The "Canadian national team hero" dedicated the victory to his late father and mother after scoring the winning goal to lead the team into the 2026 World Cup Round of 16.
Following Canada’s 1-0 win over South Africa in the 2026 World Cup Round of 32, securing the first spot to advance to the Round of 16, Stephen Eustáquio scored the decisive goal in stoppage time at the end of the match.
The hero who scored Canada’s winning goal broke down in tears after the game when asked about the deaths of his father and mother during a post-match interview. In 2023, he lost his mother, Esmeralda, to brain cancer, and a year later, his father Armando died from a heart attack.
Matthew Scianitti from TSN, a Canadian media outlet, asked, “I want to talk about what you’ve been through — losing both your father and mother in recent years. In the coming years, how will you remember this? How do you think about your family right now?”
Eustáquio replied, “Everything I do is for my family, for my parents, for my girlfriend, for my daughter, for my little brother, for my friends back home, for all of them.”
Scianitti responded, “Canada thanks you very much, Eustáquio.”