Standing beneath the spray of the shower in the moments after surgery, Alphonso Davies gave way to the moment. It was his first experience under the knife and the sobering realization of a tedious recovery, measured against the unforgiving countdown to the 2026 FIFA World Cup at home.
“The first time I took a shower, all the emotions came out,” the Canadian international said in a recent FC Bayern Munich documentary. “I was crying, doubting myself, but I had someone beside me to tell me that everything’s gonna be okay.”
Davies, the best-ever Canadian soccer player and the first to score for the nation at a men’s World Cup, did not play from March until Dec. 9, 2025, recovering from an ACL and meniscus tear suffered during the 2025 Concacaf Nations League third-place game.
While he had dealt with injuries in the past, surgery was a new level. The painstaking rehabilitation process was fresh and gave him a mental challenge like never before.
It took him out of the end of the 2024-25 Bundesliga season, the start of the 2025-26 campaign and the Concacaf Gold Cup, among other commitments.
“I was praying it wasn’t anything serious, but when I got out of the MRI, they told me it was an ACL and meniscus; my whole energy went out of my body, all the confidence I had just escaped,” he said.
“I remember the first couple of weeks, between six and eight weeks, I wasn’t able to walk. I had to be on crutches ...”
“When you’re up there working out, and you see all your friends, having fun playing football, and sometimes you think to yourself, ‘I wish I was out there.’ It’s like when your mom says you can’t go outside and then you see all your friends running around outside, that’s basically how I felt at that moment.”
A New Contract and the 2026 World Cup
The injury came just a few weeks after signing a contract extension with the German giants through 2030 and amid a vital preparation year for the World Cup, which Canada will host alongside the United States and Mexico. It’s a tournament Davies helped secure with an emotional speech at the 2018 FIFA Congress in Russia.
With that clock ticking and the ink barely dry on his new Bayern contract, standing on the sidelines was akin to torture.
Yet he remained steadfast in his intention to return in time for the World Cup, even as he is set to rejoin the national team with just four friendlies before Canada’s June 12 tournament opener in Toronto.
“It was tough mentally, I was struggling,” Davies said. “The healing recovery is more mentally and physically based, because physically, your body will naturally form muscle memory, and you’ll get the job done. But the mental side is not knowing how long you’ll be out, and not being able to play or do certain things.”
At 25 years old, Davies stands as the most critical piece of Canada’s World Cup hopes, and his recent return is a beacon that the left back can get back to the influential player he has been since his youth days in Edmonton and with the Vancouver Whitecaps Academy.
Support in Recovery and the Journey Ahead
As Davies fought through physical recovery and the mental challenges in 2025, he had immense support.
His Bayern teammate, Jamal Musiala, who has spent plenty of time on the sidelines, visited regularly, as did David Alaba, whom Davies previously credited as one of the first to integrate him into FC Bayern.
At the same time, Davies maintained a positive outlook, having learned from his parents, who raised him as an infant in a Ghanaian refugee camp before making their way to Windsor, Canada, in 2005 and eventually moving to Edmonton.
Born in Ghana.
— X - Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) July 25, 2018
Raised in Edmonton.
Vancouver’s hero.
@AlphonsoDavies' journey to @FCBayern. #VWFC #HomegrownHero pic.twitter.com/yzlNshcOwP
Throughout his childhood, he also had to step up for his younger siblings, forging his steadfast mentality, as his parents worked multiple jobs to make ends meet for the family.
“I always watched football from a young age because my father is a big football fan, but obviously growing up in Canada, there’s not much excitement about making it as a professional footballer,” Davies recalled, having first made his elementary school’s indoor soccer team. “The fees were a bit of a problem, so I sold a lot of chocolate-covered almonds to pay your fee.
“I grew into a man because of that, because you have to be responsible enough to do it on your own.”
Now, he looks ahead to the World Cup and the continued recovery, with hopes of adding more club silverware in 2026, and authoring a memorable summer for his nation on home soil, potentially as the most prominent superstar in Group B alongside Switzerland, Qatar and a UEFA team yet to be determined.
“The future is looking bright,” he said. “I mean, the hard part is done now. I just look a step ahead and continue to work on my recovery and develop more muscles and more things I can work on to prevent this from happening again.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘All the Emotions’—Alphonso Davies Opens Up on Mental Toll of Injury Rehab, 2026 World Cup Journey.
