OTTAWA — Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David were the star names in Canada’s World Cup squad as coach Jesse Marsch unveiled the co-host’s 26-man roster.
Bayern Munich defender Davies was deemed sufficiently fit for inclusion despite battling a hamstring injury, while Juventus forward David leads the line for a side that have never won a World Cup game but have shot up the FIFA rankings in recent years.
Other key names included were Porto playmaker Stephen Eustaquio, box-to-box Sassuolo midfielder Ismael Kone, Villarreal duo Tajon Buchanan and Tani Oluwaseyi, and Southampton attacker Cyle Larin.
Also named despite injury doubts were Nice defender Moise Bombito, Norwich midfielder Ali Ahmed, Los Angeles FC winger Jacob Shaffelburg, and Promise David, a striker for Belgium’s Union SG.
“We have really our best group of 26 players that this country has ever assembled at any one time,” said Marsch according to AFP.
“Are all of them right now at full 100 per cent? No, but they’re close,” he added, signalling frustration at the repeated questions from media about players’ injuries.
Each squad player’s name was unveiled and displayed on banners displayed on Toronto’s famous CN Tower.
As one of three co-hosts, along with the United States and Mexico, Canada will play all three group games on home turf.
Canada’s Group B campaign begins against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto on June 12, before shifting to Vancouver for clashes with Qatar and Switzerland.
In two previous appearances at the World Cup – the 1986 finals in Mexico and the 2022 tournament in Qatar – Canada have a perfect record of six defeats in six matches.
But the Canadians surprised many by reaching the semifinals of the Copa America in 2024, where they only narrowly lost on penalties to Uruguay in the third-place playoff.
Most prominent among the injury concerns has been Canada talisman Davies, who faces a race against time to be fit for Canada’s first game.
He picked up a hamstring injury in Bayern Munich’s Champions League semifinal clash with Paris Saint-Germain.
That followed a series of muscle injuries after returning from an eight-month layoff with an ACL tear in October.
“We’ve had a pretty good idea of who our core group is for a while. The real X factor in all these decisions was to determine… which players are gonna be healthy, and who could we project to be really close to 100 per cent and in the best form of their life,” said Marsch.
“Luckily, we are on track with a lot of guys. Will everyone be 100 per cent for the Bosnia match? No, that won’t be the case. But we will have a really strong core that will be ready for that match, and we believe we can get stronger as the tournament goes on.”
Much will depend on David – the most expensive Canadian footballer in history, with Lille splashing out 30 million euros ($34.8 million) to sign him in 2020.
