Co-hosts Canada defeated South Africa 1-0 in their Round of 32 match of FIFA World Cup 2026 at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Updated: June 29, 2026, 11:25 AM IST
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Canada’s Stephen Eustaquio (centre) celebrates after scoring against South Africa in FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match. (Photo: IANS)
Canada vs South Africa FIFA World Cup 2026: Stephen Eustaquio was born in Ontario by moved to Portugal as a child and even represented Cristiano Ronaldo’s team in at the Under-21 level in 2017 and 2018 season. But Eustaquio decided to shift base back to Canada in 2019 and made his senior team debut the same year. What was Portugal’s loss has proved to be Canada’s gain as he has powered the co-hosts to the Round of 16 stages with his match-winning goal in the 92nd minute against South Africa at the Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood on Sunday.
Eustaquio is now only the fifth player in the history of the World Cup to have scored in the 90th minute of World Cup knock outs after Edgar Davids (1998), Francesco Totti (2006), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (2014) and Nacer Chadli (2018). Soon after the match-winning strike, Canada’s goal-scoring hero burst into tears after remembering his late parents.
In 2023, Eustaquio lost his mother Esmeralda to brain cancer and a year later his father Armando also died after suffering a heart attack. “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 after the match.
WATCH Stephen Eustaquio’s match-winning goal HERE…
THAT match-winning goal from Stephen Eustáquio!❤️ https://t.co/NA89JAtfuR pic.twitter.com/RPX1FcUKeu
— Zunair Awan (@2917Zunii) June 28, 2026
Canada coach Jesse Marsch huddled his players on the grass and spoke from his heart. “You guys are Canadian heroes today! Canadian heroes for the future children of this country who play this sport. The sport has a big future because of you guys. You should be so proud of who you are. You should be so proud of this game. You never lost belief. You went after it, point after point, moment after moment. You are Canadian heroes!” Marsch said.
After more than 90 minutes of frustration to break down the ‘Bafana Bafana’ defence at the SoFi Stadium, Canada made history when Alistair Johnston’s long pass into the box was cleared directly into the path of Eustaquio, who slotted into the winner.
The midfielder is a profession with Los Angeles FC, chested down the ball and blasted it into the bottom corner of goalkeeper Ronwen Williams net.
“We worked for it. We have a special group. We feel like we are brothers. When we fight for each other, when we play for each other, special things like this can happen. I am over the moon, but at the same time I don’t want to say that the job is finished,” Eustaquio was quoted as saying by AP news agency.
Canada, who are currently ranked 30th in the FIFA world rankings, moved into the Round of 16 where they will face the winners of Netherlands or Morocco clash in Houston on Saturday.
(How to watch and stream FIFA World Cup 2026 in India: Multiple group-stage matches that will take place simultaneously will be aired across Zee5 app and website. Link: https://www.zee5.com/)
