Canadian men's soccer captain proud after World Cup run despite Morocco loss

Stephen Eustáquio was gutted by Canada's World Cup elimination Saturday, but the team's captain is full of pride.

Wearing the armband in place of the injured Alphonso Davies, Eustáquio was outstanding throughout the tournament. The Leamington, Ontario native scored Canada's signature World Cup moment with his goal in the Round of 32 against South Africa. Canada lost 3-0 to Morocco in the Round of 16 but were the better team through the first half, creating chances and pressing aggressively.

"I'm very proud. I think we did an amazing tournament," Eustáquio told TSN after the loss on Saturday, July 4. "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."

The men's program has transformed in nine years. In 2017, Canada was ranked 120th globally and few sports fans could name a single player. That changed after this tournament. Massive fan marches in Vancouver and Toronto, plus enormous watch parties in cities across Canada proved soccer's growing grip on the country. Thousands of fans spent money on expensive trips to Los Angeles and Houston to cheer Canada on in the knockout rounds.

"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 likely target the 2030 FIFA World Cup, being co-hosted by Portugal, Spain, and Morocco. With at least six Concacaf nations set to qualify, Canada will have a strong chance to make a third straight men's World Cup appearance.