OTTAWA — When
Alphonso Davies runs out onto
the turf of the Al-Rayyan Stadium to face a star-studded Belgium on November 23
it will mark the latest step of a remarkable journey that has taken him from a
refugee camp to the World Cup.
اضافة اعلان
The fleet-footed Canada and Bayern Munich winger has
crammed so much into his record-breaking career that it is easy to forget he is
still only 22.
At an age when many professionals are still feeling
their way into the upper echelons of the sport, Davies is already a seasoned
veteran.
Four Bundesliga titles, a Champions League winners’
medal and a
FIFA Club World Cup crown are just some of the honors Davies has
gathered in a professional career that began as a 15-year-old in Major League
Soccer.
It’s all a far cry from how the buccaneering
wing-back started life.
Davies was born at the turn of the century in a
refugee camp in Ghana, where he spent the first four years of his life after
his parents fled civil war in Liberia.
“When we went to get our food, we had to step over
corpses,” according to Davies’ mother, Victoria, in a grim reference to life in
the camp.
To escape the squalor, his parents migrated to
Canada, first to Windsor, Ontario, then to Edmonton, Alberta.
In the country where ice hockey is king, Davies
started to show huge potential with a football in after-school games at primary
school and his talent was quickly spotted.
“The child was a gift to the game,” remembered Tim
Adams, founder of the after-school league ‘Free Footie’ where Davies first
stood out.
He joined a football academy in Edmonton and as a
14-year-old he impressed on trial in Vancouver, where he joined the Whitecaps
youth system.
Then the records started tumbling.
Aged 15 years and eight months, he became the
youngest Canadian to play in the MLS.
‘Anything’s possible’
Aged 16, seven months, he
became the youngest Canadian international, named in the squad days after
becoming a citizen.
In July 2017, Davies ended up as the joint
top-scorer with three goals at the CONCACAF Gold Cup as Canada lost in the
quarterfinals to Jamaica, who in turn went down 2–1 to the US in the final.
Craig Dalrymple, his former coach in Vancouver,
compares Davies to France’s teen star Kylian Mbappe “for his power and speed”,
but the youngster admits Lionel Messi is his idol.
In 2018, Davies was signed by
Bayern Munich in a
then-record deal for an MLS player worth up to $22 million.
After a handful of appearances in the 2018-2019
season, Davies’ career took off in the 2019-2020 campaign, notably with a
typically electrifying performance in a 3–0 Champions League away victory over
Chelsea.
That pandemic-interrupted season ended with Davies
winning the Champions League in a 1–0 Bayern victory over Paris Saint-Germain,
making him the first Canadian international to win the title.
Although an
integral part of the Canada squad that qualified for the World Cup for the
first time in 36 years, Davies was sidelined for several months this year after
developing the inflammatory heart condition myocarditis following a Covid-19
infection.
Having battled back to fitness, he limped off with a
thigh injury in Bayern’s 3-2 win against Hertha Berlin on November 5, but the
club quickly said his World Cup participation was not in danger.
Davies is relishing being one of Canada’s team
leaders in Qatar even though he admits to nerves about finally playing in a
World Cup.
“I’m gonna be a little bit nervous (at the World
Cup),” Davies said in a recent interview.
“But for me it’s just: We made it to this point for
a reason and each and every one of us have to be confident in ourselves and go
out there and show what we have.”
Canada coach John Herdman jokes however that Davies
is probably secretly thinking of winning the World Cup.
“He embodies what this team is about, what this
country is about – the confidence, the swagger, the anything’s possible,”
Herdman said.
“This kid is a refugee from west Africa, who’s got
Champions League trophies, all these Bundesliga titles, and he’s 22 years old.
So, I’m sure he’s thinking he’s winning this World Cup. “And that’s the new
Canadian mindset.”
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