VANCOUVER \u2014 Head coach Jesse Marsch was using Alphonso Davies \u201cas a decoy\u201d after saying he expected the captain would play for Canada in Wednesday’s crucial FIFA World Cup match against Switzerland.<\/p>\n
Davies, who has been sidelined with an injury, was on the bench but didn’t play in Canada\u2019s 2-1 loss before a sold-out crowd of 52,497 at BC Place Vancouver.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlphonso wasn\u2019t ready yet, so I was using him a little bit as a decoy,\u201d Marsch said after the game. \u201cHe will be ready for the next match.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marsch was asked if he thought his ploy worked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI listened to their news conference (and they) had three questions about Alphonso Davies, so they at least had to prepare for that,\u201d Marsch said.<\/p>\n
Switzerland head coach Murat Yakin was asked what he thought about Marsch\u2019s tactic.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always have to plan with the captain,\u201d Yakin said through an interpreter. \u201cYou have to look at different games and different styles. You have a sense of the substitutes too.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, we looked at Davies during this tournament but we didn\u2019t only prepare for individual players. Right now, we only react to what\u2019s happening on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marsch sounded confident Tuesday that Davies would come into the match as a substitute.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will evaluate what we need of him in the game,” 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.”<\/p>\n
The Swiss took a 2-0 lead in the match before Canada fought back with a goal from Promise David in the 76th minute.<\/p>\n
With time ticking down, and Canada trailing by a goal, Marsch elected to bring in Jacob Shaffeburg with his final substation.<\/p>\n
The loss meant Canada finished second in Group B and will play Group A’s runner-up Sunday in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
After the game Davies walked through the mixed zone with a cellphone pressed to his ear. He did not stop to talk to the media.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old wing back has not played since early May when he suffered a hamstring injury playing for Bayern Munich in a Champions League semifinal.<\/p>\n
Davies hasn’t played for Canada since a ligament injury during Nations League play against the United States in March 2025.<\/p>\n
He joined the national squad in Edmonton at the end of May and followed return-to-play protocols, including warming up with teammates during Tuesday\u2019s training session and running and passing balls.<\/p>\n
Davies didn\u2019t dress for Canada\u2019s 1-1 opening World Cup draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto on June 12. He was on the bench for a 6-0 win over Qatar on June 18 in Vancouver.<\/p>\n
Davies has a connection with Vancouver. He was just 15 years old when he made his professional debut with Major League Soccer’s Vancouver Whitecaps.<\/p>\n
Born in a refugee camp in Ghana after his parents fled civil war in Liberia, he grew up in Edmonton. He was 14 when he signed with the Whitecaps\u2019 academy.<\/p>\n
His professional debut was June 1, 2016, when he came on in the 72nd minute of a Canadian Championship game against the Ottawa Fury. At 15 years, 212 days old at the time, he was the youngest player to appear in a game for the \u2018Caps.<\/p>\n
Davies signed his first professional contract in July of that year, a multi-year deal with Vancouver that made him the youngest active player in MLS. He played his first league game the next day, seeing 13 minutes of action against Orlando City.<\/p>\n
During parts of three MLS seasons Davies made 65 appearances, scoring eight goals.<\/p>\n
Davies earned his first call-up with the national team in June 2017 shortly after receiving his Canadian citizenship.<\/p>\n
He’s scored 15 goals and had 17 assists in 58 appearances for Canada.<\/p>\n
Davies made Canadian soccer history when he scored the country\u2019s first-ever World Cup goal in a December 2022 group-stage match against Croatia.<\/p>\n
Davies left Vancouver in July 2018 when Bayern acquired him in a record-breaking transfer worth up to US$22 million.<\/p>\n
During his time in the German Bundesliga, Davies helped Bayern to six league titles, a UEFA Champions League title and a FIFA Club World Cup title.<\/p>\n
Davies has struggled to stay healthy.<\/p>\n
His latest injury was his third since he returned Dec. 8 from a 260-day layoff from a torn cruciate ligament in his right knee.<\/p>\n
He was sidelined Feb. 22 to March 9 with a muscle fibre tear, then from March 11 to April 2 with a right hamstring injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VANCOUVER \u2014 Head coach Jesse Marsch was using Alphonso Davies \u201cas a decoy\u201d after saying he expected the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-759189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}