise packages this summer, spearheaded by the sought-after hot prospect Yan Diamonde, and will feel they have the squad to progress to the latter stages.
After edging past Ecuador and producing an encouraging display against Germany despite defeat, a meeting with minnows Curaçao presented the perfect opportunity to unleash their attacking superiority.
While Dick Advocaat's side proved tricky opponents, the quality of Côte d'Ivoire shone through as a Nicolas Pepe brace either side of half-time saw them run out as 2-0 victors and will now meet Norway on Tuesday.
Tunisia
The only African side not to progress to the round of 32, it's fair to say Tunisia have had a disastrous tournament.
The mid-tournament sacking of Sabri Lamouchi in place of Herve Renard after the opening 5-1 humiliation by Sweden failed to arrest their downfall. An inexperienced squad wasn't helped by a difficult group but losing 4-0 to Japan and then a 3-0 loss to Netherlands underpinned their struggles.
Cape Verde
The Blue Sharks continued their fairytale run with a third successive draw enough to make yet more history on the biggest stage.
They quickly showed they weren't in North America just to make up the numbers after holding Spain and Uruguay to draws which meant another point in a favourable meeting with Saudi Arabia in their final match would seal their progression.
A handful of chances came their way throughout but couldn't find the breakthrough with Uruguay's defeat to Spain meaning Cape Verde had done enough, creating a David versus Goliath tie with holders Argentina on Friday.
Egypt
In what could be Mohamed Salah's final World Cup, Egypt remained unbeaten and produced a series of impressive performances in the group stages to progress.
A hard-fought draw with Belgium in their opening match set the tone before producing a clinical display to beat New Zealand 4-1. This put them in the driving seat to top Group G as they met Iran but it was honours even as Ramin Rezaeian cancelled out Mahmoud Saber's opener.
This meant Egypt finished second and now head to Dallas on Friday as they lock horns with Australia.
Senegal
Two defeats from two saw Senegal needing a comprehensive win over Iraq to stand any chance of progressing as a third-place nation after both France and Norway had already qualified.
Abdoulaye Seck's fourth-minute header and Rebin Sulaka's dismissal just nine minutes later handed the Lions of Teranga the perfect platform to run riot and they did just that.
Pape Gueye's second-half brace as well as strikes from Ismaila Sarr and Iliman Ndiaye completed a 5-0 rout as Senegal progress to face Belgium.
Algeria
The Fennec Foxes scraped through as a third-place nation with a point against Austria in an entertaining 3-3 draw seeing them progress to the knockout stages for the first time since 2014.
It looked like Algeria would go through in second, despite losing to Argentina and beating Jordan, thanks to Riyad Mahrez's strike three minutes into additional time to take a 3-2 lead. However, the towering Sasa Kalajdzic of Wolverhampton Wanderers had the final say thanks to his header from point-blank range to seal a late draw.
Vladimir Petkovic's side still progressed though and lock horns with Switzerland on Friday morning.
DR Congo
In their first World Cup in 52 years, DR Congo have been one of the success stories of the tournament so far with a 3-1 victory over Uzbekistan proving enough to progress.
A resilient draw with Portugal in their opener was followed by a narrow defeat to Colombia so beating Fabio Cannavaro's side would send them through. The Leopards had an early scare when Eldor Shomurodov put Uzbekistan ahead but a second-half brace from Yoanne Wissa as well as Fiston Mayele's strike secured their first win on the biggest stage.
They will remain in Atlanta when they face England on Wednesday.
Ghana
Having an opportunity to top the group if results went their way, Ghana had to settle for a spot as one of the best third-place nations after losing to Croatia.
Derrick Luckassen thought he had rescued a point to equalise following Petar Susic's opener from distance but former West Ham United man Nikola Vlasic had the final say with his goal seven minutes from time.
It was an impressive group stage campaign for the Black Stars who meet Colombia in the final round of 32 meeting on Saturday morning.
