‘Canadian heroes’ create World Cup magic, enthralling the entire globe

As the Canadian soccer team rushed onto the field to celebrate its greatest-ever victory on Sunday, the scoreboard in SoFi Stadium flashed to the stands.

It caught a real American bro in a stars and stripes headband and stars and stripes shirt, flanked by a bouncing girlfriend wearing a stars and stripes halter top. He was deliriously waving around a sign that read: “Canadian for the Day.”

Some Americans adopted a new team at the Canada-South Africa match in Inglewood, Calif., on Sunday.JESSIE ALCHEH/Reuters

Him and everyone else.

What happened on the field at SoFi Stadium was a real national moment, and everywhere else more than that.

Canada, the unlikely favourites, pressed from the start. South Africa backpedalled and delayed. You could have cleaned the fridge during the interminable pauses taken by goalkeeper Ronwen Williams – first considering the ball, then approaching as if to kick it, then deciding against it.

Canada still had a million chances to score, most notably a half-taken Derek Cornelius header directly in front of net, and a better one by Moïse Bombito that was kicked off the line. Later, Jonathan David only had to run into a ball in front of an open goal, but it was pranged away from him at the last instant.

Just before the half, Richie Laryea was chopped like cord wood inside the South African area by two defenders. But since one of them had had a whisper of a touch on the ball, the referee didn’t want to hear about it.

Canadian coach Jesse Marsch tried to tell him at the break, but Bombito led his boss away James Brown-style before he could get himself in trouble. In a different soccer world, that moment was headed straight for the Sports Ripoffs Hall of Fame.

Live analysis and commentary about Canada's momentous win

More domination in the second half, to the point that it was getting tedious. After Alphonso Davies finally materialized, making everyone else look lazy with his quality, you started to get a feeling that this thing was going to end unfairly.

And then, in the 92nd minute, a bad clearance fell to the feet of midfielder Stephen Eustáquio. He chested the ball down deftly and launched a galaxy-class strike. There’s not one player in this tournament who wouldn’t think he’d succeeded in his American adventure if he scored that goal.

“When I shot, I felt everybody shot with me,” Eustáquio said afterward. I don’t think he meant the whole country, but that was what he should have meant.

Stephen Eustaquio (7) scored the dramatic late winner against South Africa, moving Canada into new territory at the World Cup.FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

Defender Alistair Johnston, left, congratulates Eustáquio on his late heroics.DANIEL COLE/Reuters

“You are Canadian heroes,” Marsch bellowed at his men once it ended, 1-0.

He’s right. They are. It wasn’t the most thrilling game you’ve ever seen, nor a perfect performance, but what a great twist at the end. That was The Sixth Sense of Canadian sports classics.

We’ve had a bunch of those, but mostly they are for us. When Canada wins a 4 Nations Face-Off or a Canada Cup, it is a victory heard until about a hundred feet past our border. Then it fades into nothingness.

Canada vs. South Africa was the only game played at the World Cup on Sunday. It started in prime drinking hours over much of the world. Fortunately, all the drinking hours are prime during this tournament. This match would have been dominating homes, bars and public spaces from Kinshasa to Kyiv. Wherever humans get together, that game would have been on.

I will guarantee you that many millions of people who have never had a single complex thought about our country lived and died with all two hours of that match.

Could an Italian-Canadian kid from East Vancouver be the next president of FIFA?

This wasn’t free advertising, since we paid a fortune for it. But as it turns out, it was effective. Canada had a chance to show its quality, and classed up the global talent show with our knack for dramatic timing.

What happens in the World Cup reverberates for years. Countries like Morocco, Senegal and Croatia are known almost entirely for the surprises they’ve been able to pull at this tournament. France and England are still thought of as world powers – though they are not – because they are football powers.

Take Cape Verde at this tournament. Be honest – did you know that was a country before this started? Could you have found it on a map? Did you have any notion at all of who the Cape Verdeans are or what they’re all about? No. But now you do. They’re the hard men who stared down Spain. Where’s their seat on the UN Security Council?

This is why we spent all that money and went to all that bother. So that, for one day at least, everybody everywhere could feel like they are Canadian.

Canadian fans celebrate in Vancouver after win against South Africa at World Cup.

Reuters

So on Sunday, the Canadian men’s national soccer team didn’t do what most of our teams, however great, do. They didn’t strike a blow for a sports program and the national ego. They struck a blow for Canada in the context of the big world. During a small window of time when the entire globe’s attention was turned to us, they met the moment. Marsch is right – that’s heroic.

What happens next doesn’t matter any more. Canada’s World Cup is a success. Had they lost on Sunday, it would still have been a success, though a muted one. Now it’s an unqualified victory. A nation of 40 million with little history in the game is going to be standing in the class photo with the Brazils and the Germanys (assuming they make it this far).

Up next, the winner of Netherlands-Morocco on Saturday in Houston. Canada will be so far under the dog in either matchup that they might not take bets. But at this point, who knows what’s possible?

The Dutch or the Moroccans must win. Canada may win. There’s something freeing in that, especially if Davies is back anywhere close to full strength. What a time. To be alive.

This is why we watch sports – because they give us a reason to feel big feelings, both good and bad. Usually, that’s something we do for us. On Sunday, Canada did it for everyone.