Alphonso Davies returns as Canada approach World Cup moment of destiny

T he decoy days are over – apparently. Alphonso Davies made his first media appearance of this World Cup in Los Angeles on Saturday lunchtime and promised the opening last-32 game of the tournament would be the stage for his long-awaited return. For Canada, who face fellow knockout newcomers South Africa here in a Sunday matinee, it could not come at a more crucial time. For his head coach, Jesse Marsch, who had used Davies’s fitness as an apparent ruse to distract his Swiss counterparts in Vancouver this week, it’s opportune too. That gimmick didn’t work. Les Rouges suffered a first defeat of their own World Cup and were sent down south. Against one of the lowest-ranked teams to survive the group stage, Davies and Marsch have an opportunity to add another first to the pile they’ve achieved this month. They can also heal a wound which opened at this same sweeping fever dream of a bowl last March. With its more traditional name then, SoFi Stadium was the scene of the ACL tear which began both Davies’s injury nightmare and a fraught relationship between the national team, its coach, captain and Davies’s club, Bayern Munich. Perhaps harmony can lead to more history. “Coming back to this stadium, [it’s] like now I get to finish something I started a year ago and really enjoy playing [here],” said Davies, who hasn’t featured for Canada since. “The first time I was in this stadium it was beautiful but it was cut short. …