Here are three things to look for in Thursday\u2019s Group B encounter between Canada and Qatar at the World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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1. How much can Alphonso Davies contribute?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
The injury status of Canadian captain Alphonso Davies has been one of the best-kept secrets at the World Cup.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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But now he appears at least closer to contributing in matches.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Head coach Jesse Marsch announced Wednesday night that Davies will be available against Qatar, but did not tip his hand for how he will use his captain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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“He’ll be available tomorrow, and we’ll see how the match goes, and then make a decision on how we would choose to use (him),\u201d Marsch said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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He later added:\u00a0\u201cAlphonso is looking really good, right? And so it\u2019s just a matter of \u2018OK, what kind of game is it, what kind of moment is it, and how do we feel Alphonso can contribute right now?\u2019 But he\u2019s ready, he\u2019ll be available.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Davies is coming back from a longstanding hamstring issue that ruled him out for Canada\u2019s opening match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. He worked out with the entire team for the first 15 minutes of Tuesday’s practice, the only\u00a0portion\u00a0of training that was open to the media.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Davies, 25, had previously been in “return to play protocol,” which means he\u2019s been running and involved in less intense drills while also working on his own and with a trainer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Davies’ long-term hamstring injuries forced him to miss a good chunk of the 2025-26 season with German club Bayern Munich \u2014 he has not played since early May when he suffered an injury setback in the UEFA Champions League semifinal. He has also not played for Canada since March 2025, when he tore an ACL in the Concacaf Nations League finals.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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He has 15 goals in 58 games for Canada.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The news\u00a0isn’t\u00a0positive for centre back Alfie Jones, who was ruled out versus Qatar due to a muscle injury. Jones has two caps for Canada since making his international debut last November. He was an unused substitute versus Bosnia and Herzegovina.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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2. Jonathan David\u2019s search for his first World Cup goal <\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Cyle Larin was the goal-scoring hero for Canada in its World Cup opener.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Larin was subbed on in the 76th minute and then scored two minutes later to help Canada earn a draw vs. Bosnia. In netting the leveller, Larin snapped a 14-game scoring drought for Canada that dated back to 2024.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Larin’s heroics mean Marsch has a big decision to make ahead of Canada’s next match vs. Qatar: Who’ll start up top?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Does Marsch reward Larin for his efforts vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina and reinstall him in the starting 11 alongside Jonathan David? Does he go back to the Jonathan David-Tani Oluwaseyi duo for a second game in a row and bring Larin off the bench again? Or does he make a radical change and start Larin and Promise David together?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Marsh has every reason to keep faith with Jonathan David, who is Canada’s all-time top scorer with 39 goals in 78 games. But David hasn\u2019t scored in open play for Canada since last September. He scored twice from the penalty spot in March, his only goals in his last 10 appearances for Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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What’s more, David looked poor against Bosnia and Herzegovina, spurning a glorious scoring chance in the first half before being subbed out in the 61st minute \u2013 it was the earliest he\u2019s been pulled from a game during Marsch’s tenure in charge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Yet, Marsch still has complete faith in David and believes that he\u2019ll score his first-ever World Cup goal after being shut out vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina and failing to find the back of the net in three games at the 2022 tournament in Qatar.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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“Jonathan has scored a heck of a lot of goals, right? I know that there’s been some criticism of him \u2026 (But) he still scores goals for us and sets up plays and I think he leads the team in goals and assists since I’ve been here, and probably minutes, and XG and every attacking category out there,\u201d Marsch said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cSo, of course in the biggest games we want him to score and he will and he has and he won’t stop. He’s still young [and not] at the end of his career; he’s going to have, I don’t know, 60 or 70 goals for the Canadian national team. He’s not done scoring, people. Okay, so get ready, just put your seat belts on and get ready.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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3. Isma\u00ebl Kon\u00e9: The key cog in Canada\u2019s midfield <\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Cyle Larin drew the headlines for Canada in its game vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it was Isma\u00ebl Kon\u00e9 who took home man-of-the-match honours for Les Rouges<\/em> even though he didn\u2019t end up on the scoresheet.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Kon\u00e9, who turned 24 on Tuesday, was a major force in central midfield for Canada, controlling the tempo with his steady possession, winning duels against his Bosnian counterparts, and driving the attack forward in moments of transition with his probing runs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The soft-spoken, yet confident midfielder was directly involved in Canada\u2019s buildup play, registering 79 touches (second most on the team), while completing 85 per cent of his passes. Kon\u00e9 led all players in passes in the final third of the pitch (23) and carries (17). He also contributed on the defensive side with a pair of interceptions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Coming off a strong debut season with Italian club US Sassuolo Calcio, Kon\u00e9 has a well-earned reputation as a physical two-way midfielder who runs himself ragged in covering a lot of ground for Canada.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI think he’s an amazing player, he’s been growing a lot, developing a lot,\u201d fellow midfielder Stephen Eust\u00e1quio said of Kon\u00e9, who has four goals in 41 games for Canada since his debut in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Kone also has a high football IQ, forming an effective partnership in central midfield with the more experienced Eust\u00e1quio for Canada.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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They\u2019re two very different players, but they complement each other well, and Kon\u00e9 will once again have to be at his very best if Canada hopes to unlock a Qatar side that will look to defend in numbers and challenge the hosts to break them down.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cHe\u2019s a dribbler that makes him sometimes have to be creative and sometimes step out of the area as a midfielder that you’re supposed to be at. But at the same time, I think that’s a very good advantage for us as a team, and I just try to see where he goes and try to balance the team as much as I can, try to do the dirty work, and I think we’ve been very successful,\u201d Eust\u00e1quio offered.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Editor\u2019s note<\/h6>\n
\n John Molinaro is one of the leading soccer journalists in Canada, having covered the game for over 27 years for several media outlets, including Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is currently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic<\/em><\/a>, a website dedicated to in-depth coverage of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
VANCOUVER \u2013 World Cup matches don\u2019t come any bigger for Canada than its contest against Qatar on Thursday at BC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_animmysite_disable_animation":false,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.sportsnet.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Canada-soccer-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[214],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}