Canada’s ‘heroes’ on the pitch

“You guys are Canadian heroes!”

Jesse Marsch, the head coach of Canada’s national men’s soccer team, was effusive in praise of his players after they defeated South Africa on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles.

A goal by Canadian midfielder Stephen Eustáquio in the game’s 92nd minute broke a 0-0 stalemate, ensuring that Canada won a knockout-round game at a men’s World Cup for the first time.

The team will play in the tournament’s round-of-16 on Saturday, July 4, in Houston, Texas — the furthest Canada’s men’s team has been in this competition.

It could easily be said Marsch, an ebullient character at the best of times, was swept up in the moment when he addressed his team on the pitch at Los Angeles Stadium.

After all, Eustáquio’s volley into the bottom-left corner of the South African net cannot be equated with, say, Sidney Crosby’s overtime goal to win a gold medal at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Nor was it the equivalent of Julia Grosso’s penalty kick to win gold for Canada’s women’s soccer team at the Olympics in Japan in 2021. And — for hockey fans of a certain vintage — it certainly didn’t match Paul Henderson’s desperate swipe at a rebound that beat Soviet goaltender Vladislav Tretiak in Moscow in 1972.

The nation’s sporting pride wasn’t on the line in this match. Eustáquio, Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David and their 23 teammates don’t play a sport we consider our birthright. As we all know, Canada’s game is played on skates.

Context, however, is everything — and Marsch, an American who has coached in Germany’s Bundesliga and England’s Premier League, had good reason to say what he did.

First, as head coach of a team that had just won in compelling fashion, he wanted to sear the moment into the hearts and minds of his players. From this stage forward, Canada is an underdog at the World Cup. If these players stand even a fighting chance of advancing further, they will have to take the pitch full of the grit and spirit Marsch imbues.

At the same time, the immediate legacy of this group of players cannot be overstated — and Marsch wanted to ensure his players know this.

Canada Soccer has had its troubles in recent years — a cheating scandal at the Paris Olympics, controversy over its finances and an ugly dispute over pay for players in the women’s program, which has been far more successful than the men over the past 25 years.

But one look at the scenes of delirium across the country — broadcast from live watch-parties in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and more — was enough for Canadians to understand that this group is Canada’s team of the moment.

And what a group it is. Anyone who has spent time on Canadian youth soccer pitches over the years knows the ‘beautiful game’ is played by a broad demographic cross-section of our society, and Canada’s national men’s team is no different.

Sunday’s goal-scorer, Eustáquio, is from Leamington, Ont., the son of Portuguese immigrants. Canada’s captain and star player, Alphonso Davies, who plays for Bayern Munich in Germany, was born in a refugee camp in Ghana, the son of refugees from war-torn Liberia who eventually moved to Edmonton. Goalie Maxime Crépeau, from a Montreal suburb, came up through that city’s highly competitive youth programs. Alistair Johnston was born in Vancouver, raised in Ontario and now plays in Scotland for the legendary Celtic Football Club.

These players aren’t just our representatives on the pitch at the World Cup — 15 years ago, they were the kids on pitches all over the country.

And that is why, just two days before Canada Day, they were hailed by their coach as Canadian heroes.