A Home World Cup Begins Without Alphonso Davies. Canada Must Show Who It Has Become.

For years, Canada have been introduced to the world through Alphonso Davies. Through speed. Through possibility. Through the intoxicating feeling that one extraordinary footballer could drag a football nation somewhere entirely new.

Now comes the harder stage of growth.

Can Canada still look like Canada without him?

Marsch appears convinced they can. Much of his tenure has been spent building a team less dependent on individual brilliance and more reliant on collective conviction. The aggressive pressing, the relentless running and the willingness to attack games rather than endure them are all designed to survive the absence of any one player — even Davies.