If he had to guess which Canadian player was going to score a World Cup knockout match-winner in stoppage time, Mauro Eustáquio wouldn't have picked his brother.
Stephen Eustáquio hadn't scored for Canada since 2023, and had only four in total to his name before he laced that now-iconic strike into the bottom left corner against South Africa last Sunday.
However, Mauro — head coach of Canadian Premier League side Inter Toronto — did point out that, if Stephen was going to score, it would probably have to look like that.
"He's not someone that scores a lot, but a lot of his goals come from those areas," Mauro told CPLsoccer.com this week. "He's always one that closes down the box quite well, and he knows he's there for those second pickups.
"It was a surprise that he scored; I wouldn't put my money on him scoring, but the reality is, where the ball fell, if there's going to be a player there that's used to scoring in those areas, it's him."
Quickly, amid the chaos of celebrating the goal, Mauro noticed who had actually scored it: "When the ball hit the back of the net, and I saw it was him, a lot of joy came through."
Mauro spoke to his brother right after the round-of-32 match, but it wasn't until they chatted again the following day that the weight of it all truly hit both of them.
As the hero of perhaps Canada's greatest ever men's soccer moment, Stephen Eustáquio is becoming a household name in this country. To the Eustáquio brothers themselves, though, their family names — Antunes Eustáquio — carry a more personal weight.
Elder brother Mauro (33) and Stephen (29) have both carved out remarkable careers in the world of professional soccer for a pair of kids who grew up in Leamington, Ontario.
On Sunday, Stephen was visibly emotional in his postmatch interview on TSN, when he was asked about his journey to that moment — and particularly his parents Esmeralda and Armando, who passed away a year apart in 2024 and 2025.
"Everything I do is for my family," he told TSN's Matthew Scianitti, through tears. "For my parents, for my girlfriend, for my daughter, for my brother, for my friends back home, for all of them."
Mauro felt similarly emotional seeing his brother succeed like that on the world stage.
He explained that the two siblings and their parents were extremely close. The family moved to Canada from Nazaré, Portugal when Mauro was a baby and Stephen was not yet born.
"It's one of those situations that it hurts not to have the loved ones close to you, but in our life we've always learned to kind of suffer, but not stop," Mauro said.
"I think everything that [Stephen]'s done for his family, everything that he's done while all four of us were here, it's unbelievable. In times like that, you want your loved ones close to you. Unfortunately, my parents aren't here, but they told us, 'Listen, we gave you guys wings, just keep on doing you,' and that's what he's done."
Stephen, who most recently played for MLS side Los Angeles FC on loan from FC Porto, has become one of Canada's most important players over the last seven years. Jesse Marsch has appointed him vice-captain of the men's national team, and he's worn the armband to start three of Canada's four games so far at the 2026 World Cup.
It wasn't always a guarantee that he would even play for Canada, though; Stephen played for Portugal's U-21s in 2017 before John Herdman convinced him to switch to Canada.
That said, Mauro doesn't think it was ever a hard choice.
"The reality is, he's Canadian, he was born here, he knew he wanted to be someone big in this country and in football," he said. "That decision came very naturally; it came from his gut, from his heart, and you can see how much it means to him, representing Canada."
Now, Stephen Eustáquio has changed Canada's entire soccer landscape with one goal.
With a sudden rush of momentum behind the sport in this country, Mauro believes the game is taking root in a way it never has before.
"After this World Cup, after a moment like this, you're going to have a lot of Canadian youngsters where their favourite player is Canadian," Mauro said. "You're going to have a lot more Alphonso [Davies] fans, a lot more [Jonathan] David fans, a lot more Richie Laryea, Eustáquio.
"There's so many players on the team that are so likeable, there's so many players on that team that have so much talent, that a three- or four-year-old Mauro would definitely choose one of them. Back in the day we were always looking to Europe and different countries to see who our favourite player was. Today, I think the moment has changed."
