Michael Brown began carefully crafting the kind of text message he wished he wouldn’t have to send.
The Iowa Western Community College head coach hoped to be compassionate and forceful while walking the fine line needed when straddling in communicating with young players. This situation was different. The player was unlike every other Brown had guided.
In the hours after Canada centre-back Moise Bombito produced a physical and composed performance in the Copa America opener against Argentina, he was subject to repeated racist comments on his social media accounts. Bombito had landed a crunching but fair tackle on Lionel Messi. Brown then realized compassion would not scare off the 24-year-old.
“I want you to know that when I brag about you, I brag about you as a person and not as a player,” read Brown’s text.
The gifted athlete’s rapid rise had taken him from a virtual unknown to unforeseen heights on June 20. He showcased his physicality and fearlessness, leading all players in defensive recoveries. Brown wondered how Bombito would respond, to his text and the negatively threatening to swallow him.
“His response? I was very proud,” Brown says, his voice wavering. “He just told me, ‘Coach, it’s part of the game. I have to block it out and not let it affect me.’ He has a good head on his shoulders, and you don’t always see that.”
Bombito, left, tackles Messi at the Copa America (Nick Tre. Smith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Bombito is a rarity in Canadian soccer. Players like him are not supposed to move from junior college to the Europa League in three years — as he has with his move to Nice.
They finished fifth in France’s Ligue 1 last season and will play in the Europa League in 2024-25. Bombito’s move to one of Europe’s top five leagues, the first since Alphonso Davies’ to Bayern Munich in 2018, comes less than two years after he was drafted by Colorado Rapids. Multiple sources knowledge of the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect relationships, told The Athletic the fee for Bombito was €7 million.
“A lot of kids will say they want to do what Moise did,” Brown said. “But are they willing to sacrifice things? To take the criticism? To put themselves in uncomfortable situations? Moise is not afraid of anything.”
If you were to place a fictitious Canadian men’s national team player factory on a map, the likeliest spot may be Brampton, Ontario. Tajon Buchanan, Jonathan Osorio are among the players born in the city outside Toronto that has long carried the flag for the soccer hotbed.
Atiba Hutchinson and Junior Hoilett have retired or seen their roles diminish and another area of strength is emerging.
“There’s something different in the water in Saint-Laurent,” Rocco Placentino says of the Montreal borough. Placentino was a longtime midfielder for the Montreal Impact and in Italy’s lower leagues. He is now technical director of semi-professional Ligue 1 side CS Saint-Laurent.
It’s difficult to disagree with Placentino. Ismael Kone, the darling of Canada’s midfield who transferred to Marseille this summer and now, Bombito, have come through in Montreal.
Placentino sees similarities in the two players he coached in youth soccer who have become fixtures in Canada’s starting XI. They have strong family values, a sense of respect, hanging with what Placentino calls a “good crowd” and, for the most part, avoiding trouble.
“Which is very important in our neck of the woods,” Placentino says. “Moise didn’t come up in the easiest neighbourhoods.”
Instead of surrendering to a challenging neighbourhood, Placentino saw Bombito develop intrinsic qualities that not every young player may possess. He realized he wanted out.
“Kids from Saint-Laurent don’t care what’s in front of them,” Placentino says, including Kone in his description. “They’ve been through adversity. Growing up in certain areas, you have to be street smart. When there’s something important, they strive for it.”
Moïse Bombito, from @MLS to @Ligue1_ENG 🇨🇦pic.twitter.com/kSE28wjqHc
— OGC Nice 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@ogcnice_eng) August 20, 2024
As a young teenager, Bombito had yet to hit his growth spurt. He was a skilled dribbler playing on the wing — now he’s 6ft 3in.
Bombito trusted a close group of people around him. Central to that was his French coach at Collège Ahuntsic, François Bourgeais, where he played briefly after moving on from youth soccer in Saint-Laurent.
Bourgeais had been an academy coach at Nantes in France. In Bombito, Bourgeais saw pace, a strong first pass and his height; all of the attributes of a modern centre-back. Bourgeais made a proposition not many players would accept — he wanted Bombito to become a centre-back.
“Bombito was focused on the well-being of the team. He told me if it permits him to become a better player, ‘I accept,’” Bourgeais says.
Blending that self-belief with an open mind has been paramount to his success. “Moise is the type of person that when they believe in you and you believe in them, they are able to give you everything on and off the pitch,” Bourgeais says.
When Bombito would be challenged by coaches, they would be met by what Bourgeais describes “the light in his eyes.”
“He is always ready to learn,” he says. “Give him a challenge, you will get a smile.”
De la rive du St-Laurent, en passant par les rapides du Colorado, à la Riviera niçoise.
Félicitations Moïse@ogcnice pic.twitter.com/quhNEfs5IV
— CS Saint-Laurent (@Csstlaurent_pro) August 19, 2024
Bombito’s greatest challenge came when it was clear he needed to be pushed beyond what Collège Ahuntsic could offer. His relative inexperience meant he was unaware of his options. He had gone largely unnoticed by professional scouts and most Montreal-based players not in the CF Montreal academy had little chance of getting noticed. He was interested in playing in the Canadian Premier League, but options to break into a league still in its infancy were rare.
Without the strong grades that could land him in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the top tier of the US college system, Bombito attended a Montreal-based combine and junior college in Iowa before trying to move into division one.
In his first season, Bombito relied too heavily on his athleticism and physicality. He had to improve his game intelligence. Brown knew it would come, though. This was the same player he often found in the back of the bus after games reading books on investment.
In the 2020 National Junior College Athletic Association final, Brown remembers Bombito leaving his position to challenge Salt Lake Community College winger Ryen Jiba. It proved a costly mistake that led to the winner.
“I’ll never forget the conversation the next day,” Brown says. Bombito approached him to tell him he wished he would have let his holding midfielder challenge the winger.
“’And then, coach, that goal doesn’t happen,’’ Brown remembers Bombito saying. “He started to really think about things going into year two about how to organize his team.”
Bombito propelled Iowa Western to a national championship with a starring role and his career moved into the fast lane.
His semester in division one at the University of New Hampshire was just as successful. Along with playing time in the semi professional United Soccer League Two, Bombito signed a Generation Adidas contract and could enter the MLS SuperDraft before finishing his collegiate career. The Generation Adidas venture only accepts the best players in the NCAA. Future Canada team-mates Buchanan, Cyle Larin and Richie Laryea have done the same.
The Rapids were blown away when Bombito showed up for an interview before the 2023 MLS SuperDraft with a notebook. The defender wanted to hear what teams had to say about his game, take notes and implement them.
The Rapids selected Bombito third overall in the MLS SuperDraft. He didn’t miss a beat as a pro, only logging five first-team games before being selected to play for Canada for the first time in the 2023 Gold Cup.
Bombito impressed the Rapids at the 2023 MLS SuperDraft (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Bombito was destined for bigger things, like the role he has played under Jesse Marsch.
When Marsch took over Canada in May 2024, he was confounded by many around him remarking at how young Bombito still was. Marsch’s defender was, after all, the same age as Davies, who is in the prime of his career.
“It’s unacceptable that a player like Moise Bombito is not discovered until he is 23,” Marsch said. “I’ve coached some of the best centre-backs in the world…his talent level is in that category.”
Bombito hardly gave off the impression of being a young player while he stood calmly at the penalty spot in a shootout against Venezuela in the Copa America quarterfinal. Fans shone laser pointers in his eyes to distract him. Even as referee Wilton Sampaio went to check on him, the defender’s gaze remained set on the ball. Bombito cooly converted the first penalty of his professional career.
Nice, like multiple French clubs, tracked Bombito through Copa America. He was dangerous in the air, completed 87.2 per-cent of his passes while also leading the team statistics with 6.2 clearances per 90 minutes.
Moise Bombito scores his first career MLS goal on his birthday! 🥳
It’s all level in Colorado. pic.twitter.com/0Xhr9D1ijx
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 30, 2024
All of this came after having appeared for Canada just six times before the beginning of Copa America and dealing with continued racist comments throughout the tournament.
“Adversity for (players from Saint-Laurent) is very minimal,” Placentino says. “They’re solid boys with thick skin. They’re not scared of getting into a situation that they can’t get out of.”
Bombito will need to rely on his resilience as he steps into Nice’s squad. Even without lengthy professional experience, moving to Ligue 1 will test his strength and maturity. Should he adapt, Bombito could develop the confidence to become a commanding presence for the 2026 World Cup on home soil.
Bombito’s success begs a lingering question — how was he missed for so long?
Bourgeais has theories. Back in France as an academy coach with Ligue 2’s Lorient he suggests there’s room to learn from Bombito’s story.
“The quality and the organization of the scouting in Canada is not good — there’s a lack of vision,” he says.
Bourgeais says there must be more education for their scouts when finding players and increased patience with teenagers who don’t follow linear development. What might have happened if scouts walked away from Bombito, the smallish winger?
There is undoubtedly talent beyond Toronto waiting to be unearthed. Kone and Bombito’s success at a relatively young age could influence more players in Montreal. Part of Marsch’s mission with Canada is to begin scouting young teenagers in a way they haven’t been previously.
As that happens, scouting networks need to extend beyond Toronto and into different markets producing talent. Jacob Shaffelburg – a player who came from outside Canada’s typical soccer hubs – was another to shine at Copa America and should serve as a reminder of the payoffs of more investment in scouting Canadian players.
Bombito deserves credit for his meteoric rise — the next one may not be far behind.
(Top photo: Omar Vega/Getty Images)
