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It wasn’t the way Alphonso Davies wanted to return to the field in his hometown of Edmonton, but Canada’s captain was still happy to be there.
Davies got some running in before his teammates took on Uzbekistan in a pre-World Cup friendly at Commonwealth Stadium on Monday.
The strides gave him a chance to test out the injured hamstring that prevented him from joining the group for training camp in Charlotte, N.C., last week.
“It feels nice to get back on the pitch and do some running,” the 25-year-old Bayern Munich defender said after watching Canada down Uzbekistan 2-0. “I’m happy to be home and I’m happy to be with the boys and support them. Whether it’s on or off the pitch I’m happy to do it.”
Davies met up with the national squad in Edmonton on Sunday night, but how long it will be before he joins them on the field remains to be seen.
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.
“Obviously when the games get started, he’s going to want to play,” he said. “But what we don’t want to do is put him in a situation to suffer again and be vulnerable again.”
Canada head coach Jesse Marsch joins Soccer North to discuss his final World Cup squad and the difficult decisions that went into selecting the roster. Marsch explains what he values most in his players, the identity of this Canadian team, and how the group has evolved since the 2022 World Cup.
Davies has made 58 appearances for the senior national team, scoring 15 goals and contributing 17 assists across the stretch.
His biggest strike came in December 2022 when he scored Canada’s first-ever World Cup goal in a group-stage match against Qatar.
A string of injuries — including a torn anterior cruciate ligament — have kept the young star from playing with the Maple Leaf on his chest since March 2025, and questions have lingered over whether he’ll return in time for this summer’s World Cup.
Canada kicks off the tournament in Toronto against Bosnia-Herzegovina on June 12.
Asked whether he’s holding out hope he’ll be ready for that game, Davies said it was too soon to tell.
“I can’t really say right now. Obviously I can say yes or no, but it all depends on how the rehab goes,” he said.
“We just have to see how everything goes over the next couple of days. I just continue my rehab, my progression and see how I’m feeling, day by day, step by step.”
Davies is providing the rest of the group motivation as it prepares for the globe’s biggest soccer showcase, Marsch said.
They all want to give him a chance to play, the coach said.
“We’re all hopeful we can get it done in the group phase but we know that the further we go in this tournament, the more time he’ll have to recover,” Marsch said.
“And what it’s going to be is a progression of a few minutes in the first game. We want to give him a chance to be a big player in this tournament for us. And so the deeper that we go, the better chance we’ll have at that.”
Head coach Jesse Marsch describes the growth of soccer in Canada and how players have earned international respect.
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