Promise David laughed when asked how he'd celebrate if he plays in his first World Cup game: he plans to wake up on Friday and watch anime, and—if he gets off the field—stop at McDonald's afterward. "Same s--t, different day," he said, then outlined a routine that begins with shows and ends with a simple goal: "Wake up, watch my favorite shows, listen, eat, stretch, follow the game plan and then go score some goals and win."
The routine felt unlikely in February. David, a 24-year-old, 6-foot-5 striker, tore a tendon in his hip that required surgery and a gruelling recovery, but he returned in time to land one of the 26 spots on Canada's World Cup roster. He scored 15 goals in 37 games this season for Belgium's Royale Union Saint-Gilloise and is one of 13 debutants on the squad headed to the 2026 World Cup.
Four years ago, David was playing youth soccer in Croatia while Canada was making its surprise run at the 2022 World Cup. Now he arrives to Canada’s first home-soil World Cup matches as a freshly minted international: a big forward, a recent club scorer, and a player who only last winter faced the real possibility of being left behind.
The fear of being left off the roster was visceral. When asked whether missing the 26-man list would have been a failure, David answered without hesitation: "Point blank, yes, it would've been a failure." He described the injury plainly: "The pain was a lot, so my brain just blocked off some of it... I don't [have a high pain tolerance], but I also want my bank account to have a high balance, so it's just pain, but we got paid for it." The tendon damage in February and subsequent surgery were the hard facts; the months after were a test of body and resolve.
David talked about his recovery the way some athletes talk about rituals. He joked, "I recover like a superhuman, and I ate my vitamins as a kid," and he admitted the comeback was messy. When coach Jesse Marsch rang to tell him he'd made the team, David said he was eating Chick-fil-A and drinking an Oreo milkshake. He also noted a small domestic pleasure: "I'm finally back in Canada, so I can watch Office Movers," and that being home lets him stream shows properly—"I hate watching shows on sketchy sites or something, but now that I'm in Canada, I stream entire seasons."
Those details matter because they reveal how David has leaned on routine and small comforts to steady himself after a season that might have ended in surgery and rehabilitation instead of a World Cup berth. His club form—15 goals in 37 appearances—gives the coach a tangible reason to include him. The human details explain how he kept the focus: a recovery plan, a playlist, and an appetite for both fast food and opportunity.
What remains unanswered is how Canada will use him in its opener. David is fit and available for Friday's match, but the coaching staff must decide whether to start the 6-foot-5 forward, protect him with minutes off the bench, or fold him into a rotation that includes a large group of debutants. That choice—how much game time a striker who nearly missed the tournament will receive on home soil—is the single most consequential open question for David this week, and it will shape whether his comeback becomes a headline or a footnote.
