All-action hero Eustaquio nets injury time winner to send Canada to round of 16

Two years later, in Los Angeles, he found the purpose of his life. To score the most historic goal yet in Canada’s football history, the one that stamped their boarding pass to its first-ever round of 16 encounter. The exact moment came a minute and twenty seconds into the stoppage time, when the game seemed meandering into the inevitability of extra time and potentially the shootouts.

But pounced in Canada’s man of destiny. South Africa, largely defensive, were gunning for a late winner. A cross from Alastair Johnston was cleared in the sparsely populated South African box. But before any of the Bafana Bafana personnel could hoof the ball away, Eustáquio swept in and gathered the ball. A wave of yellow shirts lashing in, he calmly took a touch, and with the second smoked the ball into the bottom-left. In that precise moment, Canada, easily the more superior and attacking team of the afternoon, saw their names written in the skies. Eustáquio sank on the green baize and wept. “It’s the greatest night of my life,” he said after the match, and with eyes welling, he remembered his parents. “Everything I do is for my family, for my parents…” he choked for words, and regaining his composure added: “For my girlfriend, for my daughter, for my brother, for my friends back home, family.”

A wave of yellow shirts lashing in, Eustaquio calmly took a touch, and with the second smoked the ball into the bottom-left. (AP Photo)

For the 90-odd minutes, though, he was a model of composure. The game was at times wild and erratic, tempers boiling on the edge. Canada squandered a slew of opportunities, some owing to lacklustre finishing, some due to their tenacious defending. Eustáquio would exhort his teammates to cool down. There was a particularly precarious moment Canada thought they had a penalty, just before half-time, when Thapelo Maseko clattered Richie Laryea down the ground. Some of his colleagues encircled him and urged to consult the VAR. They kept pestering him and the referee was about to brandish a yellow card for dissent. Eustáquio intervened, dragged his teammates apart and apologised to the referee. At the break, an incensed coach Jesse Marsch seemed to interrogate the referee before he again played the pacifier. Whenever a teammate of his seemed dejected at missed chances, he would wrap an arm of comfort around him. His teammate Moïse Bombito once said: “He is like a brother, on the pitch or off it, he is the guy always with you.” “He does a lot of dirty work, you wouldn’t notice,” Laryea said.

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The Bayern Munich full-back Alphonso Davies might be Canada’s most famous footballer, but Eustáquio could claim he is the most loved, and arguably, their most important player. He is the midfield engine; every pass goes through him; every attack begins with him. He is the first line of defence, nipping counterattacks in the bud, and recirculating the ball.

A break-up of his numbers against South Africa would confirm why he is their most invaluable player. Successful passes: 43/48; Possession won: 6; accurate crosses: 5/7 (most by any player). chances created: 5 (most); duels won: 5; tackles: 3; passed into the final third: 4; big chances created: 5. And the most important number: one goal. “He embodies everything we want in this football country to be moving forward,” Canada’s former coach John Herdman would say.

Yet, it nearly did not happen. “When my mother was diagnosed with cancer, my world fell apart. I.wondered why I was playing when I had to be with her.” His mother would still come to watch him play—he was with Portuguese club Porto then. One day, he didn’t find his mother, and he was substituted soon after half-time. No one conveyed him the news. But the locker room was awkwardly silent. And he knew.

He was born in Ontario, Canada, but shifted to Lisbon when he was barely 10. His parents were mad about football, but they didn’t have the means to support him or his elder brother. But Eustáquio found his own ways. He didn’t have money to be a paid member of the gym. So he began doing an internship at a local gym. The parents would take him to trials at every club in Lisbon, but most rejected him because they thought he was too weak. Finally, Nazarenos enrolled. “My mother would drive me down every day. She was a keen observer, and gave me a detailed analysis. She patiently listened to me,” he said.

The senior club career never really soared. In 13 years, he turned up for nine clubs, the stint at Porto being the most fruitful. He is still on Porto’s rolls, even though loaned to MLS side Los Angeles FC, on whose home ground, he scored a goal that Canada would remember forever, and that gave his life a new meaning.