Stephen Eustaquio

[InglewoodJack]

Pleasantly surprised he was named- extremely well deserved, and I’m happy that he’s getting recognized for what he does. What a fantastic player.

[Jack1997]

Love it.

[BearcatSA]

Excellent choice.

[narduch]

Porto have drawn Arsenal in the Champions League round of 16

[Obinna]

Eustaquio and Porto have qualified for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup

[InglewoodJack]

“It’s just fifa looking to make more money” aside, I’m really glad they’re finally doing a real club World Cup. Seeing those European giants play the big South American teams, seeing an MLS club go toe to toe against the world’s best, historical regional clubs like Urawa, Wydad Casablanca, etc. That’s awesome.

I would imagine Steph is still at Porto in 2025, and Davies will be at one of the clubs on that list, so it’ll be cool to not only watch them, but the games are in the US, so we get to watch them in a prime time slot. 
 

Also, cool they got matched with Arsenal in the UCL round of 16. Very tough match but it’ll be awesome to watch Steph against their guys. 

[Obinna]

34 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

“It’s just fifa looking to make more money” aside, I’m really glad they’re finally doing a real club World Cup. Seeing those European giants play the big South American teams, seeing an MLS club go toe to toe against the world’s best, historical regional clubs like Urawa, Wydad Casablanca, etc. That’s awesome.

I would imagine Steph is still at Porto in 2025, and Davies will be at one of the clubs on that list, so it’ll be cool to not only watch them, but the games are in the US, so we get to watch them in a prime time slot. 
 

Also, cool they got matched with Arsenal in the UCL round of 16. Very tough match but it’ll be awesome to watch Steph against their guys. 

Yeah for sure. Aside from those big South American teams, the rise of the Saudi Pro league makes this interesting too. Al Hilal may have Neymar still by then, along with the likes of Ruben Neves, Milinković-Savić, Koulibaly, Aleksandar Mitrović, etc. For the good of this competition, I want those two remaining AFC teams to be Al Nassr and Al-Ittihad, if that's possible. Throw in an Inter Miami and you have the likes of Messi, Alba, Busquets, Suarez, Ronaldo, Sadio Mane, and Benzema all competing in the same tournament, along with those other big names, and none of them part of the European hegemony, which should still be favourites to win. To me having other teams which can win is exciting, even if from $audi. 

[InglewoodJack]

53 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Yeah for sure. Aside from those big South American teams, the rise of the Saudi Pro league makes this interesting too. Al Hilal may have Neymar still by then, along with the likes of Ruben Neves, Milinković-Savić, Koulibaly, Aleksandar Mitrović, etc. For the good of this competition, I want those two remaining AFC teams to be Al Nassr and Al-Ittihad, if that's possible. Throw in an Inter Miami and you have the likes of Messi, Alba, Busquets, Suarez, Ronaldo, Sadio Mane, and Benzema all competing in the same tournament, along with those other big names, and none of them part of the European hegemony, which should still be favourites to win. To me having other teams which can win is exciting, even if from $audi. 

As much as I’d like to see a Korean club or even a southeast Asian one so we can watch a popular local club in a smaller soccer nation play the world’s best, some of those big Saudi teams could be really fun to watch against these types of teams. 
 

It’ll be exciting to see who the other African slots go to. I feel like there are some parallels between what we’re trying to do with the CPL that many African leagues are trying to do- rapidly modernize and develop soccer infrastructure with limited resources, except they have so much untapped talent that we may not have. Seeing a team from Ghana play a champions league team would be so cool. 

[InglewoodJack]

Most chances, dribbles, and completed passes in the whole game. Subbed out at ‘85. Porto loses 2-0. 
 

(reads like an Ohtani statline, lol) 

[Kadenge]

Porto don't seem to rotate their squad much. Hope Staq doesn't burn out by March 

[PastPros]

4 hours ago, Kadenge said:

Porto don't seem to rotate their squad much. Hope Staq doesn't burn out by March 

He has played A LOT.

[Unnamed Trialist]

They seemed to do well in Champions, but perhaps the rivals, including Barcelona (!!) weren't that strong. Or maybe Porto was playing better in Europe than at home.

In the league they look most likely to come third, unless things turn around. The team needs a shake-up, thinking they aspire to win the league every year. Perhaps some winter signings? 

The Arsenal draw with first leg home for them looks hard, they are not favoured, but I think they may surprise. 

[scullion44]

Not in the squad today. Was his sub at the weekend injury related? It was just a few minutes after Porto had just made two subs so the timing is a bit odd.

[Borjans Sweatpants]

21 hours ago, scullion44 said:

Not in the squad today. Was his sub at the weekend injury related? It was just a few minutes after Porto had just made two subs so the timing is a bit odd.

Just saw this:

 

[dyslexic nam]

I also saw something about him throwing a water bottle after being subbed off in the previous game so was wondering if there was a bit of conflict behind it. 

[Obinna]

https://www.transfermarkt.us/spieler-statistik/wertvollstespieler/marktwertetop/plus/0/galerie/0?ausrichtung=alle&spielerposition_id=alle&altersklasse=alle&jahrgang=0&land_id=0&kontinent_id=3&yt0=Show

Eustaquio recently saw an increase in his market value on Transfermarkt. He's now valued at 15M euros, up from 12M and making him the 16th most valuable player in CONCACAF, sandwiched between Ethan Pinnock and Timothy Weah.

[Unnamed Trialist]

2 hours ago, Obinna said:

https://www.transfermarkt.us/spieler-statistik/wertvollstespieler/marktwertetop/plus/0/galerie/0?ausrichtung=alle&spielerposition_id=alle&altersklasse=alle&jahrgang=0&land_id=0&kontinent_id=3&yt0=Show

Eustaquio recently saw an increase in his market value on Transfermarkt. He's now valued at 15M euros, up from 12M and making him the 16th most valuable player in CONCACAF, sandwiched between Ethan Pinnock and Timothy Weah.

Dude, Steph.... you're pricing yourself out of the market.

I actually think because Oporto tends to sell for value his market value is that high. I find it odd because we haven't heard a single major transfer rumour.

[InglewoodJack]

Wonder what a hypothetical transfer for him might look like. Porto is a better spot than a lot of teams in top leagues, but top teams in top leagues would want a much younger player. I do think he has something to offer quite a few teams in England or Spain, but I also think that he’d be happy staying at Porto for the next several years, becoming a perennial fan favourite/potential captain, etc. Don’t think there’s been a single rumour since he came to Porto though.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Porto are third in the league, 5 points off. They have a goals scored rate that is worse than some teams in the bottom half of the table. They need to win the league, and then get a bit deeper into Champions, to get noticed. Single performances count inside of club wins, when it comes to transfer interest.

They host Arsenal in the round of 16, then go there. If they get past the Gunners, get to quarter finals, then I think we will see rumours around Staq this summer.

Being up in the air about Copa America is not helping either. I know it seems far off, but if you can say this guy is playing Argentina on such and such a date this summer, you have a selling point.

[Güerito]

On 1/10/2024 at 11:33 AM, Borjans Sweatpants said:

Just saw this:

 

Nice, I made the forum again 😆. It sounds like the broadcast team in the previous match were taken aback by his early substitution, given his performance. Obviously Eustaquio wasn't happy either, with the whole water bottle thing, so you could easily want to read into that more than what it was. But man.... The Porto fandom sure do not have much love for our player of the year. Twitter is riddled with Porto fans wanting him gone, nailed to the bench, or in a relief role. 

All that matters is what the gaffer thinks, but I'm surprised they don't appreciate him the way we do on the national team. 

Edited January 12 by Güerito

[Corazon]

On 1/11/2024 at 2:43 AM, Güerito said:

Nice, I made the forum again 😆. It sounds like the broadcast team in the previous match were taken aback by his early substitution, given his performance. Obviously Eustaquio wasn't happy either, with the whole water bottle thing, so you could easily want read into that more than what it was. But man.... The Porto fandom sure do not have much love for our player of the year. Twitter is riddled with Porto fans wanting him gone, nailed to the bench, or in a relief role. 

All that matters is what the gaffer thinks, but I'm surprised they don't appreciate him the way we do on the national team. 

I've heard similar things from a friend who is a Porto fan as well.  It seems odd because he looks pretty good and consistent whenever I watch him which is more than occasionally.  Again, I know FotMob & SofaScore rating systems (algorithms) don't always translate to an eye test, but he has Porto's highest rated average score on the team, year to date at 7.43.  Only Wendell, Pepe & Pepe are above an average rating of 7.12 as well.  Coincidently, he has the exact same score rating for SofaScore on the season.  Which also happens to be the best on the team.  SofaScore however do have a total of 8 players with an average rating of 7.13 and above. So more teammates closer to him but he is still the highest rated on the team.  The algorithm on your rating goes up significantly when you score and assist which makes it even more impressive he's so highly rated.  Doesn't help that Porto don't score much.

[nolando]

I'm a little ashamed to admit that it took me a few years to fully appreciate just how food Hutch was. I wonder if it isn't a similar type of thing.

[CanadaFan123]

5 hours ago, nolando said:

I'm a little ashamed to admit that it took me a few years to fully appreciate just how food Hutch was. I wonder if it isn't a similar type of thing.

Hutchinson was adored by his club team fans throughout his career. Eustaquio gets a little hate (imo) because he jumped ship to Canada and would have been good enough to play for Portugal. It’s like if some kid on our u20 team decided to play for El Salvador and then became a starter on TFC. Bet your ass there would be a lot of sour grapes. 
 

My guess is if/when he moves outside of Portugal he will be universally loved by his next club. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

6 hours ago, nolando said:

I'm a little ashamed to admit that it took me a few years to fully appreciate just how food Hutch was. I wonder if it isn't a similar type of thing.

Never post when hungry😁!

[InglewoodJack]

1 hour ago, CanadaFan123 said:

Hutchinson was adored by his club team fans throughout his career. Eustaquio gets a little hate (imo) because he jumped ship to Canada and would have been good enough to play for Portugal. It’s like if some kid on our u20 team decided to play for El Salvador and then became a starter on TFC. Bet your ass there would be a lot of sour grapes. 
 

My guess is if/when he moves outside of Portugal he will be universally loved by his next club. 

Is this the case? I just figured it was just another instance of a big club with a very passionate fanbase looking to pick on one of their better players during a relatively “dry” period (no titles in two years!). I was actually very surprised that Eustaquio has the highest rating on both main football apps which is fantastic for our boy, but probably more of an indictment on where Porto finds itself right now.