On Sunday afternoon, Canada’s vice captain Stephen Eustáquio scored a superb stoppage-time winner in the World Cup round of 32 against South Africa to take his nation through to a round of 16 match against Morocco.

Born in Canada, Eustáquio moved to Portugal with his Portuguese parents and his brother Mauro, at the age of seven. His play was nurtured through Portuguese academies and he has played over 100 times for Porto since signing for the club in 2022, but he is currently on loan at MLS side LAFC. For Eustáquio, aged 29, it has been a challenging journey to the top, and he lost both parents; his father Armando and his mother Esmeralda in the space of 13 months between 2023 and 2024.

Here, his brother Mauro, a coach in his own right at Canadian Premier League team Inter Toronto, and a former Canada youth international, shares his pride at his brother’s achievements, while paying tribute to the sacrifices made by their parents to enable their children’s success.

When we were growing up in Leamington, Ontario, Dad was a fisherman and Mom worked at the fish factory. It was basically the same place, but at different companies. Dad worked on one of the boats, helped catch the fish, which would then go to the factory and my mom would work on it.

Mom and Dad worked long, hard hours by Lake Erie. As a fisherman, you gotta be out of the house by 3 a.m.. Then Mom’s shift started at 6 a.m. at the factory. We were dropped off at my grandma’s to catch the bus to school.

As an adult, I can now see even more clearly how Mom and Dad invested everything in us. Between them, there was not a training or a game that they missed. Growing up in Portugal, Dad was never a professional footballer, but he played at a good level, and then he coached our teams when we moved to Canada.

He taught us how to act, how to take care of ourselves, and how to be dedicated. My mom was the go-getter. There wasn’t a game that was too far for them. If we had to drive for two hours, she was there. If we had a game in the morning and another one in the afternoon, she was ready. She was bringing meals in the car. She was taking care of us. She would say: ‘Where’s the next one? How can we get there?’ She was the glue for our family.

Mauro, left, with his father Armando, brother Stephen, and his mother Esmeralda at the Sanctuary of Fatima, Portugal. (Eustáquio family)

There are two episodes that really bring home the effort they made.

When we moved to Canada, we went to a travel team and Dad was the coach. But his English was very poor at the start. Now imagine trying to teach a sport to 15 kids, but your English isn’t the greatest and you are struggling to communicate.

Do you wanna know the solution Dad found? My mom’s English was great. So she became the assistant coach, the on-field translator. She was there for every training session and games. At the time, I was just thinking my mom is there to help us. But when I look back, it was more than that. She went through a thought process to think: ‘My husband loves to coach and my kids love to play, so how can I help them to be happy?’  That, to me, is real love.

Then I think of another time, in the summer of 2015. By then, we were back in Portugal and my brother Stephen was without a club. He was around 18, trying out at teams and trying to figure out where he could play during the season. My dad wasn’t able to be at the game, as he was working that day. So Mom drove my brother to Santa Maria de Feira, which is up north from where we lived, for a game at 8 a.m.. Then she drove him back down a couple of hours to Coimbra, for a try-out at lunchtime, and then finally for a third game later in the afternoon in a different location entirely.

Not once did my mom say, “No” or, “Maybe we just do one game today.” Instead, she said, “You want to do all three games? OK, let’s go and do it together.”

That dedication and just giving us the possibility to follow our dreams says so much about my parents.

Sadly, we lost Mom in 2023. She had a brain tumour. As you can imagine, we went through a lot as a family. At times, Stephen found it hard to talk about it. But as brothers, we knew we had each other’s back.

Sometimes, it did not need a conversation. It could be a little look we give each other, just that signal of being there for one another. Or a hand on the chest. Or a hug. It brought us together.

Going through my mom’s passing, we had one main goal as brothers and we knew it was to take care of our dad. To lose a mom, it’s not easy for anybody. But knowing that Dad had lost his partner, his day one, we just had a common goal to make sure Dad was taken care of.

Then, we lost Dad to a heart attack the next year. When Dad passed away, Stephen was the one who called me and gave me the news. He said: “OK, it’s just us two now.”

Mauro, left, with mother Esmeralda, father Armando and brother Stephen at Leamington Marina, Ontario. (Eustáquio family)

Those were literally his words. We’ve ran with that. We’ve brought our families even closer today. Stephen has now had a beautiful daughter, so we have welcomed new life into the family.

We look forwards but we also live on with the values instilled by our parents. In the October 2025 international window, the Canada national team trained with grey toques to support the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada. Stephen brought them along to help raise awareness.

My grandmother also passed away previously with a brain tumour. At the time, we were too young to realize what it was or how it really impacts lives.

When you are grown up, and things happen to you in your house, you start realizing how these illnesses change a world — not only for the person fighting the illness, but for all their loved ones. You start reading more about it, you start understanding it, and then you start noticing even more the other people losing family members or friends because of the same illness. That is why we just want to help in some way and get behind the cause.

The Canada national team has been a warm and supportive environment for both of us. Not only for Stephen, but also myself. The coach Jesse Marsch has invited Canadian coaches involved in the national game for guest sessions, to both give us exposure to high-level environments, but also to take feedback and help from those who are regularly involved with Canada’s domestic game.

One of Jesse’s big strengths is he involves everybody and gets everyone in the same direction. That’s been the big image of the 26 players at the World Cup. They’re all-in for one common objective.

Jesse Marsch joins the Canada team in jubilation as they engulf Stephen Eustáquio. (Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)

Stephen was born in Canada, which is why he describes it as home and why he told us he wanted to play for the country. It was a big decision for him, having played seven times for Portugal’s under-21 team. But he knew he would have a big role with Canada and he told us this country had given our family so many good things. We are just forever grateful for that, and for Canada allowing us to put our mark on football.

After his winning goal on Sunday, I was thinking about so many things: how we’d play on the streets as a kid; Stephen had posters of David Silva up on his bedroom wall and wanted to play like him, and I wanted to be like the Porto midfielder Lucho Gonzalez.

Then I thought about Mom and Dad, how proud they would be.

My mom was just so… Mom. She was a big talker, she showed her emotions. She would have been jumping around with joy. She would have the world’s biggest smile on her face.

My dad was more of the silent type. But Dad, knowing the sport, knowing what this means for the country, knowing how big the World Cup is, his heart would be melting. He would have no words. But you would see his emotion on his face. We owe them everything.