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The 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. At the end of the day, that’s football.”

The left-back has had to sit and take in too much football for his own liking of late. Davies described his watching brief throughout Group B as “painful” but did provide a comedic moment when a German journalist suggested during Saturday’s press conference that his return would be in Marsch’s starting XI to face Bafana Bafana. “Start!?” chirped an incredulous Davies, who maybe needs to work on his decoy face. Or perhaps it’s already of a Hollywood standard and he will lead Canada out.

He is, ultimately, just one returning piece. While Canada lost Ismaël Koné to a sickening leg break against Qatar they are now getting arguably their two best players – Davies and Moïse Bombito – back as the tournament moves into its most meaningful phase.

“Now that we have Alphonso back and healthy and ready to perform, it’s a big moment for the team,” added Marsch. “It changes the potential of what our team is and what we can do in this tournament. The whole idea was: ‘Can we get stronger as the tournament goes on? And as the opponents get tougher and the moments get bigger?’ That’s where we are right now.”

If Bombito could then he certainly should start Sunday. His pace could be essential against a South African side which burned South Korea on a number of occasions in Wednesday night’s shock in Monterrey. Thirty places may separate Sunday’s foes in Fifa’s rankings but Bafana Bafana arrived here with more momentum. They’ll also welcome midfield maestro Teboho Mokoena back from suspension.

“I think we can say already now that the World Cup is a success for us,” South Africa’s veteran manager, Hugo Broos, said on Saturday. “That doesn’t mean now that we are happy and just play the game tomorrow and go home. You want more. We will have to be on our best level. But should we achieve again and go to the third round then that should be a miracle for Bafana Bafana.”

Mokoena is likely to slot back in beside Yaya Sithole who enjoyed quite the redemption from his opening day red card against Mexico with a stellar display against the Koreans.

Opposite them, the status of the Canada vice-captain, Stephen Eustáquio, looms as large as that of Davies or Bombito. The Porto player was suffering from reported muscle fatigue and limited to just 30 minutes off the bench against Switzerland in Vancouver. His absence was felt acutely.

After the high of a first World Cup win with the 6-0 drubbing against Qatar, Wednesday was a comedown for Canada and Marsch, the fitness smoke and mirrors stuff not going down particularly well in the co-host nation. Los Angeles offers the opportunity to turn a good World Cup into something great. With just a solitary match on Sunday’s slate, the winner will be the first into the last 16, kicking back to watch whether it’s Morocco or the Netherlands who join them in Houston.

“We’re going to experience difficulty, we’re going to experience success. We’re going to have challenges. The key is that we’re ready to rise,” said Marsch. “For me I live for these moments, I’m sure Alphonso would say the same. You live for the moments where you’re tested and you can show how good you are.”