Canada's 2026 World Cup co-hosts kick off their tournament tonight against Bosnia and Herzegovina, but captain and star player Alphonso Davies will not be on the pitch. The left-back, who also plays on the wing, suffered a hamstring injury during Bayern Munich's Champions League semi-final against PSG in May. Although the 25-year-old has returned to training, Canada head coach Jesse Marsch confirmed before the game that Davies has not recovered in time to play.
Injury recovery progress
Speaking to reporters, Marsch said: 'We did an MRI with him [on Wednesday]. It showed very positive signs that he's healing incredibly well, almost completely. We're getting ready to ramp things up. I think that he's showing, like he always has, a real good ability to recover from muscle injuries. Having his private physio here has been very helpful, and the concentration on his body's needs every day. So we are really hopeful that over the next days and week that we can accelerate things and give him a chance to contribute here soon.'
Canada's World Cup history
Canada will hope to get off to a winning start in Toronto after a glitzy opening ceremony featuring Alanis Morissette and Michael Buble. However, it will be no easy task, especially given that Canada have lost all six of their previous World Cup games. Their starting XI for Friday night's match includes talented players like Juventus striker Jonathan David. Davies is named among the substitutes but will not come off the bench. Remarkably, due to his injury record, Davies has only featured in two of Canada's last 21 matches.
Group B fixtures
Canada are in Group B and are set to take on Qatar and Switzerland after the Bosnia match.
