Alphonso Davies on the sidelines in first league match with new team
Edmonton phenom Alphonso Davies arrived at one of the highest rungs of the soccer world on Friday.
But the 18-year-old had to watch from the sidelines.
Davies was relegated to the bench in his first league match as a member of Bayern Munich, one of the most decorated clubs in European soccer.
More than a dozen students packed into the music room at St. Nicholas Junior High in Edmonton to watch the game in anticipation of Davies' debut. Davies trained at the school's soccer academy from grades six to nine while also playing with the Edmonton Strikers, one of the city's elite youth clubs.
Bayern Munich outmatched Hoffenheim for a 3-1 victory, but the students were more intent on seeing Davies than a win.
Marco Bossio, director of the academy, said Davies influence on the students extends beyond a single match, whether he's on the bench or the pitch.
"He's a shining light," Bossio said. "These students now get to see and aspire to something that they may not have thought they could do in the past."
'The wonder kid'
The story of Davies' improbable rise to stardom has been well-documented.
Born in a refugee camp in Ghana, his family settled in Edmonton when he was five years old. He was recruited to play with some of the city's top clubs by the age of 10, joined the soccer academy when he was 11 and made his professional soccer debut with the Vancouver Whitecaps at 15 years old.
The Whitecaps finalized a record-breaking transfer deal sending Davies to Bayern Munich of the German Bundesliga in July. Davies finished out the season with the Whitecaps before joining his new club in January.
Felix Mutuyemungu, a 14-year old student at the soccer academy, said he was motivated to start playing competitive soccer two years ago when he heard his friends talking about Davies, "the wonder kid". Mutuyemungu now has plans to travel to a Vancouver for his second trial with the Whitecaps in a few weeks, and hopes to eventually follow in Davies' footsteps.
"He's an example that with hard work you can make it anywhere. Somebody that was in the same position as you . . . has made it this far," he said on Friday, as he watched the Bayern Munich match.
"It's nice that somebody from Edmonton, somebody from [St. Nicholas soccer academy], is going so far in life."
Nick Huoseh has been with Davies from the beginning of his competitive soccer career. First as his coach with the Edmonton Strikers, now as his agent. The Davies family first enlisted Huoseh, who owns a local telecom company, to help interview potential agents a few years ago
In the end, the family asked him to take the job.
It's been a whirlwind for Husoeh, who helped negotiate the US$22 million transfer deal to Bayern — a price no club had previously paid for an MLS player.
"You're coaching youth soccer in Edmonton, you don't expect to become a sports representative for one of the top soccer players in the world," he said. "You can't explain the feeling."
Huoseh has already been to Germany with Davies, and plans to travel there again for his next game on Jan. 27. Perhaps, he said, for Davies' first in-game action.
