Canada will have to open its home-soil World Cup run without its captain.
Superstar full-back Alphonso Davies confirmed he won’t play in Canada’s opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12 as he recovers from a hamstring injury, he said on the Sid Seixeiro Show on Tuesday.
“The first game of the tournament, it won’t be possible,” Davies said. “But let’s see what happens the second, third, maybe if we make it out the group stage. Let’s see what happens. It all depends on my rehab and how my body reacts to the treatment, and how quickly I can heal, and obviously, (get) as healthy as possible and not risking anything.”
Davies, 25, has been on and off the pitch since suffering a torn ACL in late March during a Concacaf Nations League match for Canada, and has dealt with a string of hamstring issues since returning from that major injury.
His latest issue cropped up in the second leg of the Champions League semifinal against Paris Saint-Germain. He hasn’t been able to play since, missing Bayern Munich’s final two Bundesliga games and the DFB-Pokal final against Stuttgart.
“Considering when the injury was, and you’re doing the math, no, it will not be possible. I hate to say it, it hurts me to say it, but that’s the reality of injuries,” Davies said of his return timeline. “I want to play, of course, I always want to play with my national team, especially in a home World Cup, but we have to face reality. It won’t be possible.”
On Monday, before Canada beat Uzbekistan 2-0 in a pre-World Cup friendly, the captain was seen running on the pitch in the rain at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, testing out his injured hamstring.
He joined the team on Sunday night in his Alberta hometown after missing the group’s training camp in Charlotte, N.C., last week.
Head coach Jesse Marsch has said the star left back is continuing the rehabilitation program set out by his club, and now that he’s with Canada, he’ll be monitored daily.
Neither Bayern nor the Canadians want him to feel pressure to come back, Marsch added.
“Of course I want to play in the World Cup, of course I want to play in front of the country, my family and friends, and help the team as much as I can,” Davies said. “But yet again, there’s things as a footballer you have to realize, like, especially injuries that happen back-to-back-to-back, you can’t really rush them. The best thing you can do, sometimes you have to sacrifice.”
Canada will also hit the field in Vancouver against Qatar on June 18 and Switzerland on June 24.
–with files from The Canadian Press