Canada<\/a> international.<\/p>\nBut recent years have seen him struggle to stay healthy, especially since a March 2025 ACL tear at this same stadium, that complicated the dynamic between player, club, national team, and manager Jesse Marsch.<\/p>\n
A Godot-like figure at this World Cup \u2013 oft-cited but never seen \u2013 Davies finally got to work tonight. His first three involvements showed much of what Canada had missed: decisiveness on the ball, a constant pest along the left flank, and a vocal link between the field and bench that jolted the whole team to life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Alphonso comes in, I know it\u2019s a big boost for the team,\u201d goal-scorer Stephen Eustaquio said after the match. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the best players, one of the best left backs in the world, the best player we have on our team. When we know that he\u2019s healthy, [it] push[ed] the group to make sure that we were going to the knockout runs to have the possibility of him playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davies quickly worked some nimble passing triangles with his left-sided comrades, with Eustaquio and left-back Richie Laryea and giving South Africa fits in the game\u2019s waning minutes. His second pass was close to breaking the deadlock, as he threaded a through ball into Jonathan David\u2019s stride. The Juventus striker was unable to get his shot beyond Ronwen Williams, but suddenly Canada seemed to have hit a rich vein.<\/p>\n
After his first five minutes, Davies\u2019 play showed evidence that he wasn\u2019t quite at 100%. Infamously position-agnostic throughout the 2022 World Cup, where he roamed all over the pitch hoping to create a spark, Davies almost solely stayed in the attacking half to conserve his energy and fitness. South Africa began sensing his limited strength, dropping shoulders and throwing hips to repeatedly shield him off the ball as his dribbles entered the final third. Davies went to ground often, either to draw fouls or preventing himself from aggravating his injuries.<\/p>\n
By that point, South Africa were already in two minds. Their disciplined approach was suddenly getting stretched. The left flank simply couldn\u2019t be back-of-mind with Davies roaming.<\/p>\n
As the match entered second-half stoppage, Canada began a break up its right side. South Africa couldn\u2019t overcommit and risk leaving Davies unmarked. It opened up more space in the center of the field \u2013 just what Eustaquio needed.<\/p>\n
Stephen Eustaquio celebrates after scoring the winner v South Africa. Photograph: Scott Strazzante\/EPA<\/p>\n
Mild-mannered and reflective in interviews, Eustaquio has quietly established himself as one of the region\u2019s best midfielders over the past half decade. His partnership with Ismael Kon\u00e9 was set to be vital for this tournament. When Kon\u00e9 suffered a broken lower leg against Qatar, even more pressure was heaped on to Eustaquio to keep the engine room whirring.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, with more focus on Davies, Eustaquio found it easier to join the attack. When the 29-year-old had the ball squared right into his stride he wasted no time, connecting with a volley that bounced beyond Williams to finally break a scoreless deadlock.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat shot, I felt that everybody in the team shot that ball with me,\u201d Eustaquio said. \u201cWe have a special group. We feel like we are brothers. When we fight for each other, when we play for each other, special things like this can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
After such a stout defensive showing, South Africa understandably struggled to accept their first run to the knockouts ending in such dramatic fashion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, it wasn\u2019t a dangerous ball inside the box,\u201d goalkeeper Ronwen Williams said afterwards. \u201cWe had it covered, but I mean: amazing finish. That\u2019s what you need at this level. Sometimes when the game is back and forth, you need someone to have that luck, and I think luck was on their side today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how football will go sometimes. A coin falls and it flips for you. Wasn\u2019t to be for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canada may need more favorable flips of fate in the next round, where they\u2019ll face the winner of Morocco and the Netherlands. Both Eustaquio and defender Alastair Johnston appreciated the moment that awaits them, with Johnston calling both teams a \u201cGoliath\u201d figure while Eustaquio admitting it\u2019s \u201cgoing to be a very hard game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then again, these are the contests that Canada has long striven to play. There are parallels to be found with this group\u2019s run to the Copa Am\u00e9rica semi-final, in which they beat Peru and Venezuela and drew with Chile before falling to Argentina.<\/p>\n
That experience has only amplified belief around Jesse Marsch\u2019s side. With Davies having survived his first shift of the tournament, he could be working into the rotation at a pivotal point.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt great,\u201d Davies said. \u201cI felt great. It takes time building my confidence [up] and getting back to it, but definitely felt good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For 75 minutes, Canada and South Africa struggled to find a way to break through in the World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-768258","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\/768258","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=768258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}