It was a scene plucked from a movie, played out at Los Angeles Stadium, in the home of Hollywood, and against the grand setting of the FIFA World Cup 2026. With the clock running down in stoppage time and the score tied 0-0, Canada’s Stephen Eustaquio received the ball on the edge of South Africa’s penalty box. Then, he hammered it past diving goalkeeper Ronwen Williams to send his team into the World Cup’s round of 16 for the first time in their history.
Eustaquio’s winner provided a thrilling conclusion to the first knockout-round match of the tournament on Sunday. It might just be the most prolific one of his career so far.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
Here’s everything we know about the 29-year-old man of the hour:
Canada’s Stephen Eustaquio celebrates after his goal gives Canada the 1-0 lead in their round of 32 match against South Africa, in Los Angeles, US, on June 28 [Scott Strazzante/EPA]
From Canada to Portugal, and back again
Born in Leamington, Ontario, to Portuguese parents, football was almost Eustaquio’s birthright He began playing at the age of four and flip-flopped between his home country and his parents’ throughout his career.
His youth experience started at Leamington Minor Soccer before the family moved to Portugal. Seven-year-old Eustaquio and his older brother, Mauro, played at a club level before Eustaquio signed with Portuguese second-tier club Leixoes in 2017 and then moved to GD Chaves in 2018.
A year later, Eustaquio moved to Cruz Azul in the Mexican Liga MX, before going on loan to Pacos de Ferreira, where he debuted in January 2020. He made his European debut in August that year and scored the third goal of the 4-0 against Larne at the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Eustaquio finally made it to the Primeira Liga in January 2022, when he was loaned to Porto, who eventually bought him in May that year.
His most recent move was to Major League Soccer (MLS) side Los Angeles FC in February 2026, on loan for four months with the option to sign.
Back-to-back deaths of parents
It was during a Porto home fixture against Santa Clara in April 2023 that Eustaquio’s mother, Esmeralda, died of brain cancer. A year later, his father died of a sudden heart attack. Shortly before this, Eustaquio and his girlfriend, Constanta, welcomed a baby girl, Benedita.
“Everything I do is for my family, for my parents, for my girlfriend, for my daughter, for my brother, for my friends back home – for all of them,” Eustaquio said during a post-match interview at Los Angeles Stadium, which brought out some raw emotions for the midfielder.
In an interview with Sports Net Canada in September 2024, Mauro Eustaquio, the head coach of Inter Toronto FC, said that he and Stephen made a conscious decision to come to terms with the grief and honour their parents’ lives.
“Our parents… they gave us wings. So now it’s up to us to fly.”
“We’re thankful for both of us to be doing something that we absolutely love,” Mauro said.
The former footballer-turned-coach said in the same interview that Leamington’s sizeable Portuguese community was where families gathered and children, like himself and Stephen, played football regularly.
Sixty caps for Canada
Eustaquio began his international youth career for Canada, which he represented at the 2012 AGS Cup. He dabbled in youth football for Portugal in the U-21 team in the 2019 UEFA European Championship qualifiers.
Eustaquio committed to playing for Canada at a senior level in February 2019, and received his first call-up in October for the CONCACAF Nations League fixture. He went on to play in the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup, where he scored his first international goal. He played at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, the 2023 CONCACAF Nations League final, and for Porto in the 2025 FIFA World Cup.
“We worked a lot to get this victory. We really want to give this win to all the Canadians,” said Eustaquio after Sunday’s match, in which he was the stand-in captain as Alphonso Davies was off the pitch with an injury.
“We kept believing and kept pushing. We couldn’t imagine it any other way.
“It was an amazing goal, but when I shot, I felt everybody shot with me. Everybody put a little bit of power on it, and it went into the back of the net,” Eustaquio said of his sixth goal for Canada on his 61st appearance for the 2026 World Cup cohosts.
