Evening Standard
·4 July 2026
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Yahoo sportsEvening Standard
·4 July 2026
Canada captain held back amid injury woes
Canada, now under the leadership of Jesse Marsch, have never before reached this stage of a World Cup, but will face their toughest opposition of the summer so far in Morocco, the disputed AFCON champions.
Davies of Bayern Munich came into the tournament nursing an injury and sat out the group stage in its entirety, but made his comeback off the bench in last week’s round-of-32 victory over South Africa.
He looked exceedingly rusty as he played his first competitive minutes since May 6, but Marsch said he was pleased with his impact.
“We will be thinking about how to use Alphonso again in this game (vs Morocco), whether from the start or off the bench,” he said.
Clearly not fit enough to start, but Marsch has opted to not gamble on starting with his captain.
Elsewhere, he has little need to rotate, with Ismael Kone the only absentee after he broke his leg in a nasty tackle during a group stage defeat of Qatar.
Stephen Eustaquio was the hero goalscorer against South Africa and will keep his place, with strikers Jonathan David and Tani Oluwaseyi also looking to get their names on the scoresheet.
At the other end, Maxime Crepeau impressed against Bafana Bafana and will continue between the sticks.
Morocco, meanwhile, have been dealt a blow with Chadi Riad ruled out after picking up a knock in the penalty shootout win over Netherlands
Canada XI: Crepeau; Johnston, De Fougerolles, Bombito, Laryea, Sigur; Eustaquio, Ahmed, Buchanan; David, Oluwaseyi.
Substitutes: El Kajou, Tagnaouti, Saadane, El Ouahdi, Riad, Belammari, Salah-Eddine, Amrabat, Talbi, El Mourabet, Yassine, Rahimi, Sbai, El Kaabi, Amaimouni.
Time and date: 6pm BST on Saturday, July 4, 2026
How to watch: ITV


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