VANCOUVER — Will Alphonso Davies play in the Canadian men’s team’s round of 32 match vs. South Africa at the World Cup on Sunday?
Only coach Jesse Marsch knows for sure, and at this point, we have to take what he says with an entire silo of salt, never mind a grain, with regards to Canada’s captain, who is dealing with a longstanding hamstring injury and has yet to play a single minute of World Cup action.
In the aftermath of Canada’s 2-1 loss to Switzerland on Wednesday, a result that saw his side finish second in Group B and lose its distinct homefield advantage for the remainder of this World Cup, Marsch admitted he used Davies “as a decoy” to throw off the Swiss after previously saying he expected his captain to play in the crucial group stage finale.
“Alphonso wasn’t ready yet, so I was using him a little bit as a decoy,” Marsch said in the post-game press conference. “However, he will be ready (for the) next match.”
Whether Marsch’s attempt at subterfuge had the desired effect is subject to opinion, although the Swiss didn’t seem too bothered by the misdirection. But the Canadian coach made no apologies for misleading the media — and to a larger extent the rest of the country — when speaking to reporters prior to Thursday’s practice on the sprawling campus of the University of British Columbia.
“Everything we do is about trying to gain an edge, whether it's strategy, tactics, match plan, messaging. And if me saying Alphonso Davies is ready to play means that the opponent has one per cent more preparation or three per cent more preparation in that direction than in another, then that's less energy they can devote to doing what they need to do in other areas,” Marsch explained.
“My main loyalty is to this team and doing whatever is possible to help this team be successful in the tournament. Obviously, I want the country to be wrapped around it … but this is not friendly. This is competitive, and we're gonna do whatever we can as a group to make sure that we can get an edge.”
By all accounts, the Canadian players have Marsch’s back, falling in line with his tactics of controlling the message by not revealing anything about Davies’ injury status.
“As much as I'd love to give you guys all the inside information, we are trying to win a tournament here, and this is what I would say most teams do in sports. You're going to keep some cards close to your chest. So, we'll see. We'll see if he's ready to play or not this Sunday,” defender Alistair Johnston told reporters with a devilish grin etched on his face.
Davies, 25, hasn't played for Canada since March 2025, when he tore an ACL in the Concacaf Nations League finals. He missed a fair chunk of the recent Bundesliga season with Bayern Munich and hasn’t played since suffering an injury setback in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinals vs. Paris Saint-Germain on May 6.
The Canadian captain continues to train on his own at times with Matthias Blankenburg, an independent specialist trainer. Because the media is only allowed to watch the first 15 minutes of practices, we don’t know for sure if Davies has been fully integrated into Canada’s training sessions once reporters are required to leave.
Davies is the most recognizable face on the men’s team and is generally considered its best player, so getting him back on the pitch for the game against South Africa in Los Angeles would give Canada a considerable boost, both competitively and psychologically.
If it were up to Davies, he would have played against Switzerland, Marsch revealed. But it was the Canadian coach who ultimately made the call to give him a few extra days to get back to full fitness.
“If you know anything about return to play protocols, you have to hit a bunch of little benchmarks in order to know that you're ready to commit to playing at the highest levels, and so, yeah, that's what it is. And I'll be honest, okay? Alphonso came to me before the game and said he wanted to play, and I made the decision not to play him because he wasn't there yet. He didn't hit his max velocity,” Marsch explained.
“He didn't hit all the little checklists to make sure that mentally and physically and in all ways he's free to go out and play. Because as much as I know he's important to the team, I knew we had another game to play, and I care about his physical well-being, and I don't want to put him in jeopardy of having any setbacks.”
Marsch said that Davies was disappointed about his decision at first, but that he ultimately came around and recognized that the coach made the right call. Marsch also revealed that when Davies eventually plays for Canada — whenever that might be — he won’t play the entire match and will have his minutes capped.
Davies isn’t the only Canadian player clouded by mysterious injury concerns ahead of the match against the South Africans.
Influential midfielder Stephen Eustáquio played the full 90 minutes in each of Canada’s opening two games of the World Cup, but he was a surprise omission from the starting lineup against Switzerland as it’s believed he was dealing with a muscle injury.
Eustáquio was subbed on for the final 33 minutes against the Swiss, helping turn the tide in Canada’s favour with his silky-smooth possession skills and the calmness and stability he brought to what had been up to that point an overwhelmed central midfield.
But will Eustáquio be good enough to go against South Africa? What kind of role, if any, will he play in the Canadian men’s team’s first-ever World Cup knockout stage match? Like Davies, are there benchmarks Eustáquio has to hit in training before Sunday’s contest in order to be available for selection?
Marsch wasn’t tipping his hand.
“I'm not telling you. What if I tell you? It's probably a lie anyway?” he joked.
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