Injured captain Alphonso Davies is expected to miss co-hosts Canada’s opening World Cup game, but head coach Jesse Marsch believes the full-back will still play a part in the tournament.
Davies, 25, suffered a hamstring injury in Bayern Munich’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Paris St-Germain on 6 May, with the German club saying at the time he was expected to be out of action “for several weeks”.
He only made 13 Bundesliga appearances for Bayern during a campaign heavily disrupted by injuries.
Canada will open their home World Cup campaign against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto on 12 June before meeting Qatar and Switzerland on 18 and 24 June in Vancouver.
“I think Alphonso will play in the World Cup,” Marsch told reporters in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Canada will train this week before their 26-man World Cup squad is announced on Friday.
“I don’t think he’ll be ready quite on June 12… but we’ll see.”
Davies was among 32 players invited to the camp, but Marsch said the Canada skipper would only join the team on the eve of their friendly against Uzbekistan in Edmonton on 1 June.
They will also face the Republic of Ireland in Montreal on 5 June in another World Cup preparation game.
Davies last played for Canada against the United States in March last year, when he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
He missed the March 2026 friendlies against Iceland and Tunisia because of a hamstring strain.
The former Vancouver Whitecaps left-back was part of Canada’s World Cup squad in 2022 and scored in a 4-1 defeat by eventual semi-finalists Croatia in the group stage.