Canadian men's soccer team not just getting by without Alphonso Davies — it's thriving

How would Canada do without Alphonso Davies? Perfectly fine, as it turned out.

Denied the services of one of world soccer's brightest attacking stars, the Canadian men's team faced serious questions about how it would navigate its tricky CONCACAF World Cup qualifying match against Honduras on Thursday night in San Pedro Sula. Davies would not be available, sidelined by myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, after testing positive for COVID while on duty for his German club Bayern Munich.

On top of that, history had not been kind to the Canadians in the Central American country, their only win in 11 previous games on Honduran soil coming in 1985. A decade ago, Canada suffered a humiliating 8-1 loss to Honduras, a result that knocked them out of World Cup qualifying in embarrassing fashion. The bitter taste of that humiliation still lingered, and now they had to go back to Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano without Davies.

But the demons were successfully exorcised, and the absence of Davies proved to be a complete non-factor, as Canada rolled to a comfortable 2-0 win to remain top of the table in CONCACAF and move one step closer to qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Canadian coach John Herdman heralded the professional nature of his team's performance on a night when he felt they were going to have to fight for everything they earned.

"To get a 2-nil on the road was important for the team, to get our first win on the road, as well. More than anything, it was just about three points — that's all it comes down to. …We bent a little bit, but we didn't break. I think that's the story of this team," Herdman stated.

Davies so often provides the Canadians with moments of pure genius, spurring on the team