Ailing Davies, Shaffelburg part of 26-man team as Canada's World Cup roster revealed

Chris Jones reports on Canada's World Cup team from Charlotte, N.C.

On World Cup rosters, there is a 26th man who will live out his dreams, and a 27th man who will see them evaporate in front of his eyes.

For Canada’s men, Jacob Shaffelburg is the lucky one. Daniel Jebbison is the lost one.

Head coach Jesse Marsch made five other cuts at his camp in Charlotte on Friday, and none of them were surprises. Defenders Ralph Priso, Zorhan Bassong, and Jamie Knight-Lebel, midfielder Jayden Nelson, and forward Jacen Russell-Rowe didn’t make it. The truth is, they all probably knew what was coming before Marsch broke their hearts along with the news.

Shaffelburg, a winger, had seemed doomed, too.

He had surgery for a degenerative groin condition in January; just before camp, he picked up a separate leg injury playing for LAFC. He has not trained with the team in Charlotte. He’s worked out by himself in distant corners of distant fields, looking uncomfortable walking, let alone running with pace, the way he normally does.

Jebbison, a forward, is healthy. He scored six goals in 38 appearances with Preston North End in England’s Championship this season. He made Canada’s rosters for the Gold Cup and CONCACAF Nations League Finals last year. He came on as a substitute in both of Canada’s March friendlies against Iceland and Tunisia. He wasn’t there to ride the bench. He played.

Now he’s on his way back to England, to watch if he can stand it.

'We've earned respect': Jesse Marsch on Canadian men's soccer team

In some ways, Jebbison is a victim of Promise David’s improbable success. David ruptured his hip tendon in February and was expected to be out for six months, returning well after the World Cup. Had that prognosis proved true,