Canada captain Alphonso Davies, Moise Bombito will be available to play match against Qatar today

Before Canada’s domain transfuse roster became functionary on June 11, head up train Jesse Marsch made three gambles, taking a trio of players who were not fit to play but had shown hopeful signs that they would return from their injuries in time to contribute.

He selected Alphonso Davies (out with a hamstring strain since May 6), Alfie Jones (out with an ankle injury since Dec. 26), and Moise Bombito (out with a broken leg since Oct. 5).

On Wednesday, Marsch said that two of his bets are surprisingly close to paying off: Davies and Bombito will be available for Thursday ’s must-win against Qatar in Vancouver.

“They’re not out,” he said, correcting a reporter who suggested they were. “They’re in.”

Jones, who has sat out the last two days of training with a muscle injury, will miss the match, leaving the remainder of his tournament also in doubt.

Davies’s availability is the most stunning development, although Marsch cautioned that Canada’s captain will return only if the conditions are perfect and the moment demands it — if Canada’s trailing late, for instance, and needs a goal in a hurry. 

“We took some risks in how we put the squad together, hoping that we could manage all these situations to give our best players the best chance to be on the pitch with us for our most important games,” Marsch said. “But what we don’t want to do is put players at risk... We’re trying to be very calculating.”

Marsch and his team, usually remarkably open and accessible, have become coyer since last week’s opening draw against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

At Monday’s training session, reporters were told that Davies remained subject to “return to play” protocols, the least-intensive level of training for injured players.

No update was offered for Davies on Tuesday. Reporters weren’t told of a change in his status. They weren’t told anything at all.

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Only the first 15 minutes of training are open to reporters, and Davies jogged and stretched with the rest of his team. But his personal physiotherapist, imported from Germany, was busy setting up cones and hurdles on a separate pitch, indicating that Davies would soon leave his teammates to continue his private rehabilitation.

It’s possible that the cones and hurdles were props in some next-level subterfuge, a confusing signal that the Qataris might receive.

It’s also possible that Marsch has said that Davies and Bombito are ready when in fact they are not quite there, to push the Qataris in a different strategic direction.

But what seems most likely, at least when it comes to Davies, is that he’s available only in case of emergency, like a saviour kept under glass. 

“It’s just a matter of what kind of game is it, what kind of moment is it, and how do we feel Alphonso can contribute right now,” Marsch said.

He also spoke enthusiastically about Bombito, despite the noticeable hitch he’s still displaying when he’s running. “This week he’s looked amazing and more like himself,” Marsch said.

It remains highly unlikely that Bombito will start Thursday’s game. He played the first 30 minutes of the June 1 friendly against Uzbekistan before he limped off in discomfort, and, like Davies and Jones, didn’t feature in the subsequent friendly against Ireland or opening match against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

But even the chance that he might play is encouraging.

To Marsch, it must also come as a relief. 

His risk-reward calculus when constructing his roster was obvious. Davies is one of the most dynamic players the country has produced; Bombito is a normally indispensable lock starter; and Jones had impressed in his performances with Canada. They were players of potentially massive impact.

All three are defenders, however, and only injured goalkeepers can be replaced on the roster now that the tournament has started. If any or all proved unable to compete, Canada’s back line would have been left alarmingly depleted.

Against Bosnia-Herzegovina, Marsch started Derek Cornelius and Luc de Fougerolles in the middle, and Richie Laryea and Alistair Johnston on the outside. Beyond the variously damaged three, that left Joel Waterman and Niko Sigur the only substitutes.

The balance is still delicate given the confirmed absence of Jones.

“I’m feeling great at the moment,” he’d said at May’s intense training camp in Charlotte. “I’m optimistic.”

That optimism was sadly premature. The same might prove true of the latest forecasts for Davies and Bombito.

But like Canada and its pursuit of its first knockout-round appearance in men’s World Cup history, they are closer to glory than they were.

Senior Contributor

Chris Jones is a journalist and screenwriter who began his career covering baseball and boxing for the National Post. He later joined Esquire magazine, where he won two National Magazine Awards for his feature writing. His memoir, Legs Hearts Minds: Loss and Its Remedies, will be published by Random House in June.

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