Edmonton star in Qatar: Alphonso Davies makes World Cup debut

It’s a long way from Qatar to Edmonton. In fact, it is 11,126 kilometres away to be exact. But in Al Rayyan Qatar, Edmonton product and team Canada star Alphonso Davies joined the national team in a David vs. Goliath match against Belgium to open up their World Cup campaign.

Alphonso Davies was born in a refugee camp prior to growing up in Edmonton, Alberta, and attended St. Nicholas Catholic Junior High School.

It is there that young fans from the school were able to watch the game after the school shut down for the afternoon for the occasion.

Many of the students at the school look up to Davies and want to follow in his footsteps.

“It’s really special because he came from our school and now, he’s playing with the pros, the Canadian team and FC Bayern Munich as a full-back,” mentioned one student from the school.

Another stated, “I’m excited because I really look up to him. He is one of my favourite players. I look up to him he is one of my idols. I am really excited to watch this game.”

Davies’ former teacher and soccer academy director at St. Nicks school Marco Bossio mentioned that Davies paid a visit to the school in June this year.

Bossio says that every time Davies makes an appearance at the school, it helps shape and guide the next generation of soccer players.

“When he came to visit in June, he had a great message for the kids about working hard to achieve your goals. You can be anything you want to be if you put your best foot forward,” commented Bossio.

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Children weren’t the only people taking the afternoon off to tune into the game. At the Pint off Whyte Avenue in Edmonton, the Voyageurs, Canada’s supporters’ group were hosting a watch party. Among the crowd included Carl Valentine, who was a member of the 1986 Canada World Cup team.

“It’s everything, after 86’, we thought we would qualify for every world cup. But that didn’t happen. This will be the first time that I get to watch Canada on the world stage. I am really excited.”

Valentine was a forward for the Canadian Men’s National team in 1986 and played a similar role as Davies.

The former player admits that the team in Qatar is quite different from the team that was in Mexico, for Canada’s first World Cup appearance. Many of the players back then were semi-professional, whereas players on this current team, are playing for some of the biggest clubs in the world, including Davies.

“This team can be really competitive and do some real damage in that world cup [2026 world cup] and they have a great opportunity in this, and they’ve got nothing to lose. I’m really excited to watch them play.”

Canada ended up losing 1-0 to Belgium in what was a matchup nobody expected.

The team next plays against Croatia on Sunday, at 9:00 am MT, and you can bet that both past and present generations will be tuning in.