Eustáquio's stoppage-time goal exposes the World Cup knockout gap still haunting Ronaldo

Stephen Eustáquio scored a 92nd-minute winner as Canada beat South Africa 1-0 at SoFi Stadium to reach the World Cup Round of 16, but the goal carried an unexpected footnote: the midfielder became the first player with Portuguese international roots to score a World Cup knockout goal while wearing the No. 7 shirt.

Eustáquio was born in Ontario to Portuguese parents and represented Portugal at Under-21 level before committing his senior international career to Canada in 2019. The statistical quirk, noted by The Athletic journalist Colin Millar, lands with particular weight given who else has worn the No. 7 for Portugal across six World Cups without ever scoring in the knockout rounds.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the all-time leading scorer in men’s international football and became the first man to score at six different World Cups after netting a brace against Uzbekistan in the group stage of this tournament. His 10 World Cup goals span every edition from Germany 2006 to the current competition — yet not one has come after the group stage.

His tournament-by-tournament tally reads: one goal against Iran in 2006, one against North Korea in 2010, one against Ghana in 2014, four in 2018 (a hat-trick against Spain and one against Morocco), one against Ghana in 2022, and two against Uzbekistan in 2026. Every single one arrived in the group stage.

Ronaldo and Portugal now face Croatia in a Round of 32 knockout match in Toronto. Should Portugal be eliminated without him scoring, it becomes increasingly likely that the 40-year-old retires from international football without ever breaking that particular duck. For context, Ronaldo’s 10 World Cup goals still leave him nine behind all-time record scorer Lionel Messi.