Stephen Eustaquio steps into leadership spotlight as Canada's men's soccer team builds toward 2026 World Cup
Chris Jones is in Bucharest with Canada's men's soccer team ahead of Friday's game vs. Romania as it continues preparations for next year's FIFA World Cup.
Building a national team during brief international windows is like building armour between battles: You need to make something bulletproof in a hurry.
Jesse Marsch, the head coach of the Canadian men's soccer team, sees Friday's match against Romania and Tuesday's against Wales — along with two more windows in October and November — as his best chance to find new and lasting leadership before next summer's home World Cup.
The game in Bucharest might be a friendly, but there will be a crackle in the night that will test the Canadians, who are the better side but haven't won in Europe since 2011. There are Romanian ultras who dress like paramilitaries, and security precautions, by domestic standards, will be intense.
The Romanian Football Association is expecting about 50 brave Canadian fans to attend. They will be isolated in a corner of the National Arena's upper reaches, with a buffer of empty sections between them and about 25,000 home supporters.
The opposition will feel nearly as overwhelming on the field, and someone will need to step up to lead an unlikely Canadian charge.
WATCH | Marsch joins CBC Sports to give address on state of Canadian soccer:
At the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, now-departed veterans Atiba Hutchinson and Milan Borjan were commanding captains. In their absence, they left a void. Before the Copa America in 2024, Marsch named Alphonso Davies captain and Stephen Eustaquio his vice.
It hasn't been a seamless transition. Last spring, Davies tore his ACL in a match between Canada and the U.S., and his agent, Nedal Huoseh, was critical of Marsch and Canada Soccer, suggesting Davies shouldn't have played. The association later called Huoseh's allegations "untrue."
At last summer's Gold Cup, Davies was still on the mend and Eustaquio was obligated to play for Porto at the Club World Cup. That left Marsch turning to a third choice: He named star forward Jonathan David the interim captain.
For this international window, Davies remains out, but Eustaquio is back. On Thursday, the slender midfielder seemed ready to answer Marsch's larger leadership call — while also being careful to assure Davies that any claim to the captaincy is a temporary one.
"Knowing how to communicate is one thing I'm trying to learn," Eustaquio said. "At this point of my life, I feel like I'm ready to help my teammates more… But at the same time, I know we have our captain recovering at home, and we wish him all the best and really want him back."
In some ways, the 28-year-old is an obvious target in Marsch's ongoing efforts "to pull more personality" out of his side. He's a veteran who plays a pivotal position with a lashing ferocity, and his commitment to the national team is without question.
"He does a lot of the dirty work that people don't really recognize," teammate Richie Laryea said. "He's a good leader and a super good guy who gets along with everyone."
Like most of Marsch's top talent, Eustaquio isn't naturally vocal. When David was captain, he acquitted himself well enough, and his vision is unparalleled. (Promise David, his fellow forward, calls him "the Fortune Teller.") But he's reserved and speaks in whispers, and as Canada's best player, he has enough power to deflect further demands.
Tajon Buchanan is also not the sort of man to play an ill-fitting part. "Obviously I'm not the loudest guy," he said this week in Bucharest. "I'm more of a guy who leads by example on the field, with my intensity and the way I play. Many guys have different ways of leading. I think that's one of my strengths — leading by example."
That seems to leave Eustaquio, at the least for the moment, in the lonely but essential role of voice. "The coach is really pushing me to communicate more, and better," he said. Then he walked onto the grass at the National Arena in the late afternoon sun, scanning the empty seats from one side of the pitch to the other.
On Friday, he might see a banner stretched across one end: "Suntem Singurii Ultra," hung in front of a thousand men dressed in black. We are the only Ultras.
It will be up to Stephen Eustaquio to correct them.
cbc.ca
