Will we see Alphonso Davies at the 2026 World Cup for Canada?

Still out with an injury 

Will we see Alphonso Davies at the World Cup? The moment of his first appearance was supposed to come against Switzerland. “We will evaluate what we need of him in the game,” Canadian men’s national team head coach Jesse Marsch said. "I would like to get him into the match, for sure. And I think that he can have a big impact, both on us physically and football-wise, but also mentally, psychologically, to have our captain back, our best player back in the team. I think this is a big factor.”

With Switzerland taking a 2-0 lead in the second half at BC Place on Wednesday, and Canada needing a draw to win the group and stay in Vancouver rather than flying down south to the United States for the knockout stages, the moment bringing on Davies seemed to have come. But rather than bringing on Canada’s only true global football star, Marsch opted to first bring on Tani Oluwaseyi for Cyle Larin, Stephen Eustaquio for Mathieu Choinière, and Liam Millar for Ali Ahmed (58’).

That left two more slots open for Canada to bring on Davies. In the 75th minute, Tajon Buchanan had to make way for Promise David. David at least scored, justifying his substitution. But with Canada needing one more goal, there was still no Davies. Indeed, the Bayern Munich star wasn’t even warming up, staying on the bench following along as his team was struggling for a valuable point. Then in the 83rd minute, Jacob Shaffelburg came on for Richie Laryea. The window was shut; there would be no Davies today.

Marsch: Davies “was never going to play today”

“No, he was never going to play today,” Marsch said after the game when asked whether he used Davies as a decoy. Why would he do that? “Because I wanted Switzerland to have to think about it. I think that I listened to their press conference; they had like three questions about Davies, so they at least had to prepare for that." Is that truly the case? Do we really think an experienced coach like Switzerland’s Murat Yakin was bothered about potential decoys thrown his way by Marsch?

“I mean, you always have to plan with the opponent’s captain, and you have to look at different games and different styles,” Yakin said with a smile on his face. “You have a good sense of the substitutes, too. Of course, we also looked at Davies during this tournament, but we didn't prepare only for individual players. Right now, we only react to what's happening on the pitch.”Hence, why the mind games? Indeed, the whole Davies situation begs a few questions. If he isn’t fit enough to play, will he be fit enough in four days when Canada plays next?

Davies wouldn’t answer that question, or any question really, as he walked through the mixed zone with his phone at his ear. Ultimately, the question is now whether we will see Davies at all at this tournament. After all, he is under pressure. Bayern are set to sign Nathaniel Brown from Eintracht Frankfurt. Brown is in many ways a younger, better version of Davies, and could be a risk for his position in Munich, a city he doesn’t want to leave. Hence, is this about the left-back not wanting to play, about Bayern, or about him just not being fit? Perhaps we will find out when Canada play their round of 32 game in Los Angeles against South Africa.

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