Alphonso Davies evolves from young Edmonton soccer star to Canada's captain

Alphonso Davies left Vancouver as a grinning teenager on the edge of an adventure at one of the world's biggest soccer clubs.

This summer, the Bayern Munich star is set to return as one of Canada's best-ever talents and captain the country at its first FIFA World Cup on home soil.

Many of those who were on hand a decade ago when Davies made his professional debut aren't surprised by the elite player he's become.

"His ascension was remarkable," said Russell Teibert, who played with the then-teenager both on the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Canadian national team.

"As soon as you watched him dribble or sprint, you knew right away."

Born in a refugee camp in Ghana after his parents fled civil war in Liberia, Davies grew up in Edmonton. He was just 14 when he signed with the Whitecaps' academy in Vancouver.

Former 'Caps broadcaster Peter Schaad remembers hearing from Carl Robinson, Vancouver's coach at the time, that the club had inked the young athlete.

"To be honest with you, once I heard 14 and Edmonton, I kind of dismissed it a little bit because there's a lot of phenoms, apparently, in this country. And that seemed so far away," he said.

"It just didn't really seem like it was relevant at the time. But then he started, pretty much when he arrived, playing on the (United Soccer League) team ... and it was quite evident that physically, he matched up with men."

Canada names Alphonso Davies to 26-player World Cup roster

Davies came into the club as a "young, super happy kid that just loved playing football," said Jon Poli, Vancouver's head of physical preparation.

"Obviously, he wasn't fully developed yet. However, he was still already an absolute specimen of an athlete," he said, adding that the teen already had a "really