Canada coach John Herdman had a bleak medical update Saturday with goalkeeper Milan Borjan and midfielder Stephen Eustaquio joining star Alphonso Davies as question marks for the World Cup opener against No.
2 Belgium. Davies arrived in Qatar on Friday evening after receiving treatment back at Bayern Munich for a hamstring strain suffered Nov.
6 in a Bundesliga game at Hertha Berlin. While Bayern said Davies' participation in Qatar was "not at risk," he has not played since. "My mission is to make sure he plays at this World Cup, it's a childhood dream for him," said Herdman. "And not to put him in a position where he's unsafe." "But I have to say Belgium's another level, we haven't faced a team of that level since we played against Brazil [a 3-2 loss in 2008].
So you need players like Alphonso, whether that's starting, [coming] off the bench," he added. "So we're doing everything we can." Herdman said Eustaquio, perhaps Canada's most influential midfielder, is "day by day" dealing with soreness from a muscle issue suffered in training earlier this week. "It's another calculation.