Canada Must Still Decide How to Use Alphonso Davies in First Appearance for 15 Months

VANCOUVER—Nearly a decade ago, Alphonso Davies brought 22,120 fans to their feet at BC Place in Vancouver, as he stepped into an MLS match for the first time with the Whitecaps, just a brace-faced, skinny 15-year-old against Orlando City.

In 2026, he could make the building roar again, this time with over 53,000 in the stands.

Canada manager Jesse Marsch revealed that his captain, now aged 25 and the best player ever to represent CanMNT, would be available for selection for the team’s second Group B World Cup match against Qatar.

It’s fitting that for the North American World Cup which Davies helped secure as a 17-year-old with a speech made in 2018, he would make his debut in the home tournament in the stadium where he first made his mark on professional soccer—injury ruled the left back out of Canada’s opener in Toronto.

“He has been in training this week ... we’ll see how the [Qatar] match goes, and then make a decision on how we would choose to use him,” Marsch told reporters Wednesday.

“Alphonso is looking really good, so it’s just a matter of, ’O.K., what kind of game is it? What kind of moment is it? And how do we feel he can contribute?’”

Alphonso Davies appreciation post. 👏 @WhitecapsFC's Homegrown hero. pic.twitter.com/cALP3TTrhS
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) February 25, 2020

Davies’s status had been an enigma for 24 hours before Marsch’s announcement. Since joining the Canada camp on June 1 in Edmonton, AB, Canada Soccer had labeled him as “return to play,” which meant he worked alone with personal trainer Matthias Blankenburg before slowly returning to full team training.

On Tuesday, Canada Soccer provided no update, and media were unable to watch more than 15 minutes of training before Marsch revealed the superstar’s improved fitness.

Should Davies come into Thursday’s match, it would mark his first competitive minutes since he sustained a right hamstring strain in Bayern Munich’s UEFA Champions League semifinal on May 6. Initial timelines had Davies’s return expected in four to six weeks, with Wednesday’s announcement marking exactly six weeks since the injury.

He hasn't played for Canada since tearing his ACL in the Concacaf Nations League third-place match in March 2025, which kept him out for over 200 days, before his most recent spell of muscle injuries.

Canada Faces Critical Game

Alphonso Davies (right) will only play if the situation calls for his abilities. | Sarah Stier /FIFA/Getty Images

While Davies will be available, Canada’s focus is on securing a first win in a men’s World Cup, having picked up a first point with a 1–1 draw against Bosnia & Herzegovina in Toronto last Friday.

Davies’s impact, which is expected to come off the bench, would likely be reserved for when Canada is either in a comfortable position or in need of an electrifying, energetic presence off in a tight match.

After each team in Group B—Qatar, Switzerland, Bosnia and Canada — drew 1–1 in their opening games, the group sits tied, with teams looking to avoid the dreaded four-point, four-way tie, which would see at least one of them eliminated.

Switzerland will clash with Bosnia earlier, before Canada kicks off against Qatar, meaning the outlook for Marsch’s men and their opponents will be clear before kickoff.

Biggest Match in Canadian Soccer History?

Some suggest that the game is the biggest in Canadian soccer history, but Marsch shut down that talk by highlighting the Canadian women’s gold medal win at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and his own team’s Copa América semifinal loss to Argentina in 2024.

“Given that [Group B] is so tight right now, every moment and every point matters, and we're focused on that. We're not trying to be overly magnanimous,” said the manager, leaning on his experience with the team at both the Copa América and Concacaf Gold Cup.

“We’re just focused on the match about Qatar and what they’re good at, what we want to try to limit from them, and how we want the game to look.”

Even with that pressure, though, Canada is staying calm. Compared to the noise surrounding the first World Cup match in the country’s largest city, the preparations for the second match in Vancouver have been more comfortable.

“That first week was a little crazy ... it was a little hectic and chaotic around the team in Toronto,” Marsch said. “This week has been calmer, and I think we’re more used to the rhythm of what the demands are, what the feeling is inside the country, in the city ... the team is more focused and more prepared for this match.”

Pressure on Jonathan David

For Canada to make a deep run at the World Cup, it will fall on more than just Davies’s health, but the form of Juventus striker Jonathan David, who has scored just once in open play for Les Rouges since last September and failed to score at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

While longtime partner Cyle Larin provided the key moment in the draw with Bosnia, there are no doubts around David’s starting position, with Marsch assuring the nation that goals will come.

“Jonathan has scored a heck of a lot of goals, right? Marsch said of the man who has 39 of them for Canada. “Of course, in the biggest games we want him to score and he will, and he has, and he won’t stop. He's not done scoring, people. O.K., so get ready, just put your seat belts on and get ready.”

After Thursday, Canada will look to the Group B finale against Switzerland, where they hope to be playing for the top spot in the group and a chance to remain in Vancouver.

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