Stephen Eustáquio proud of Canada's FIFA World Cup run: 'We're finally a soccer country'
Stephen Eustáquio was gutted for Canada to be eliminated from the FIFA World Cup, but he’s also full or pride.
Wearing the captain’s armband in place of the injured Alphonso Davies, Eustáquio had an outstanding tournament. The Leamington, Ont. native gave Canada its signature World Cup moment with his goal in the Round of 32 against South Africa.
Canada put up a valiant effort against No. 6 ranked Morocco in the Round of 16 and were the better team in the first half. While the match ended in a loss, Canadians have a lot to be proud of from this squad.
"We're outstanding. I think everybody back home should be very proud"
Stephen Eustáquio after the loss#FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/4q0MZXVc3N
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) July 4, 2026
“I’m very proud. I think we did an amazing tournament,” Eustáquio told TSN’s Matthew Scianitti post-match. “To be honest, until the halftime of this game, we were outstanding. I think everybody back home should be very proud. We kind of felt like we could have won this game, especially in the first half. We were on top of them. We were fighting. We were creating chances. Set pieces were on point.”
“I just want to tell everybody that the team fought and they gave everything they had, and I’m very proud.”
Canada has come a long way in this sport. (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)
The men’s program has come a long way in the last decade. Nine years ago, Canada was ranked 120th in the world and most sports fans in this country couldn’t name you a single player on the team.
That’s no longer the case after this tournament. Massive fan marches in Vancouver and Toronto, as well as enormous watch parties in cities across Canada are proof of that. Thousands of fans even made expensive trips to Los Angeles and Houston to cheer Canada on in the knockout round.
“We felt always the love back home from the Canadians. I think we’re finally a soccer country,” Eustáquio said. “We need this support to go forward. We’re going to enter another cycle of four years (until the next World Cup). The youngsters here, they need your guys’ support throughout the four years so that we make sure that we can go even further in the next World Cup.”
The 29-year-old Portuguese-Canadian will surely love nothing more than to play in the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which is being co-hosted by Portugal, Spain, and Morocco. With at least six countries from the Concacaf region set to qualify, Canada will have a good chance to make a third straight men’s World Cup appearance.