Alphonso Davies missing Canada’s World Cup homecoming makes some sense. The honeymoon messaging doesn’t - Toronto Star

Davies will not join up with Jesse Marsch and the national team for this three-game window due to the 'celebration of his marriage and honeymoon.'

Alphonso Davies pictured at training camp before Canada’s first World Cup match in June.

The first international window after a World Cup can be a tricky thing. A be-all and end-all is now all over but moving on is never easy. Time and again, for coaches and teams that struggle to step into the next cycle, it’s proven prime territory for headlines about the honeymoon being over.

Jesse Marsch’s first experience of the phenomenon is a little different. For a start, the honeymoon will only be beginning.

Canada captain Alphonso Davies will not join up with Marsch and the national team for an upcoming 16-day, three-game window being billed as “The Homecoming.” A Sept. 26 Toronto test against Chile and a Montreal meeting with Peru (followed by a trip south to face the U.S.) are opportunities for the team and its soccer public to reunite after the sweeping early summer romance that was Canada’s 2026 World Cup.

Alphonso Davies pictured warming up before Canada’s World Cup match against Switzerland in June.

Davies’ tournament, of course, amounted to just 17 minutes of on-field action with weeks of confusing medical forecasting, off-field speculation and a little Marschian subterfuge. Now he is skipping the homecoming, “unavailable for selection due to the celebration of his marriage and honeymoon,” according to Canada Soccer’s release of a 26-man squad Tuesday morning.

That the initial confirmation was met with smatterings of negative reaction was perhaps understandable. Since making the commitment to Canada in mid-2024, Marsch had been married to the idea of the World Cup bringing in new hearts and minds to the sport. The historic firsts of June and July did that. But the brightest glare brought sharper perspectives, too.

Fighting to recover from vexing hamstring issues, Davies was “with Canada but apart … (and) mostly a ghost,” Star colleague Bruce Arthur noted on the day the national team exited the tournament without him.

Apart Davies shall remain, until November at the earliest. Having married partner Sheyenne Jen in late July in France, Davies immediately rejoined his club Bayern Munich and worked his way back to fitness, starting two of Bayern’s last three games and scoring a rocket in the Champions League last week.

ALPHONSO DAVIES SMASHES IT HOME TO MAKE IT 3-0 🚀🌟 Watch Bayern München vs Bodø/Glimt | UEFA Champions League - Round 1 | LIVE on DAZN & OneSoccer in Canada | ⚽🌟#UCL | #CANMNT | @DAZNFootball | @OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/53Kww4Infh

After so many false starts with his fitness, and given the lack of tangible stakes across the three upcoming Canada matches, Davies skipping them makes plenty of medical and sporting sense.

But once more when it comes to Canada Soccer, its coach and captain, it is the messaging that felt just a little off. In 20-odd years of covering international football, I couldn’t recall seeing or hearing “honeymoon” listed as the official reason for a captain not leading his country. It didn’t sit well on either eye nor ear.

Davies is also more than a player. He remains Canada’s best, a truly world-class talent. Crucially, he’s the skipper too, an added responsibility which requires added commitment. Primarily due to a torn ACL suffered in March 2025, Davies has featured in just three of the last 25 Canada games, a number that will now run to three in 28. In November 2024, the window that preceded his injury, he skipped two games “due to physical fatigue.”

There are many complex layers to this two-year stretch where Davies has mostly been Canada’s captain-in-absentia. But as Marsch begins in earnest his difficult second act, regenerating and moving the national team on and, he hopes, upward toward the next World Cup in 2030, he could have made both his and Davies’ life a little easier.

Stephen Eustáquio has been an exemplary vice captain in the extended absences of Davies. Officially handing the midfield veteran the arm band at least from now until World Cup 2030 qualifying kicks up in late 2027 could take a little pressure and focus away from Davies. Marsch, however, disagreed.

“Alphonso’s our captain, it’s not really a complicated issue,” the coach said. “There’s no doubt of that in the environment, the players are all clear on that, and the expectation on Alphonso to be our best player and to be our biggest leader wouldn’t change if he were captain or not.”

Canada lit a fire at a home World Cup. Can Jesse Marsch and his squad keep it burning?