Should Alphonso Davies be captain? Making the case for Canada's brightest star... and for Eustaquio, too
Alphonso Davies has been named captain of the Canadian men's national team, not just for the 2024 Copa America, but seemingly for the foreseeable future.
It’s a decision that seemed all but inevitable, but still, one that materialized startlingly fast under Jesse Marsch – and in stark juxtoposition to the call made only three months ago by then-interim Mauro Biello, who awarded Stephen Eustaquio the armband.
Mauro Biello names Stephen Eustaquio as his #CanMNT captain for Trinidad and Tobago test 🇨🇦
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) March 22, 2024
"He leads by example. He has the respect of the group. There are other leaders, and for sure, it's an opportunity for them to step up and lead in their way." pic.twitter.com/rmG2CRttyK
It’s also the sort of decision that, naturally, inspires debate and discussion, despite the fact that most of it is based on a cursory read of these professional footballers made by cobbling together press conference quotes and televised glances. And, to some extent, even a simple story about what Jesse Marsch is probably thinking could set you in on a cynical trap where the conclusion is that of vibes and morale levels as pesky fairytales of a sort.
So, with all that said, let’s try to get into people’s heads without reading their minds, look at what Jesse Marsch has said, and weigh it against our better own judgement, shall we?
What Jesse Marsch has actually said
It was two days ago when Canada’s Copa America squad was announced. Jesse Marsch appeared for his interview a little later and he was asked, pretty much right off the bat, whether he’d made a decision yet. Two days ago, Jesse Marsch had, apparently, not made a decision. And if we wanted to, we could pull up that quote and make it sound all dark and cryptic.
"Look, the captain is important," Marsch had offered. "But the leadership group is even more important. Whoever the captain will be, it will be a new challenge for that person."
Anything else?
"As a group we will help support that person and help build that person into being that captain we know he can become."
The coach says, essentially, that the armband is important, sure, but that no one struts around the dressing room wearing an armband. Locker room leaders who keep morale high – their spirits don’t disintegrate when someone else is wearing the armband for 90 minutes.
For Marsch, that leadership council has faces, and they’re mostly young, and they’re MNT mainstays. In an interview with Justin Cuthbert, Marsch said those faces were Davies, Jonathan David, Cyle Larin, Stephen Eustaquio, Alistair Johnston and Richie Laryea.
Jesse Marsch indicated to @jccuthbert that his "leadership council" is composed of Davies, David, Larin, Johnston, Eustaquio, and Laryea. The two longest serving and highest capped players in the squad, Osorio and Piette, are not included. #CanMNT
— Christina (@6yardscreamers) June 16, 2024
So then why does Davies get to be the main face? Once again, we have what Marsch actually said, via yesterday’s press release.
"Alphonso is a young and experienced professional who has all the tools to be an excellent captain. He has been in the spotlight from a young age and handled it very well, I know that he is up to the challenge of taking on a more expanded role with more responsibility."
So what does that mean? It sounds, at least a little bit, like Marsch buys into romanticized notions of intensity (that pretty much every coach buys into, to be fair). Alphonso Davies plays for Bayern Munich. Alphonso Davies has played in, and won, UEFA Champions League. Alphonso Davies has played in bigger matches than all of his teammates, combined. Probably.
But he’s also played a lot of not-so-big matches for Canada. In the midst of ludicrous efforts to paint Davies' celebrity as problematic, people seemed to forget that he had been with the team through thick and thin. Yes, he took a penalty he shouldn’t have against Belgium. But he also played 90 minutes against the Cayman Islands on a high school field. Yes, it can be frustrating to watch if Davies dribbles himself into a corner... but no one forced him to visit Clarke Stadium to watch a CPL game shortly after his transfer to Germany, either.
Do you religiously watch every Training Uncut and then re-watch them with every spare second of your precious free time? I do. And Phonzie is always at the centre of them. And he’s aggressively down-to-earth. And he sure seems like captain material a lot of the time.
Not so long ago, France – that team Canada just played – went through something similar. When Hugo Lloris retired, Antoine Griezmann, their grizzled no. 7, was strong and experienced – he was the natural choice to wear the armband. But the supposedly conservative Didier Deschamps gave it to someone else instead. He gave the armband to their best player instead. There's a reason for that.
But on the other hand...
Can you question the concept of Captain Davies without trying to read people’s minds, though? I think so.
I don’t like filling in Myers Briggs tests with observations from a soccer game. I don’t think you can know a person, or how much heart they play with or how little they secretly care about their day job, from the other side of a screen. But I do know there are behaviours that are good insofar as they help you win. And I’m not sure Alphonso Davies is always on the same page with me or with the coaching staff as to what that means.
What people call hero ball … well I don’t necessarily have a name for it, because I don’t know what’s going through Alphonso Davies’ head. But I like to think it’s a frustrated overzealousness. Davies doesn’t usually ‘hero ball’ from the kick off. When it’s happened, it’s happened mostly in the second half, mostly in games where we’re a goal or two behind.
At the 2023 Nations League Finals, Canada wasn’t generating anything in the second half, and so Davies took to hoofing balls from 40 yards out high, high over the net. It wasn’t good and I didn’t like it and maybe he should’ve been subbed off. I don’t like that the guy in the armband might suddenly lose faith in the manager’s system and start hoofing balls up high from 40 yards out.
It stands in contrast to the aggressively pragmatic Stephen Eustaquio, who plays a much more boring, much more conservative style for country than for club. He plays that way because no one else in our player pool can – he sacrifices his very identity as a roaming everyman for the benefit of the team. It's why Stephen Eustaquio feels like he's a captain - his playstyle embodies a tactical selflessness that everyone should imitate.
At the same time, I think it’s hard to deny that Canada Soccer is a brand, and that Alphonso Davies is a bigger brand who happens to wear red and white a few times a year. Alphonso Davies is 23 years old, and there’s a good chance he’ll be the best player on the team when he’s 32 years old. He’ll probably be around for a long time, as athletes go. He’ll probably be wearing the Canadian soccer logo for a good long while.
An armband, really, is a brand amplifier.
In a nutshell
It’s to Eustaquio’s great credit that the decision was so difficult but it’s hard for me to imagine anyone but Alphonso Davies leading Canada out in 2026. Now is the time to trust, challenge, and empower your best player, even if others feel more ‘ready’ in the moment.#CanMNT
— Oliver Platt (@plattoli) June 17, 2024
Oli gets it. This was always going to happen, and it was going to find a way to make itself the only option. Maybe it shouldn’t have happened yet - but it was going to happen, eventually. There are things in Davies, from a skeptical, non-vibesey distance, even, that seem like captain material. There are also things about Davies that haven’t always made the team around him better. ‘
But we’re here now.
And I’m excited to see the Alphonso Davies of the next 2 weeks.
And I’m excited to see the Alphonso Davies of the next 10 years.
