Jonathan David didn’t expect to be Canada captain for Gold Cup

At the age of 25, Jonathan David has done so many things in his career already that most players can only dream of.

Winning the Belgian league Golden Boot. Winning the French league title. Playing at the FIFA World Cup. Scoring regularly on the biggest stage in the UEFA Champions League. Becoming a famous French club’s leading goalscorer of the 21st century. Becoming your national team’s all-time leading goalscorer.

These are just some of the achievements David has to his name, a resume that would be the envy of most players in the world.

But captaining his country will be a new one.

With regular skipper Alphonso Davies injured and vice-captain Stephen Eustáquio with FC Porto at the Club World Cup for at least the entirety of the Gold Cup group stage, David is the man Jesse Marsch selected to lead the team into the tournament.

David, a softly spoken guy who is so laid-back he’s almost horizontal, admitted he was surprised to be the one chosen.

“Obviously, it’s an honour to be captain of my country,” he told media including Canadian Soccer Daily in Vancouver on Monday ahead of CanMNT’s Gold Cup opener vs. Honduras at BC Place. “So, of course, I enjoy it.

“The conversation was pretty simple. We got on a call and he told me, ‘I’m thinking of putting you captain at first.’

“It was my maybe humble answer, I told him, ‘I think there’s a couple of guys ahead of me.’ But we kept talking a little bit more, and ultimately I was like, ‘OK, this is also a challenge for me to put myself a bit more out there to help the team in different ways.’ So I see it as a challenge, and I’m ready for it.”

Tuesday night will be David’s 64th cap for Canada. Only Jonathan Osorio and Cyle Larin, the latter of whom captained the team vs. the Ivory Coast a week ago, have more appearances for the national team among Marsch’s Gold Cup squad.

We know all about David’s talents as a striker; as, indeed, does the world now after the most high-profile season of his career to date.

But how does he like to lead?

“I would say I’m the type that leads by example,” David added. “I’m often a more chilled, laid-back guy that just loves to play, loves to work hard on the pitch, so I think people can feed off that.

“And so the challenge for me is about being more vocal and not being shy to speak my mind, even if it’s wrong, you know. And also to be open to have those conversations with teammates and not to be afraid.”

Related read: Canada quick to downplay Gold Cup favourites tag, but ‘expectations for CanMNT have grown’

Jonathan David leads Canada into a tournament that, whether they will declare it themselves or not, they are one of the favourites to win. Marsch has been clear in recent weeks that he and his players will not be satisfied with their summer unless they are lifting the trophy on July 6.

Once you set out an expectation like that, there’s no turning back.

But David is keen to stress that the Gold Cup, while a winnable and coveted tournament in its own right, is also the final tournament practice Canada will get before the World Cup comes to Canadian soil next summer.

“It’s a preparation for what’s supposed to be next summer,” he added. “We want to win, to use these games as preparation [for] how to get better and to understand exactly what we need to do and where we need to be come next summer.”

As the man wearing the armband for at least the first few games at the Gold Cup, Jonathan David will be feeling the weight of responsibility even more heavily.