Canada
Today's Talking Points
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1Canada's World Cup as co-hosts ended in the Round of 16, beaten 3-0 by Morocco on July 4. Azzedine Ounahi scored twice and Soufiane Rahimi added a third late on, and Canada became the first of the three co-host nations to be eliminated.
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2The high point was history itself: a 1-0 win over South Africa in the Round of 32, Canada's first-ever win in a men's World Cup knockout match. Stephen Eustáquio scored the winner in stoppage time — the biggest goal in the country's World Cup history.
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3Eustáquio's form throughout the tournament was remarkable for a player who isn't a household name outside Canada — he created five chances from set plays in that South Africa game alone, matching a record set in a 2006 World Cup semifinal.
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4Stephen Eustáquio is the name worth knowing — a Portugal-born, LAFC-based midfielder who quietly ran Canada's midfield all tournament, then produced the goal of his life when it mattered most.
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5Being the first co-host eliminated will sting given the occasion, but a first-ever knockout win, on home soil, is a genuine marker for Canadian football — not the end of the story, but proof the program is finally somewhere new.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Canada go out in the last 16 to Morocco, but they'll remember this World Cup for Eustáquio's stoppage-time winner over South Africa — the first knockout win in Canadian World Cup history, and it came at home.
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Avoid saying
Don't write this off as 'well, they were only ever making up the numbers as co-hosts' — a first-ever World Cup knockout win says otherwise, and Canadian fans earned the right to be proud of this one.