For club or country the difficult choice confronting Davies
Choosing between club and country is a dilemma professional soccer players have faced from the dawn of organized internationals.
The news Alphonso Davies won’t be available to play for Canada when they host French Guiana in Vancouver on Sunday was a tough blow for everyone involved, but it may cast some light on the future international availability of the rising star.
Davies, 18, is in a daily battle for a job with Bayern Munich and if he’s not 100 per cent fit, it’s unreasonable to expect him to fly halfway around the world for one game with his national team.
But even if Davies had not sustained an injury during his half-hour on the field with Bayern, where he scored the final goal in their 6-0 win over Mainz this past Sunday, expecting him to fly to Vancouver to play for Canada in a CONCACAF Nations League qualifier against the 130th-ranked team in the world is a lot to ask.
“For many people, it’s hard to understand the trouble that comes into play for that,” said former Canadian national team captain Julian De Guzman, now general manager of Ottawa Fury FC. “First and foremost, it’s a matter of getting the games that you need with your club and being able to get fit.
“Then there’s the travel, with the time change, and there’s not much time in between to recover. It’s demanding on the body. And it’s demanding psychologically, as well, for a lot of players to live up to those expectations. I think, in most cases, after such an intense week of playing and training with their club, these international breaks are great for that recovery time. But if you’re asked to play those minutes for your country, you’re definitely going to want to do that, and what comes into play is the travel.”
Davies was originally named to Canada’s 23-man squad last week, but was dropped Monday along with Scott Arfield of the Glasgow Rangers in Scotland and Will Johnson of Orlando City, who are also nursing injuries. They were replaced by Jay Chapman, Liam Fraser and Kamal Miller.
While there’s little reason to doubt Davies is injured, history would suggest Bayern Munich may have leaned on the Edmonton product to stay in Germany, despite being obligated to release him to Canada.
It happened to De Guzman, who representing Canada on a record 89 occasions while playing in the Bundesliga for Hannover 96 and in the Spanish La Liga for Deportivo La Coruna.
“There were cases where the club had conversations with me about going to these international camps,” De Guzman said. “Even though it’s in the international window, they’ll pull you aside and say, ‘If you go to this camp, you’re risking your chance to come back and fight for this spot.’ Then it’s left with the player to make the decision.”
Moving forward, Davies will be faced with some tough decisions when it comes to pursuing his career with Bayern Munich and representing his country. There might come a situation where he has to turn down a call-up to the national team.
Such a situation occurred 20 years ago when striker Tomasz Radzinski turned down an international call-up, opting to play in a Belgian Cup final for Anderlecht, and was subsequently barred from the Canadian team by then coach Holger Osieck.
“When I was playing for Hannover 96, I think there was a window for two years where I didn’t accept any national team call-ups because I knew the importance for myself to continue to compete to just get in the squad, which was major,” De Guzman said. “There were moments where I was left to make the decision and I would have to speak to the coach on the national team and explain to him that need to stay with my club.”
As head coach of the Canadian national team, John Herdman will have to decide how to manage his responsibility of putting the most competitive team on the field with the best interests of his players. It’s a dilemma many international coaches have to face during the European season.
“It’s a tough position for Herdman,” De Guzman said. “There will be conversations where a player may even say to him that he won’t be available for this camp for whatever reason. It’s tough for a guy like Fonzie (Davies), who is fighting for minutes, who needs to prove himself, and he’s going to want to do everything possible to remain at that club and perform.” dvandiest@postmedia.com twitter: @DerekVanDiest