Less than four months after undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured hip tendon, striker Promise David was named to Canada’s roster for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday night.
David, 24, suffered the injury Feb. 21 while playing with Union SG of the Belgian Pro League. He was told recovery time would take six months.
“I did not think it was possible. I’m not going to lie,” David told TSN. “When I had to opt in for the decision to get the surgery … they told me, ‘We don’t see people come back from this quickly as they should.’ I kind of gave up.”
Then he got an encouraging call from Jesse Marsch, Canada’s head coach.
“He said, ‘We’re going to give you as much time as you need. You’ll be fine,'” David said. “I was like, ‘If he’s banking on me, there’s no reason I shouldn’t bank on myself.”
Another player recovering from a setback, captain Alphonso Davies, made the roster despite suffering a left hamstring injury earlier this month while playing with Bayern Munich.
“We just wanted to go through the process with Alphonso and Bayern Munich and make sure that he was set up to succeed and we weren’t putting additional pressure on him,” Marsch told TSN. “Alphonso is a big personality and a big player for us, and we wanted to make sure in all ways we were setting him up to succeed, that we were all collaborating in this return-to-play process.”
Marsch said “it’s too early to tell” when Davies will play for Canada, a co-host nation that opens Group B play June 12 against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto.
“Will we be 100% with every player on the roster? No, we won’t be,” Marsch said of the first match. “But we feel like we have enough guys that are playing at a high level that are in really good form … to get the result that we need.”
CANADA WORLD CUP ROSTER
Goalkeepers: Maxime Crepeau, Owen Goodman, Dayne St. Clair
Defenders: Moise Bombito, Derek Cornelius, Alphonso Davies, Luc De Fougerolles, Alistair Johnston, Alfie Jones, Richie Laryea, Niko Sigur, Joel Waterman
Midfielders: Ali Ahmed, Tajon Buchanan, Mathieu Choiniere, Stephen Eustaquio, Marcelo Flores, Ismael Kone, Liam Millar, Jonathan Osorio, Nathan Saliba, Jacob Shaffelburg
Forwards: Jonathan David, Promise David, Cyle Larin, Tani Oluwaseyi
–Field Level Media
