Alphonso Davies injury - Did he pick Bayern over Canada?

Played just 15 minutes 

Canada have been eliminated by Morocco (3-0) from the World Cup. The story of what that will mean for Canadian soccer has already been told on this site. But there is another story lingering. What is next for Alphonso Davies? The Bayern Munich star featured just once at the tournament—in the 1-0 win over South Africa—playing a grand total of 15 minutes. That moment against South Africa, when he came off the bench, was supposed to be the great comeback. The expectations from there were that Davies would play more minutes against Morocco. All carefully managed between Canada Soccer and his club team, Bayern Munich, of course. Indeed, Bayern Munich even sent a personal trainer, Matthias Blankenburg, to oversee Davies’ progress.

On Saturday, against Morocco, those minutes were supposed to be increased. But as the game ticked by, there was no Davies. The left-back briefly warmed up during halftime, but after Morocco took the lead, there was no Davies in sight. “Obviously, in training I felt a little bit something, but at the end of the day, me and Jesse [Marsch] had a conversation,” Davies said. “To be honest, obviously, we want players on the pitch that are 100% to play the game and can give everything, and I felt like I wasn't there yet, and so this is why we made the decision, or I made the decision to sit out.”

It was a miracle that Davies spoke at all. Although the captain for his country, Davies seldom stops for the media in the mixed zone, whether for Bayern or Canada. Following Canada’s historic win over South Africa, Davies stopped, spoke for only 45 seconds, smiled, and moved on. This time it wasn’t much longer. Davies spoke for a total of 2:45 minutes. That’s eons compared to how much Davies usually speaks to the media. He also said: “I don't want to be a burden on the team or on the pitch, and I'll give my all, you know, every time I played the game. I want to get myself up and fully play this game, you know, with freedom and no injuries, but at this time it was tough.”

Jesse Marsch on Davies: 'We didn't want to risk it'

Canadian men’s national team head coach Jesse Marsch provided more insight. "He had a hamstring injury that he was recovering from; he was on a very linear path up until two days ago, and then he felt a little something,” Marsch said in the post-game press conference. “It turned out that it wasn't anything significant, but he didn't feel right, and we didn't want to stress it. We had hoped he would feel better in the morning, and we were going to review things at warm-up, but he still didn't feel better then. He wanted to play so bad; he went and tried to get going himself at halftime, and he said he just wasn't right. So, we didn't want to risk it.” Marsch also added that the player did have an MRI. "And it was clear, so the good news was that there was no injury, but his hamstring didn't feel right."

Still, all parties felt that the risk of another injury was real. But at the same time, this is also the World Cup, the biggest stage for footballers. For Canada, it was also the biggest stage the country has ever played on. Davies, in fact, was the poster boy of the 2026 World Cup. When North America was awarded the tournament, it was Davies speaking in Russia about his dream of arriving on the continent as a refugee and representing his country. Now eight years later, the dream has become a 15-minute appearance against South Africa. Without a doubt, Davies and the entire country expected more. So, what was the risk here? The only risk was about Davies’ club career. After all, Bayern Munich have signed the excellent Nathaniel Brown from Eintracht Frankfurt. Brown was one of the few bright spots on an otherwise poor Germany side.

Brown is fast and dynamic, and already has technical abilities at least on Davies’ level. Brown also reads the game better and gets better behind attacking lines. His arrival means that Davies now must fight for his spot at Bayern Munich for the first time since he arrived at the club and only one year after he signed one of the richest contract extensions in club history. Indeed, there have been whispers for some time now that Bayern could sell Davies. One potential destination could be Saudi Arabia. But Davies doesn’t want this. The player wants to stay in Munich and fight for his spot. So, when Marsch speaks about risk, that’s the risk mentioned. The risk is that Davies could lose his position at one of the best clubs in the world and, as a result, he put his nation second.

Note: When you search for something on Google, you’ll see a box with the latest news alongside the usual results. If you set Transfermarkt as your preferred source, our content will appear there more often. Add Transfermarkt as your preferred source here.