Canada head coach Jesse Marsch told reporters Saturday that captain Alphonso Davies is healthy and ready to go ahead of the team’s Round of 32 matchup against South Africa at the FIFA World Cup.
“He’s ready to go. We’re excited to have our captain and best player back. He’s looked really good for a couple of weeks and we’re ready for tomorrow. I think it’s going to be a big boost for our team,” Marsch said.
Canada’s head coach did not confirm whether or not Davies would start, or how much he would play at all.
“If the coach sees fit and the circumstances are right, then I’ll be able to go out there and do what I need to do to help the team. As of now I’m just excited to be back. Whenever the coach sees fit to put me in then I’m ready to go,” Davies said Saturday.
According to TSN’s Matthew Scianitti, Davies started working with his physio Matthias Blankenburg Saturday at training and then moved onto dynamic activation with Canada’s Neville Wright for the 15 minutes of team activity that was open to the media.
Davies told reporters Saturday that he advocated to play in Canada’s group-stage finale against Switzerland earlier this week. However, despite saying to members of the media Davies would be likely to be used off the bench, Marsch told Davies he would remain on the bench.
“Alphonso wasn’t ready yet, so I was using him a little bit as a decoy,” Marsch said after the game Wednesday. “He will be ready for the next match.”
Davies suffered a hamstring injury in May while playing for Bayern Munich in the Champions League semifinal.
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