Students at soccer star’s Edmonton alma mater ‘excited’ to cheer him, Canada at World Cup

Canada went 1-1 in the first game of the FIFA World Cup to be played on home soil. CTV News Edmonton's Curtis Goodrum has reaction from fans.

Footie fever was evident on Friday afternoon at at least one Edmonton junior high school.

Not just because students and staff at St. Nicholas Catholic Junior High School watched the men’s national team play a FIFA World Cup game on home soil. One of its alumni is the captain of the Canadian squad.

Canada is co-hosting the 48-team tournament with Mexico and the United States until July 19. It began on Thursday with two games in Mexico.

Student Philan Ngarambe called it “an excitement” that Alphonso Davies once attended his school.

“It’s an honour that he came from this school,” he said. “I’m excited to watch Canada play -- a great team, a lot of good individual talent, and it’s an honour to watch them play.”

Davies is the star of the national squad, although the 25-year-old is nursing a hamstring injury that he suffered last month during UEFA Champions League play for Bayern Munich, his German pro team, and didn’t take the pitch at Toronto Stadium.

But even though Davies wasn’t a part of Canada’s 1-1 draw on Friday afternoon against Bosnia-Herzegovina, it didn’t dampen anyone’s spirit in the St. Nicholas gymnasium.

Dino Bazzarelli, who coached Davies at St. Nicholas, said watching Canada play on Friday – and knowing the team captain was once one of them at their academy – gives his students hope that they, too, could one day play in the world’s biggest sporting event.

“Alfonso has had a massive impact on our program,” Bazzarelli told CTV News Edmonton. “There’s light at the end of the tunnel now. We used to just watch the World Cups, (when) Canada wasn’t participating ... Now we’re watching Canada, and one of our own is the captain of the men’s team, so it means a lot.”

There is an expectation that Davies will return to Canada’s lineup. Jessie Marsch, his national team head coach, said Thursday he’s hopeful the winger will return to play during the group stage.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Curtis Goodrum