CANADIANS ABROAD: Eustaquio fights for Porto time | Ugbo finds scoring form | Johnston makes key adjustment
With the March window rapidly approaching for the CanMNT – now four weeks away from playing Trinidad & Tobago in a must-win one-off Copa América qualifier on March 23rd – keeping tabs on Canadians playing abroad has become that much more meaningful: Getting the next squad right is crucial.
Seeing how close we are to that all-important T&T match, it's felt like every development – positive or negative – could stand to affect Canada next month, and understandably so, making for a chaotic time when tracking performances.
From the injury woes that the likes of Alphonso Davies and Alistair Johnston have dealt with, to the red-hot form of forwards Theo Bair and Iké Ugbo, there’s been a lot to keep an eye on, too.
Because of that, it promises to be an intriguing race to make the 23-player squad for that game, as well as for the 11 names who will start in that game, one that could be massive from a Canadian perspective.
With that in mind, however, here’s a look at some of the biggest storylines from Canadians abroad this weekend, as the race towards that match continues.
Stephen Eustáquio’s fight for minutes at Porto continues
At the top level, things can change in an instant. In a second, you can go from bit-part piece to indisputable starter, and on the flip side, you can lose that starting spot just as quickly if your form dips or you suffer an injury and someone impresses in your place.
Unfortunately for the CanMNT, Stephen Eustáquio has seen that first-hand over the last month with Porto, where he’s gone from a huge part of Sérgio Conceição’s midfield to a rotational piece in a matter of weeks.
Heading into the new year, Eustáquio had been a key piece for Porto in 2023-2024, playing just under 2000 minutes across 23 games, including 513 minutes in six Champions League games, as he continued to build off a strong 2022-2023 campaign in which he scored seven goals and added six assists as Porto won a treble of cups.
However, since the turn of the calendar, that’s changed, as Eustáquio has only seen the field for 276 minutes across seven appearances in 2024. And, more importantly, he’s been left out of the squad twice, and was an unused substitute in another game, too.
This is the 5th consecutive match Stephen Eustáquio has not started for Porto, he also wasn't in the match day squad against Estrela da Amadora. He had a great start to the season, it's a shame to see his minutes diminish recently, especially with the T&T match around the corner. https://t.co/yE6VPMCR0I
— Josh Deming (@tv_jjd) February 21, 2024
Then, if it wasn’t already clear that he’d lost his starting spot, Porto’s Champions League Round of 16 tie confirmed it, as he played just one minute off the bench in Porto’s 1-0 leg one win, after playing at least 80 minutes in every group stage game.
Instead, Conceição elected to start the pair of 22-year-old midfielders Alan Varela and Nico González in his double-pivot against Arsenal, and was rewarded for the decision in an impressive win that could’ve been even bigger if not for some haphazard finishing from his team.
As a result, it’s made it clear - Eustáquio is on the outside looking in right now, and will have to fight to earn his spot back, as Varela and González have found their feet as of late after both being signed last summer.
For Canadians, that’s a huge concern, as Eustáquio remains one of the most important players on the CanMNT, who have a must-win Copa América playoff game in just four weeks, as they’d ideally like Eustáquio to be in his best form ahead of that game, and that would mean playing regularly for Porto.
At the moment, however, that hasn’t been the case due to his dwindling minutes, making it a situation to monitor.
Yet, that just explains why this past weekend was so huge for Eustáquio, as he made just his third start for Porto in 2024, as he slotted in alongside Varela for a league clash against Gil Vicente. There, Porto needed a win, too, as they looked to keep pace in the title race, which currently has been dominated by Benfica and Sporting this season.
Unfortunately, that was not to be - despite dominating large parts of the match and going up 1-0 in the 55th minute, Gil Vicente scored a 94th-minute equalizer to split the points, which now leaves Porto seven points behind second-place Sporting and nine points behind first-place Benfica, at risk of missing out on Champions League qualification for the first time since 2015-2016.
The good news? Eustáquio had a pretty good game offensively, as he was very involved in the final third for Porto.
Early on, he nearly scored as he actually found the net from in-close off a corner, but his goal was quickly ruled out for a foul on the goalkeeper from a teammate.
FC Porto, Golo Anulado, Eustáquio (VAR), 42m
— VSPORTS ARCHIVE (@VsportsArchive) February 25, 2024
Golo anulado ao FC Porto, por Eustáquio. Assinalada obstrução de Wendell a Andrew, na pequena área. Confirmação da decisão do árbitro pelo VAR foi célere.#LigaPortugalBetclic #GVFCFCP pic.twitter.com/NkM5sROr2d
Soon after, he nearly had a great chance right before half time, making a great late run, but he was denied a clear chance to shoot by a great defensive play.
FC Porto, Jogada, Eustáquio, 54m
— VSPORTS ARCHIVE (@VsportsArchive) February 25, 2024
Gabriel Pereira! Que corte fabuloso! O central minhoto estica-se e desvia a bola, impedindo que Eustáquio, que surgia nas suas costas, finalizasse após passe de Francisco Conceição.#LigaPortugalBetclic #GVFCFCP pic.twitter.com/W2vAE0H5Ip
Then, he could’ve had an assist on what could’ve been a 2-0 goal in the second half, sending Evanilson through on goal with a perfect through ball, but the Brazilian missed his 1v1 with the goalkeeper to keep the game at 1-0.
FC Porto, Jogada, Evanilson, 82m
— VSPORTS ARCHIVE (@VsportsArchive) February 25, 2024
Andrew nega o 2-0 a Evanilson! Cavalgada do avançado portista, após recuperação de bola em zona alta, e o remate na cara do golo é desviado pela mancha do guardião gilista! Azuis e brancos já perderam muitos golos ca#LigaPortugalBetclic #GVFCFCP pic.twitter.com/03gJH2EhdI
So overall, it was a pretty good offensive showing from Eustáquio, who did well to link the ball from back-to-front with his passing, before making his presence felt with several late runs into the box, in which he did well to make himself a target for crosses.
At the other end, however, Eustáquio was a bit off the pace defensively, as he wasn’t covering ground as he usually can, perhaps due to his lack of minutes. As a result, he committed 4 fouls, won just six of 16 of his duels, and was dribbled past once, all uncharacteristic numbers given his usual proficiency at that end of the pitch. It didn’t cost Porto in the end, as he wasn’t at fault for the goal, but those fouls hurt Porto’s momentum a bit, allowing Gil Vicente to build some of their own late on.
Despite that, his contributions didn’t go unnoticed by Conceição, as Eustáquio stayed on the pitch for all 90 minutes, the first time he’s done that since December 29th.
Good and bad news for Stephen Eustáquio today for Porto vs Gil Vicente
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) February 25, 2024
The good? He went 90' for the 1st time since Dec 29, and was very active offensively. Made a lot of great runs
The bad? Porto dropped 2 pts off a 94th min equalizer, and are now 9 pts off 1st#CanMNT
So while he’ll be frustrated that it came in a draw, he’ll hope that he showed well enough to earn some more minutes going forward, especially as Porto gets set for a massive league clash on March 3rd vs Benfica and their second-leg Champions League clash vs Arsenal on March 12th, games that Eustáquio will want to play in.
Especially with Canada’s big game looming, the more minutes he can get before then, the better, given his importance there.
Yet, that’ll be the big thing to watch for now, as Eustáquio faces a tall mountain to win a regular starting spot back long-term, as he must find a way to either displace one of Varela or González, or convince Conceição to change his formation to accommodate a third midfielder instead of using the 4-2-3-1- or 4-4-2 that he usually prefers.
Seeing that the latter is unlikely to happen given that Conceição has hardly changed from either of those two set-ups since Eustáquio has been there, he’ll need to likely find a way to do the former.
And there, Eustáquio will face a tall task, as not only are Varela and González strong midfielders, but their ages could give them an edge, as Porto are not shy in giving younger players minutes with an eye on moving them on for big fees if they impress.
At the same time, Porto are a club that wants to win and will deploy anyone that helps them do that, so Eustáquio will just need to prove that he can still help them do that, either leading Conceição to insert him for one of the two youngsters or switch to a 4-3-3 with all three involved.
Either way, one thing is clear - this could be a huge stretch for Eustáquio, one that could determine his Porto future, as he’ll want to win his spot back before he risks becoming a rotation piece.
Of course, one of the two youngsters could get sold this summer, freeing up a spot for him next year, but Eustáquio won’t want to depend on that, so knuckling down and getting to work is the best option.
The good news? He’s won that spot once before, so now he’ll need to channel some of what he showed when he did that last season, doing so as Canadians watch on nervously.
Iké Ugbo finds new life at Sheffield Wednesday
Forwards are known for being streaky. Iké Ugbo is a prime example of that.
After starting 2023-2024 with three goals and one assist in Cardiff’s first four Championship games, Ugbo went ice cold the rest of 2023, finding the net just once across his next 16 games.
As a result, his loan to Cardiff was ended, and he ended up at fellow Championship side Sheffield Wednesday to start 2024, tasked with helping them to try and stay up as they toiled away in the relegation zone.
There, he’s found his feet quickly with his new club, scoring five goals already across just seven games for the club, already beating his Cardiff total in less than half of the games.
Through that, he’s powered Wednesday to three wins from their last four Championship games, as they’ve climbed to within three points of being out of the relegation zone.
And as seen with his latest performance, in which he scored a brace against Bristol City in a 2-1 win, he’s brimming with confidence, scoring two proper striker’s goals, including a belter on his left foot for the opener, and a powerful header for what stood as the winner.
⏪The key moments from yesterday that sealed us another three points in S6!#swfc 🦉🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/hzJkKfEyQu
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) February 25, 2024
Because of that, many are wondering how Ugbo’s been able to do this, as going from a Cardiff side who have scored nearly a dozen more goals to a league-worst Wednesday offence wasn’t expected to jumpstart his game.
Yet, there’s one big tweak in Ugbo’s game that has powered him to this form for Wednesday - he’s shooting more than he has in a long time.
Already, he’s got 17 shots with his new club in league play, which is already more than the 14 he generated for Cardiff in twice the minutes. It’s the most he’s had in a while - he had only 15 shots all of last year for Troyes in Ligue 1, 15 in his half-year stint with Troyes in 2021-2022, and 11 in the first half of that season with Genk in the Belgian league.
In fact, the last time he had more than 17 shots with a team was in 2020-2021 when he had 54 shots for Cercle Brugge in the Jupiler Pro League, a season in which he scored 16 goals.
That’s huge, as Ugbo has had a good conversion rate over the last four seasons, scoring 35 goals on 126 shots, an average of a goal every three to four shots, but hasn’t been generating near enough volume to regularly find the net.
Because of that, it’ll be interesting to see if he can keep this high shot rate up, as he could end up pushing for at least double-digits if he does, helping Wednesday out of the relegation zone.
Through that, he’ll look to push back into the fold for Canada, where he earned his last call-up at the 2022 World Cup, something that he’ll want to change ahead of the Copa América this summer.
You can never have too many in-form strikers, and Ugbo’s been throwing his name back into the race with his trigger-happy start at Wednesday.
Alistair Johnston tweaks game in return from injury
After it was feared he’d be out for a long time after picking up a head injury a few weeks ago, Alistair Johnston was back in Celtic’s starting lineup on the weekend, as he saw the field against Theo Bair and Harry Paton’s Motherwell.
There, Johnston was back to his best, too, nabbing an assist on the game-winning goal as Celtic picked up a crucial 3-1 win, one that keeps them just two points behind Rangers in the title race.
Alistair Johnston is BACK from injury, going 90’ and assisting a huge late winner vs Motherwell
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) February 25, 2024
His #s:
1 assist
5 chances created (1.12 xA)
2 big chances created
71/90 passes (79%)
2/2 dribbles
32 passes into final 3rd
7 recoveries
6/11 duels#CanMNT
pic.twitter.com/kupLvSBc3l
Coming as part of a big overall performance from Johnston, who also had five chances created, including two big chances, it was one of his best offensive showings for Celtic, too.
Yet, it came thanks to a key adjustment - he was much more aggressive offensively as an overlapping full back, like he was when he first came to Celtic, instead of playing more inverted, as he can sometimes do.
Through that, he was able to cross the ball much more, doing so from more dangerous positions, too, helping make him a big threat offensively in possession for Celtic.
That’s something to watch, as it shows that it could be more beneficial to play Johnston as a true full back for Canada, instead of as an outside centre back, where he’s often been deployed over the last few years. Not only would it get him more involved offensively, but it would also help him defensively, too, as it would keep him from contesting aerials and get him to do more 1v1 defending, which is where he's at his best.
Seeing that he’s won over 63% of his ground duels in MLS and in the Scottish Premiership, but less than 50% of his aerial duels, the numbers back that up, too.
Because of that, keep an eye on that heading into March, as he’s struggled a bit in recent games in that outside centre back role, but could be revitalized by a switch to more of a similar position that he plays for club.
