INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The tension kept building between two teams making their first appearance in a World Cup knockout match. With no goals on the scoreboard, the minutes ticked down with extra time looming.
Then Stephen Eustáquio scored in the second minute of second-half stoppage time, and Canada beat South Africa 1-0 on Sunday.
“I shot with everything I had,” Eustáquio said.
The party was on, for red-clad fans in the stands at SoFi Stadium and at watch
parties across Canada, one of three World Cup hosts.
“Overall, it’s pretty much a perfect knockout performance,” right back Alistair Johnston said.
Hockey dominates Canada in the winter months. Now, summer belongs to the men's national soccer team.
The country’s previous best men's international result was winning CONCACAF Gold Cup championships in 1985 and 2000. The women's Olympic team won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
"For Canadian sports history, it’s going to be a moment where you’re going to kind of know where you were when that moment happened,” Johnston said. “That’s something that is not lost on us. We know that not only are we writing history in Canadian soccer, but in Canadian sport, and that’s a magical thing.”
Just when it looked like 30 minutes of extra time was coming, Johnston's pass to the right side was cleared to the edge of the box and found Eustáquio, who drilled a clean strike into the bottom corner.
“It’s just a moment of magic and something just comes over your body,” Johnston said. “You see Steph sprinting away and just the whole team sprinting. It’s one of those moments that you’ll never forget.”
Eustáquio became a Canadian hero in Los Angeles, where he played about 10 miles away in downtown for the MLS club LAFC. The 29-year-old midfielder was born in Canada and in his younger days played for Portugal, where his late parents were from.
Eustáquio suffered back-to-back devastating blows when his mother died from brain cancer in 2023 and his father died of a heart attack in 2024. He remains close with his brother, Mauro, a former player and a coach in the Canadian Premier League.
“I couldn’t think of a more deserving human being in a group of incredible human beings, maybe Steph is the most deserving to have a moment like that,” coach Jesse Marsch said. “So I’m really happy for him. I think from somewhere his parents are looking down and they saw that.”
In 2019, Eustáquio committed to play for the Canadian national team.
“Today, we have to enjoy the fact that we made everybody back home proud,” he said. “I am over the moon.”
In the next moment, Eustáquio was quick to come down to Earth.
“I don't want to say that the job is finished,” he said. “We have to be humble, we have to recover well and we know that in six days we’re going to have a very tough team.”
Next up, Canada plays either the Netherlands or Morocco in Houston on July 4.
“We’re going to get a chance now at a true Goliath next weekend,” Johnston said, “and that’s something that we’re all extremely excited about.”
Eustáquio couldn't see the clock to know about how much time was left. Even during the hydration breaks, he wasn't sure.
“There was a little bit of frustration knowing that we didn’t score and they were probably going to score if they kept pushing,” he said, “but Jesse was just trying to remain calm, tell the team to keep pushing.”
The Canadians got a boost when their star player, Alphonso Davies, removed his substitute bib and entered in the 75th minute. He hadn't played in a World Cup match since injuring his hamstring in May with Bayern Munich in a Champions League semifinal.
Eustáquio had served as captain in Davies' absence during the group-stage matches.
“We have a special group. We feel like we are brothers,” Eustáquio said. “When we fight for each other, when we play for each other, special things like this can happen.”
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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
