OSP@FIFA: Non-stop competition was Jonathan David’s perfect day, Canada moves on to first men’s World Cup knockout stage

By Keiran Gorsky

Even at 10 years old, Jonathan David was hard to pin down. You needed a tactician’s eye to get on his wavelength. For his close childhood friend and teammate Benaiah Tesfaye, it seemed as if the ball materialized at his feet.

“I used to think it was luck growing up because the ball would always just fall to him in the box,” Tesfaye recalled. “He’d just be in the right spot and just put it in.”

David seems specially engineered to flout easy description. On the field, scouts, coaches and analysts have fumbled around in the dark for some convenient label – poacher, false nine, playmaker, the Iceman, they named him – though they never seemed to encapsulate his odd jumble of traits and propensities.

He might not have been so remarkable, what with his decidedly selfless play and apparent aversion for drawing attention to himself. It was only that the ball kept falling to him in the box at higher and higher levels.

He hasn’t been any easier to categorize off the pitch – quiet, though selectively less quiet, gone but still there. And those who have known him keep their cards close to their chests.

“I don’t know if there are things I’d want to put out in public, you know what I mean?” Tesfaye laughed. “I don’t want to say inappropriate, just personal.”

The stories we have are carefully curated and full of gaps. Tesfaye has been bombarded by requests for fun factoids, pictures, videos and even old David jerseys. He doesn’t have any of that – but he does have a story about David’s last summer in Ottawa.

David and Tesfaye had played together under coach Hanny El-Magraby since they were little, but became much closer at Louis-Riel high school. They shared reserved demeanours, deeply ingrained family values, ‘and, of course, our love for the game,’ Tesfaye added.

For years, they enjoyed each other’s company on and off the pitch. At lunch, they would sneak into the school’s soccer dome.

“At the time they wouldn’t allow any students to go in during lunch. But we’d try every single day to go in,” Tesfaye remembered.

Graduation came before they knew it and both of them were simmering with professional ambition. That summer, they spent virtually every second side-by-side. They would wake up early, and get their daily training in – then it was off to the gym.

With what energy they could still muster, they would compete in anything and everything. Whether it was basketball, tennis, billiards, mini golf or nighttime FIFA video game sessions, it was never just a silly game. They would keep careful track of who was better at what. As Tesfaye remembers it, cool-headed David was suddenly not so stoic.

“There’d be some cheating going on… the rules of pool definitely changed a few times,” Tesfaye smiled.

David got the best of him a little more than he would like, Tesfaye admits. To this day, David still boasts about all his success that summer.

It all came to an abrupt end when David signed his first professional contract with Gent in Belgium the following year. Tesfaye hadn’t realized just how hard it could be to lose his closest friend.

“It’s not easy to be around someone every day and then suddenly not anymore at all,” he said. “It wasn’t easy for either of us.”

As with much of his social circle in Ottawa, though, David kept in close contact. When they played FIFA together now, David (or some approximation of David) was in the game. He wasn’t exactly thrilled with his stats or player model, Tesfaye laughs.

“He always looks at his ratings and be like ‘Man, these guys don’t know what they’re talking about,’” Tesfaye recollected.

Eventually, playing his friend in 2D wasn’t enough. Tesfaye would make the flight to Belgium to watch his friend in person – his first trip to Europe. Together, they did the same things they had always done, shooting pool, playing arcade games and exploring the city.

Their time together of course is now greatly reduced – after time in Australia and the Simcoe County Rovers in League 1 Ontario, Tesfaye is back under El-Magraby’s tutelage with Ottawa’s AC Fiorentina, still looking to make the jump to pro.

When he meets up with David, though, the competition immediately resumes. Tesfaye is proud to be the only person he knows who can beat the Iceman in games of two-touch.

He remains protective of his friend’s privacy – a great deal of David’s childhood might be reserved for some future biography. What he can confirm is that David is the same friend he’s always been.

The Ottawa Sports Pages asked David – albeit briefly, in the mixed zone following Canada’s first 2026 FIFA defeat by a 2-1 count to Switzerland on Wednesday in Vancouver – about that time in his life.

“Of course,” David responded when asked if he still had fond memories of that summer together. “I do. We have videos of it, memories of it, we still speak about it.”

Narrow defeat for Canadians, bound for men’s World Cup knockout stage for first time

Jonathan David wore the captain’s armband as Canada dropped their final match of the group stage 2-1 to Switzerland in Vancouver.

“The lesson is, in the first half, we didn’t manage very well, they took over early,” David said after the match.

With Ismael Kone out for the tournament and Stephen Eustaquio on the bench to start the match, David was often tasked with advancing the ball into the final third.

He did so with moderate success in the first half, even as Canada were handily outpossessed. David shuttled the ball through the central midfield in the 33rd minute and played a smooth, diagonal through ball to his strike partner Cyle Larin, who couldn’t quite wedge the ball past goalkeeper Gregor Kobel at the far post.

He found winger Ali Ahmed in a similar position in the 41st minute. Not exactly known for his finishing, the crafty winger placed the ball straight into the gloves of Kobel.

Canada conceded two goals early in the second half, but a triple substitution in the 58th minute changed the flow of the game. Canada’s other prolific David, Union Saint-Gilloise’s Promise David, brought the hosts within one just over a minute after he was subbed on.

“I think the response was good from the team,” the past Gloucester Hornets/Ottawa Internationals player said. “We fought back, we got a goal back and we were pushing until the very end.”

David and centre-back Derek Cornelius had fabulous opportunities to tie it as the match wound down, but Kobel stood tall in goal.

The defeat leaves Canada with a 1-1-1 record (four points) at the end of the group stage – good for second in Group B. They will play South Africa in their first-ever knockout match at a FIFA men’s World Cup on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET in Los Angeles.

“It’s a shame we didn’t get the tie but we’re ready for whatever’s next,” David said. “We’re gonna have to be locked in and ready.”