Key injured CanMNT regulars facing race for fitness as they push to return for World Cup

It’s been a tough period for the CanMNT and injuries, as Moïse Bombito joined Alphonso Davies, Alistair Johnston and Sam Adekugbe on the sidelines after fracturing his leg while playing for Ligue 1 side OGC Nice this past weekend. 

The good news is that Canada’s injury list is slowly improving, as Liam Millar returned from a long-term knee injury this camp, but there’s no doubt that Jesse Marsch would prefer to have a full squad to pick from.

Of course, that’s just the nature of this sport sometimes - it’s rare that a team will have a full allotment of players to pick from at any given time, hence the importance of having a big squad at one’s disposal.

Certainly, Canada is a lot better equipped to handle these sorts of injuries than ever before - thanks to their growing depth, they’ve been able to deal with absences to Bombito, Davies, Johnston, Millar and Tajon Buchanan over the past year and a half alone. 

At the same time, there’s no doubt that this team is best when they’ve got a full squad available to them, something they’d love to be able to have happen to them sometime before the World Cup next summer. 

For what it’s worth, as long as all goes to plan, all of their currently injured players are on track to return by then - Davies and Johnston hope to be back by the end of this year, Bombito should be back by March, and Adekugbe is hopeful to return early in 2025 - but that’s just half the battle. 

Lost in the shuffle of these injuries is a tough reality the CanMNT will deal with as they try to get these players back up to speed - it’s not easy to return to top form after a major injury.

While some are able to come back and not miss a beat, the reality is that most players won’t get back to full form for a while after they return, even when fully cleared to play.

Canada saw that first-hand with Tajon Buchanan, for example - after fracturing his leg at the 2024 Copa América, he returned to action ahead of schedule in November, but he started just one game between then and March of this year. 

Plus, he didn’t fully look like himself for Canada until a few months later, as he was dominant during the Canadian Shield and Gold Cup for Canada in June and July. 

It’s worth noting that Buchanan’s situation was compounded by the fact that he wasn’t exactly in the long-term plans of his club, Inter Milan, after his injury, hence the limited starts when he returned from injury. In fact, Inter started him just once last season before shipping him on loan to Villarreal CF, where he eventually found his feet (earning a permanent move to the club this summer). 

Perhaps, had he been in a situation where his club had him in their long-term plans, he could’ve earned more minutes as he made his recovery, which would’ve made a world of difference for a player in his situation. 

That’s at least what’s encouraging with the injuries to Davies, Bombito and Johnston - all three are a big part of their clubs, so it’s expected that Bayern Munich, OGC Nice and Celtic make sure to play their part in getting these players back to full health.

At the same time, it’s a delicate balance. While a player can have a lack of minutes when returning from injury, as was the case for Buchanan, players can also have too many minutes, too soon. 

The situations are very different, but Manchester City midfielder, Rodri, has dealt with a litany of smaller issues in the past few months as he continues his return from a long-term knee injury sustained last fall. He was probably not helped by City’s participation in the Club World Cup last summer, but he’s still proven to be a cautionary tale of the challenges a player faces when looking to return to their top level. 

All of that to say, is that the race to watch with Millar, Davies, Bombito, Johnston, and anyone else who might get injured over the next few months isn’t just their timelines to return, but also how long it takes for them to get back to their best - and if they can do that without any setbacks. 

In some cases, Canada won’t need them to be back to their top level for them to make an impact - for example, a healthy Davies or Bombito will always improve this side, given that A) Davies is at a higher level than most players in this team and B) Bombito is the only centre back with his profile on this side - by comparison, Johnston will need to get back to his top level to compete with Richie Laryea and Niko Sigur, who have filled in excellently in his absence, and the same goes with Millar and all of the competition he has on the wing (to that point, we might not see him back at his best for Canada until March as a result of that). 

Funnily enough, Canada’s growing depth could probably actually help the injured players in this case - they will know that they won’t just get their spots back because they’re healthy again, as they’ll also have to back and compete right away to show that they’re back to the level they were at before (or even better!). 

Plus, it’ll also buy time for these players not to rush back, which can always be risky to do. With how deep this Canadian team has become, there isn’t too much pressure on these injured players to return ahead of schedule, knowing that this team will keep on humming without them, and that might help them at least come back as close to top form as possible. 

Of course, down the road, Marsch will have some selection headaches to deal with as a result of all this depth. At the same time, that isn’t the worst thing in the world - Canada will need a big squad at the World Cup, where injuries, suspensions and form might push Marsch to use new players, so it’s good that this squad is quite battle tested now instead of down the road.

That’s a big contrast to the 2022 World Cup, where this Canadian team fell apart without Stephen Eustáquio, who suffered an injury partway through that tournament - while this Canadian team still has a few players they’d sorely miss if they were to go down in similar fashion, they seem better equipped to handle those absences better than ever. 

All of that to say, it shouldn’t be mistaken - hopefully Canada can have as close to a healthy squad next summer, and that they’re able to rely on as many players as possible on their quest to make history at that tournament. 

At the same time, look for Canada to use camps like this October window to their advantage, as they get used to scenarios where they might be shorthanded, which they’ll hope are few and far between as their players return to full health ahead of next summer.