By Philip O’Connor
VANCOUVER, June 16 (Reuters) – The status of Canada’s Alphonso Davies remains shrouded in secrecy ahead of their World Cup Group B clash with Qatar on Thursday, with the team remaining tight-lipped about his recovery from a hamstring injury during Tuesday’s training session.
Davies took the field with his teammates in bright sunshine shortly after 11 a.m. local time at the National Soccer Development Centre and took a full part in the 15 minutes of the workout that were open to media, but team officials kept their cards close to their chest about his fitness.
After being told on Monday that Davies was in a return-to-play protocol, reporters gathered pitch-side were informed that defender Alfie Jones would not take part in training due to “personal recovery” with no further information offered on Davies, and none forthcoming when journalists asked.
Davies became Canada’s youngest senior men’s international when he made his debut aged 16 against Curacao in June 2017, and since then he has scored 15 goals in 58 games for Canada, including the country’s first goal at a World Cup during the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
However, he has not played for the national team since tearing his anterior cruciate ligament during the CONCACAF Nations League Finals in March 2025, and he has been plagued by a succession of hamstring problems since his return.
“Mentally, it was very draining, suffering these injuries,” Davies told reporters ahead of Canada’s 1-1 opening draw with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“I was going into a hole where I was doubting myself, but I had that time off (during the injuries) and I thought about why I’m doing this, and how important this is to me.”
All four teams in Group B – Canada, Qatar, Bosnia and Switzerland – have one point, with one goal scored and one goal conceded.
(Reporting by Philip O’ConnorEditing by Christian Radnedge)
