Stephen Eustáquio plays Canada’s World Cup hero as last-minute goal defeats South Africa

After all the subterfuge, after all the sleepless nights, Jesse Marsch reflected on his players before the most important game of their lives — before the first men’s World Cup knockout game in Canada’s history — and went with his runners.

In every position, he took the fastest man he had. He went for lungs, and he went for legs.

It was hearts that decided Sunday’s game in the end.

Stephen Eustáquio — quiet, steady, unheralded — scored in the second minute of stoppage time to claim a historic, last-gasp 1-0 win for Canada. 

“I couldn’t think of a more deserving human being in a group of incredible human beings,” Marsch said after. “Maybe Steph is the most deserving to have a moment like that.”

It was a goal and a game that changed everything. Canada might have been going home. Instead, it will now head for Houston and the Round of 16, where it will face the winner of Monday’s game between Morocco and the Netherlands on July 4.

“Everybody on the team shot that ball with me,” Eustáquio said, because that’s the sort of the thing he always says. “When we fight for each other, when we play for each other, special things like this can happen.”

It was more than special. It was extraordinary. It was the sort of moment that can define more than a player or a team. It will define this generation of Canada’s soccer talent, and it will create the next.

There have never been more eyes on Canada’s men. Los Angeles Stadium was a magnificent stage. There were a few empty seats — likely left unattended by the Korean fans who expected to be there before South Africa’s upset win in the group stage — but the crowd was loud and festive and colourful, a spectacular audience.

Tens of millions more watched during an electric afternoon across the country and in primetime in South Africa and Europe. The game was Sunday’s only fixture, the kickoff to the Round of 32.

For Canada’s players, it was the sort of game that could change the course of their careers. It was an audition for greatness. Out of all of them, Stephen Eustáquio became the name and the face that Canadian soccer fans will remember forever.

“It’s just a moment of magic,” Alistair Johnston, who has also been quietly excellent this tournament, said after. “It’s one of those moments you’ll never forget where you were… It’s a magical, magical thing when you think about it.”

It is, and it took an agonizingly long time to come.

The first half began promisingly enough. With largely the same lineup that looked tentative in the nervy opener against Bosnia-Herzegovina (minus the sorely missed Ismaël Koné), Canada came out with more fight. Its press bordered on the maniacal, and it felt as though it might yield some early dividends.

But the South Africans, who upset Korea by playing cagey, counter-attacking soccer, managed the pressure and slowed the game. If Canada tried to do everything quickly, with urgency, South Africa did everything with a pace-sapping composure.

Canada finally managed to bring the game back up to its level with minutes left in the opening half. Its best chance came on a corner, when Moïse Bombito’s header was cleared off the line, and Tajon Buchanan’s follow up was smartly saved by Ronwen Williams.

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Only minutes later, Canada thought it had a penalty when Richie Laryea was brought down in the box. It was almost certainly a penalty by Premier League standards, but it was the sort of call that hasn’t been given at this World Cup, and it wasn’t given again.

When the whistle blew at half, an enraged Marsch made for the referees before he was held back and redirected by Bombito.

Marsch was likely equally frustrated by his team’s play. It wasn’t a bad half, but it wasn’t as emphatic as he would have liked, and the hydration break flattened Canada. Jonathan David and Tani Oluwaseyi were especially muted up front.

They combined to miss a great chance midway through the second half. Oluwaseyi ran through on a semi-breakaway, and his lunging shot was saved by Williams by a whisper of his wrist. The ball went high, and a charging David probably should have thrown himself harder at it.

Instead, the South Africans cleared another threat.

Marsch soon summoned waves of substitutes, including Alphonso Davies, who made his first appearance for the national team in more than a year.

When he arrived, Eustáquio, who has served admirably as captain in his absence, took off his armband and put it on Davies. That small gesture felt less like a torch passing than a relinquishing, as though Eustáquio had once again accepted his forever place in the background.

It made his gorgeous goal — a long volley into the bottom corner after an incomplete South African clearance — even sweeter for the teammates who enveloped him after. 

“Honestly, one of the perfect guys to score and take us to the next round,” Laryea said. “For him to get that goal, for everything he’s done in this jersey since he’s started, I think it’s special. I’m very happy for him.”

As much as that goal meant to Eustáquio, his teammates, and his country, it was a devastating turn for the South Africans.

It was their first World Cup knockout-round appearance, too, and there were stretches of the game when it seemed their craftier approach might win it, or at least send it to an inevitable-seeming extra time.

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“Obviously, it’s a difficult one,” Williams said. “A lot of tired legs. It wasn’t a dangerous ball inside the box. We had it covered. But I mean, amazing finish, and that’s what you need at this level sometimes. When the game is back and forth, you need someone to have that luck.

“I think luck was on their side today. And that’s how football goes sometimes. The coin falls and it flips for you.”

It’s true that Canada was fortunate to win in some ways. It earned its first place in the Round of 16, absolutely, but the South Africans could have claimed it, and a far different set of memories.

But Eustáquio, the man, wasn’t lucky. He was courageous, and he was tireless, and he was clinical, and he was selfless. When it mattered the most in his life — when he had a moment and a ball and every possible fate in front of him — he took his chance and buried it. 

“I shot,” he said, “with everything I had.”

And then he turned, and he ran, into the arms of history.

Marsch was likely also frustrated by his team’s play. It wasn’t a bad half, exactly, but it wasn’t as emphatic as he would have liked, and the hydration break flattened Canada. Jonathan David and Tani Oluwaseyi were especially muted up front.

They combined to miss a great chance midway through the second half. Oluwaseyi ran through on a semi-breakaway, and his lunging shot was saved by Williams by a whisper of his wrist. The ball went high, and a charging David probably should have thrown himself harder at it.

Instead, the South Africans cleared another threat.

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Marsch soon summoned waves of substitutes, including Alphonso Davies, making his first appearance for the national team in more than a year. When he arrived, Eustáquio, who served as captain in his absence, took the armband off and put it on Davies, less a torch passing than a relinquishing.

But it was Eustáquio who led his team to the Round of 16. His volley from well outside the box was inch perfect.

Last week’s loss against Switzerland meant that Canada had to travel over a border for the first time, one of the three co-hosts now, almost strangely, playing away from home. But if there was a solid second-place reward, it was drawing South Africa in Los Angeles.

There have never been more eyes on Canada’s team. Los Angeles Stadium (SoFi Stadium in normal times) was a magnificent stage. There were some empty seats — likely left unattended by the thousands of Korean fans who expected to be there — but the crowd was loud and festive and colourful, a spectacular audience.

By some fluke of scheduling, after the group stage’s cascade of soccer, the game was Sunday’s only fixture, the kickoff to the Round of 32. Tens of millions more watched during an electric afternoon at home and in primetime in South Africa and Europe.

For Canada, the game meant the world. For some of its players, it was a chance to change the course of their lives.

This was an audition, and for an anointed few, an elevation.

None reached greater heights than Stephen Eustáquio.