The confrontation over Alphonso Davies’ knee damage cooled considerably Thursday with a conciliatory communique from the Canada captain’s agent.
Within the wake of Bayern Munich’s announcement Wednesday that Davies had torn his anterior cruciate ligament in Canada’s 2-1 weekend win over the U.S. within the CONCACAF Nations League third-place recreation in Inglewood, Calif., agent Nedal Huoseh turned up the warmth by saying Davies “was not 100 per cent after the Mexico recreation (final Thursday)” and was “pressured to start out the (U.S.) recreation by the coach (Jesse Marsch).”
“Canada Soccer must do a greater job managing these gamers,” he concluded.
Paulo Senra, Canada Soccer’s chief communications and content material officer, disputed that assertion later within the day, saying “Canada Soccer’s coaches and skilled medical employees are true professionals and have at all times prioritized participant security and well-being.”
“Something suggesting in any other case is unfaithful,” Senra mentioned in an announcement.
Huoseh supplied a extra diplomatic soak up a social media submit Thursday.
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“Over the previous 24 hours, I spoke with Jesse Marsch on a number of events,” he wrote. “I’ve lots of respect for him as a coach. We had constructive and productive discussions and laid down the bottom work to make sure we’re all aligned and dealing collectively, to proceed to guard one of the best pursuits of gamers. Transferring ahead everybody concerned is concentrated on prioritizing Phonzie’s restoration.”
Davies exited the sport within the twelfth minute at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, favouring his knee after seeming to fall awkwardly whereas difficult for the ball within the Canadian penalty field.
The damage comes some 15 months earlier than the beginning of the 2026 World Cup, which Canada is co-hosting. If all goes nicely, he needs to be again in time to guide the Thirty first-ranked Canadian males.
Bayern, on its official web site, didn’t present a selected timeline for Davies’ return aside from to say he can be unavailable for “a number of months” and can be sidelined “for a prolonged interval” after present process surgical procedure to restore his proper knee.
Canada is subsequent in motion in early June on the Canadian Defend event, a four-country competitors in Toronto. Davies was not anticipated to be a part of the CONCACAF Gold Cup that follows later in June given Bayern’s participation within the FIFA Membership World Cup.
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