Alphonso Davies' Honeymoon Decision: A Long-Term View for Canada
Alphonso Davies has traded a Canada training camp for a honeymoon in Paris – with the full backing of his national team coach.
Between the World Cup and the start of pre-season at Bayern Munich, the 25-year-old married Sheyenne Jen in the French capital on 23 July. The newlyweds now plan to mark it properly with a trip together, and that means Canada’s captain will sit out the three upcoming friendlies against Chile, Peru and the USA.
Jesse Marsch stressed this was no stand-off, no tug of war between club, country and player. It was agreed.
“We talked about whether he should spend half of the training camp on his honeymoon and then join us,” the Canada coach explained. “But I simply felt that it was important for him to enjoy his honeymoon first and then continue working on his physical condition and form.”
That last part matters. Davies has been through the wringer.
At the start of 2025, he tore his cruciate ligament while on duty for Canada and spent three quarters of the year on the sidelines. When he finally returned, fresh problems followed. Recurring health issues dogged him, and a muscle fibre tear ruled him out for Bayern in the closing stages of last season. On home soil at a long-awaited World Cup, he managed just 16 minutes for Canada. A tournament that was supposed to be his stage turned into a reminder of how unforgiving elite football can be.
Back in Munich, the left-back initially trained alone, still hampered by the injury. Slowly, the rhythm returned. Then came a sign that the old Davies is edging back: a sharp, confident performance and a fine goal in Bayern’s 5-0 win over FK Bodö/Glimt. The trademark surge, the clean finish – the kind of moment that tells a player his body is finally listening again.
Marsch has seen it too.
“He is playing really well, looks very fit and feels very good,” he said. That is exactly why Canada are prepared to be patient now. “That is why we wanted to make sure in every respect that in November, when we need him for some important matches, and then in March as well as throughout the entire next cycle, he is so well prepared in every respect that he can always fully commit himself to what we expect from him for the national team.”
So the calculus is clear: skip a trio of friendlies, protect the player, reap the benefits when the stakes rise.
For Bayern, there is no pause. Davies is set to face Union Berlin in Munich on Friday, before a longer breather in the schedule. Their next match after that does not come until 10 October, away at Augsburg – another small window for a defender who has already lost too much time to make sure the next chapter of his career is written on his terms, not his medical reports.
