(Photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images)
With three days to go until Canada's World Cup opener, star fullback Alphonso Davies has yet to participate in full training for manager Jesse Marsch's side and uncertain to play in Friday's clash against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto.Multiple reports showed Davies, 25, continuing to train apart from the full group on Tuesday as Canada prepares for its Group B opener.Its latter two group matches will come on June 18 and 24 in Vancouver, B.C., where Davies turned pro as a prodigious teenager with the Vancouver Whitecaps before moving on to Bayern Munich for a then-MLS-record fee of $13.5 million after the 2018 season.
Davies has been out since he suffered a left hamstring injury in Leg 2 of his club's UEFA Champions League semifinal against Paris St. Germain.
That was the latest in a string of injury issues that began with an ACL tear suffered while playing for Canada against the United States in a CONCACAF Nations League third-place match in March 2025.'I think one of the biggest challenges Alphonso is going through right now is just trusting his body,' Marsch said in an interview with 'Men In Blazers' media published over the weekend. 'As soon as he gets himself going, he starts to experience a new injury. And you can imagine how frustrating that is for a young man that plays at a high level and believes in himself, and in a moment when he wants to represent the country as a captain in all the right ways.'Concerns over Davies' fitness have been compounded by Moise Bombito's thigh injury, an ailment that could rule out the influential center back for the tournament's entirety.
Marsch's squad already made another injury replacement earlier Tuesday, calling in midfielder Jayden Nelson to fill the spot of Marcelo Flores, who suffered an ACL tear playing for UNAL Tigres in the CONCACAF Champions Cup final on May 30.Canada's World Cup expectations were heightened by a fourth-place finish in the 2024 Copa America, the best performance of the six CONCACAF guest sides.
Davies played in all six of those matches, starting five, while Bombito played every minute.But Davies made only 23 appearances across all competitions for Bayern this season (eight starts), and hasn't suited up for Canada since his March 2025 ACL tear.
Without him, Canada lost on penalties to Guatemala in the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals following a 1-1 draw.'We're motivated to get him healthy,' Marsch said. 'We're motivated to give him a chance to play in this tournament. We're doing everything we can to work with our medical team and Alphonso is, too. And then in the meantime, the team feels (his) energy. The team feels having him back in the group is a different feeling than it was without him.'
--Ian Quillen, Field Level Media
