Canada embrace “so many firsts” as World Cup dream ends in Round of 16 | OneFootball

By Ben Steiner

HOUSTON, Texas - With a flicker of a smile amid the heartbreak, Stephen Eustáquio couldn’t help but embrace the moment.

Just moments before, Canada's vice-captain had dropped to his knees in front of 68,777 fans at Houston Stadium as Les Rouges fell 3-0 to Morocco and were eliminated from the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the Round of 16.

Yet here was the 29-year-old — who authored Canada’s marquee moment in the Round of 32 — taking it all in.

“We played big teams in big competitions, and to be able to get to the highest stage where we are, and to perform like that… it was a very good sign that the gap isn't that big,” he said.

“We just have to believe, and we just have to keep pushing.”

Canada entered the World Cup ranked No. 30 in the world and controlled its first-ever Round of 16 game against No. 7 Morocco in the first half, much like it did in the 2024 Copa América opener against Argentina, which it eventually lost 2-0 in similar fashion.

As was the case in that match, Canada elevated their intensity to press one of soccer’s titanic forces on Saturday, proving their quality on the world stage by creating clear-cut chances before Morocco clinically took their opportunity to reach the tournament quarterfinals.

Historic campaign

As much as every team dreams of the trophy, there was never an illusion that Canada could go all the way. Instead, this summer was about the opportunity to make history.

Consider that, job done. And it came in far greater fashion than many could have imagined when the co-hosts secured the hosting bid in 2018. At that time, Canada sat No. 79 in FIFA's official World Rankings, and just a few years earlier, they were at an all-time low No. 122.

“When you go into a home World Cup, everyone is just focused on how hard we can push, how far we can take this thing. So after you lose and you get knocked out, especially when you play really well, it's really tough to swallow,” said head coach Jesse Marsch.

“Before the tournament, if we had said [we'd reach the] Round of 16, I think we would have been pretty satisfied.”

The idea that the core of the team would even get to the 2022 World Cup was, at one point, a fantasy.

Any thoughts of pushing top-end teams four years later were borderline unthinkable. Yet, in these last three summers, they advanced to a Copa América semifinal, only to fall to Lionel Messi’s Argentina and lose in Saturday’s Round of 16 to one of the best African teams of all time.

Elimination stings. It always will, but it wasn’t lost on the Canadian players just how far they’d come.

A month ago, Canada had never earned a World Cup point. Now they’ve advanced as far as Mexico has in the last 40 years and put up one of the most significant World Cup scorelines of all time, with a record-breaking 6-0 win over Qatar for their first World Cup win.

“This was a tournament of so many firsts, and I think that's something that we're all going to look back on with a lot of pride,” said former Nashville SC and CF Montréal defender Alistair Johnston.

“At those home matches, seeing what it meant, seeing all the videos, the pictures of the Canadian crowds, shutting down streets, walking to the matches… that's going to resonate most with this team and the country. We really proved to everyone what a footballing country Canada is... I don't think the rest of the world truly knew, and I'm not sure all of Canada truly knew.”

Looming potential

For so much of Canada’s World Cup run, the idea of “what-if” remained at the forefront. 

What if Alphonso Davies were fit? What if Marcelo Flores hadn’t torn his ACL on the eve of the World Cup? What if Ismaël Koné hadn’t broken his leg against Qatar and Jonathan David were still in his best goal-scoring form?

Those questions, futile now, were answered by Morocco’s cunning game management and Canada’s lack of a clinical punch. Davies perched on a cooler in the dugout, not fit enough to make a substitute appearance, while Koné and Flores sat nearby with their crutches.

After the match, Marsch said Davies felt a niggle in his hamstring and couldn’t have played — it meant that the squad's most talented player and Vancouver Whitecaps FC homegrown star was limited to just 15 minutes in the tournament he had dreamed of since pitching to the FIFA Congress in 2018 in Russia. 

“I made the decision to sit, to sit down and give the players the opportunity to play so that they can give 100% for the country. I didn’t want to be a burden on the team or on the pitch,” Davies said after the match, forced to watch from the bench.

“Mentally, for me, it was tough every game to sit there and watch, knowing you want to be on the pitch. It's tough mentally, but obviously at the end of the day, I know that I have to support the guys in a different way.”

While a fully fit Davies may have changed the game and Canada’s entire outlook, the fact Les Rouges were able to push this far, largely without him, was a sign of just how far things have come.

Bright future

After a series of firsts, putting the team on the soccer map like never before and co-hosting a World Cup, where does the CanMNT go from here? The fact is — the sport, domestically, and the team, internationally, are in a very different place than they were a month ago. 

Now, there’s expectation. Marsch will be the commander for the next era as well, having inked a pre-tournament contract extension, and will be tasked with rotating the player pool through the 2030 World Cup. Players will be dropped, youngsters will rise, and some talents not yet discovered will find their way into the picture.

Johnston hopes the 2026 campaign inspires those players, while the large-scale goals shift to chasing a regional trophy and further proving they are a Concacaf force.

In 2022, one of those dreamers and unknowns was a 16-year-old Luc De Fougerolles. At the end of this run, he played in five games and looks bound for English Premier League minutes with Fulham next season. He, too, couldn’t help but crack a small smile after the match.

“I just can't wait for four years' time,” he said, looking scratched up and beaten down, yet excited. “I just want to have another one like this, go further, and do even more for the country.”