Four years ago in Qatar, Stephen Eustáquio learned the hard way just how intense and demanding the World Cup can be. Canada's fill-in captain says its midfield is up to the task of playing without the injured Ismaël Koné.Abbie Parr/The Associated Press
Stephen Eustáquio was already an accomplished midfielder when he arrived at the Qatar World Cup. Fresh off a league and cup double with FC Porto, the then-24-year-old was playing regularly in European competition, going head to head with the likes of Brazilian playmaker Lucas Paquetá or Turkey captain Hakan Calhanoglu.
None of those experiences, though, had sufficiently prepared him for the midfield battles he would face at the World Cup, particularly in Canada’s second game against Croatia. Confronted by the 2018 finalists, Eustáquio and captain Atiba Hutchinson were completely overrun in the middle of the park, as the trio of Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic essentially squeezed the tournament life out of Canada.
“It was only me and Atiba in that midfield,” Eustáquio said last month at Canada’s training camp in Charlotte, N.C.
“[You’re] probably talking about one of the best midfielders in Canada’s history, which is Atiba, and then at the time I was really fresh, doing my minutes at Porto, and doing very good things with the club, and … it wasn’t even close enough to match them.”
Fast forward to the present day, and Eustáquio, currently captaining Canada on the pitch while Alphonso Davies continues to work his way back from injury, is set to put those hard-won lessons to the test in another crucial matchup with savvy European opposition.
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This time around it’s Switzerland standing in Canada’s way, with the tournament co-host knowing that a draw Wednesday will be enough to win Group B and ensure it stays in Vancouver for a round-of-32 match on July 2.
Speaking before fellow pivot Ismaël Koné was lost for the tournament to a broken leg last week, and in the context of defenders like Davies and Moïse Bombito struggling for fitness, Eustáquio had tempted fate by saying, “We’ve been lucky because of the injuries, it hasn’t really touched the midfield.”
While the absence of Kone – an “X-factor” who Eustáquio describes as “a winger playing as a midfielder” – is a blow, it is far from terminal. Head coach Jesse Marsch will decide whether Nathan Saliba – who replaced Koné in the Qatar match, scoring from a free kick within minutes of coming on – Jonathan Osorio, Mathieu Choinière or even the versatile Niko Sigur, Canada’s very own Swiss Army knife, will partner with Eustáquio.
“From a talent and tactical perspective, it weakens us in the tournament,” Marsch said of Koné’s absence. “But we built the squad over the last two years to be ready for these moments.”
Marsch getting that decision right will go a long way to getting a result Wednesday. Eustáquio’s experiences at the World Cup, Copa America and European club competitions have shown him that if Canada can establish dominance in the middle of the pitch, it should in theory carry over to the scoreboard.
Eustáquio and his Canadian teammates applaud the home crowd in Toronto after its World Cup opening draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina.Bernadett Szabo/Reuters
“[The] World Cup is a different beast when it comes to that, and yeah, we just want to give the other team a midfield that they don’t really enjoy to play against, because we press a lot, we work a lot, we run a lot, we win duels, I think it’s all about that,” he said.
“At the end of the day, if we can control the midfield, I think we are very tilted to winning games.”
Having played with all of the midfield options, Eustáquio will be ready whichever way Marsch goes. Saliba – “tough to play against” – is likely to get the call, but Choinière – “high IQ footballer” – or Osorio – “experience to manage things” – are both tried-and-tested, dependable options.
The Koné injury has thrown something of a wrench into Canada’s World Cup hopes, but then as Eustáquio can attest, life rarely progresses in a straight line. Coming out of the Qatar World Cup, the Leamington, Ont., native seemed in pole position to build on the experience, and played 87 out of the 102 league games for Porto in the three seasons before the current one.
But a change of head coach at Porto last summer saw Eustáquio fall out of favour just months before a home World Cup. Making just eight substitute appearances over the first half of the season, Eustáquio opted for a change of scenery, joining Los Angeles Football Club in Major League Soccer for a four-month loan on the recommendation of fellow Canadians Choinière and Jacob Shaffelburg.
“They told me, if you want to come to MLS, might as well be the biggest club there is,” he said of the 2022 MLS champions.
The move gave him the game time he needed, but it wasn’t without its own wrinkle, as a collision with referee Drew Fischer in a match in March ultimately led to Eustáquio missing a number of weeks with a hematoma. Despite that, he still managed nine starts in a three-month span, getting up to speed ahead of the World Cup.
“I think it’s a nice league,” he said of MLS. “… All of the organizations, they want to win, which is good for the style of play, because you know everybody goes after the result, which makes games more 50-50 and you know you can really work hard in those games and get your level up.”
That level will be tested to the fullest once again against Switzerland, which, at world No. 19, represent the toughest test, on paper, that Canada, currently No. 30, has had so far this tournament. With their credentials set to be put to the test, it certainly helps that a lot of Canada’s players are now playing in some of the biggest leagues on the planet.
Eustáquio (7) and his Canadian teammates should get their most difficult challenge of the group on Wednesday when they face Switzerland in Vancouver.Emilee Chinn/Getty Images
“Europe for me is the highest level, and I think everybody knows that,” Eustáquio said. “Having this experience of playing [every] three days, over fatigue, having teammates ready to play and to push them in their spots, and they are still playing, and they’re still managing to score goals, make assists, have MVP awards. I think it’s good for everybody.”
Teammate Liam Millar agrees with Eustáquio that the midfield will be a key battleground against Switzerland, with influential players like Granit Xhaka of Sunderland in the English Premier League and Remo Freuler of Serie A club Bologna. Millar played for Basel in the Swiss league for three seasons, and is friendly with a number of the players, conceding that winger Dan Ndoye is one of his best friends.
“They like to keep the ball,” Millar said Sunday. “They got good players in the midfield, good players in the wide areas, and we just got to be aggressive with them, not let them have time on the ball.”
Breaking up the opposition rhythm, harrying, hustling, and generally being difficult to play against is part of the Marsch playbook. It’s also stock-in-trade for a midfielder like Eustáquio. But if his previous World Cup taught him anything, it’s that the head is every bit as important as the heart when it comes to controlling the midfield, and that the best players on the planet show little mercy on the biggest of stages.
“I think I’m more experienced now, knowing that I’ve been through that World Cup, and kind of learned a lot,” he said. “Especially against Croatia.”
With files from David Ebner