{"id":1987,"date":"2026-06-29T10:19:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T10:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=1987"},"modified":"2026-06-29T10:19:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T10:19:55","slug":"late-eustaquio-goal-sends-canada-into-first-world-cup-round-of-16-eliminates-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/29\/late-eustaquio-goal-sends-canada-into-first-world-cup-round-of-16-eliminates-south-africa\/sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Late Eust\u00e1quio goal sends Canada into first World Cup Round of 16, eliminates South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"678\" height=\"452\" src=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1989\" style=\"width:840px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images-1.jpg 678w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images-1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 678px) 100vw, 678px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stephen Eust\u00e1quio scored deep into stoppage time to give Canada a 1-0 victory over South Africa on Sunday, sending the co-hosts into the Round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup for the first time in the men&#8217;s team&#8217;s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With extra time moments away, Eust\u00e1quio fired home from the edge of the penalty area to cap a hard-fought contest and spark celebrations among Canadian players and fans at Los Angeles Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"538\" src=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6a41901b702a8.image_-1024x538.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1990\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6a41901b702a8.image_-1024x538.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6a41901b702a8.image_-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6a41901b702a8.image_-768x403.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6a41901b702a8.image_.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The victory also gave Canada its first win in the knockout stage of a men&#8217;s World Cup, extending a remarkable tournament for a team that had never previously advanced beyond the group stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Captain Alphonso Davies made his tournament debut after recovering from injury, entering as a substitute in the 75th minute. His introduction energized Canada&#8217;s attack as the pressure mounted before Eust\u00e1quio broke the deadlock in added time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">South Africa defended resolutely for much of the match and created several scoring opportunities but could not find a breakthrough against Canada&#8217;s disciplined back line. The defeat ended an impressive campaign for Bafana Bafana, who reached the knockout stage for the first time after advancing from Group A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Canada&#8217;s run marks a dramatic turnaround for a program that had lost all six of its previous World Cup matches before this tournament. The co-hosts now stand one win away from reaching the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6a41901de7e0f.image_.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1991\" style=\"width:840px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6a41901de7e0f.image_.jpg 750w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6a41901de7e0f.image_-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Canada will face either Morocco or the Netherlands in the Round of 16 on July 4 in Houston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Round of 32 continues Monday with Brazil playing Japan and Germany facing Paraguay. Morocco and the Netherlands will meet later Monday to determine Canada&#8217;s next opponent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stephen Eust\u00e1quio scored deep into stoppage time to give Canada a 1-0 victory over South Africa on Sunday, sending the co-hosts into the Round of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,36,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot_topics","category-international","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1992,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987\/revisions\/1992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}