The importance of Alphonso Davies to Canada’s World Cup qualification

In 2020, the way of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup changed, giving more nations from the CONCACAF region a chance of potentially making it to the biggest tournament in football (soccer). And Canada is one nation who are taking full advantage of the new format, and are in prime position to qualify for the tournament which takes place in Qatar at the end of 2022.

Canada have benefitted from the new format

With this being the first time the new format has been put in place, let’s just recap how far Canada has come to get where they are now, on the verge of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The new format of the qualification stages is split into three rounds. The first round consists of six groups, each made up of five nations. The nations who appear at this stage are the 30 bottom ranked sides in CONCACAF, which are identified using the FIFA World Ranking system. Each team plays four games, two home and two away, with the top ranked sides from each of the groups progressing to a second round of fixtures.

The second round then sees the six winners from the first round drawn against each other, where they play two-legged games, one home and one away. The winners then go on to the final qualifying round, where they meet the top five ranked CONCACAF sides who were identified by the FIFA World Rankings. These eight sides then face off against each other in two legged ties, seeing each nation play 14 games each, consisting of seven home and seven away fixtures.

In this new format, Canada, El Salvador and Panama are the three teams who made their way through to the final round. But it is Canada who are taking advantage of the new format the most.

Canada topping the group

As it stands, 8 of the 14 scheduled games have been played, with each nation having played each other at least once. It would be expected that the top ranked sides who automatically qualify for the final round would be those who dominate the group, but it is in fact, Canada, who had to make their way through every qualification round who sit top. Ranked as the seventh highest nation in CONCACAF, it may well surprise some to see Canada doing so well, with 16 points from eight games, in which they’ve managed to win four and draw four.

This puts them ahead of second place, and their North American neighbors, the USA by a single point with them having won the same amount of games, but only drawing three and recording one loss as they were beaten 1-0 away to Panama. This puts Canada in a great position to qualify for their first World Cup since their only appearance in 1986, where they couldn’t get out of the Group Stages.

But this time, they have the likes of Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies in their ranks, and he’s had an incredible influence on The Canucks in their quest for qualification.

The importance of Alphonso Davies

A former Liberian refugee, Alphonso Davies has come a long way in his career, making it to both the Canadian National side and one of Europe’s best club teams. He’s a player who often appears on the left flank, mainly as a full back, but he can often be found further up field as well with explosive pace and his ability to hit pinpoint crosses into the box for strikers to get on the end of. Not just that though, in his 30 appearances to date with his national side, he has managed to chip in with 10 goals himself as well.

In the current round of qualification, he’s helped chip in with three assists, as well as one goal in a 4-1 thrashing of Panama. And due to the ability to get up and down the wing due to his pace and athleticism, he’s also at times been excellent defensively as well, tracking players back to prevent them from delivering dangerous balls into the box. He’s the epitome of a top class professional, and you can tell that he helps improve the quality of players who surround him on the pitch just by being in the squad.

Without him, Canada is arguably a worse side on paper, and having him there increases their chances of qualifying massively. But how likely are they to make it?

Predictions

With the quality Alphonso Davies brings to the team, Canada’s odds of even winning the World Cup, never mind making it to Qatar 2022, have been slashed. They were originally +200000,and now sit at +50000, which may still seem like a massive outside bet, and it is compared to some teams there. But it shows you how far Canada has come since the qualifications started.

As for just qualifying for the tournament, their odds began significantly higher at odds of +1000 but have again been slashed since sitting top of their group, beating the likes of Mexico along the way. And fortunately for fans of The Canucks, sports betting in Ontario is allowed in case you want to bet on Canada for the most watched event in the world, the World Cup, should they make it.

But even if they don’t make it, Canada did put forward a bid for the 2026 World Cup and will host 10 matches in the future World Cup, along with the United States and Mexico. So sports betting on the World Cup could become a popular thing in cities such as Ontario, with the event potentially coming to them in a few years time. And for that tournament, they possibly have a chance of automatically qualifying for the tournament as a host nation.

But before then, it’s time to focus on the qualification for the 2022 Qatar World Cup first, and up next for Canada at the end of January is Honduras. A nation ranked last in the final round of qualifications, having only managed three draws and five losses. It should be a game that Canada wins easily, and which will help keep them top of the table, and closer to qualifying for the biggest tournament in world sport.