THE BREAKDOWN: How Moïse Bombito is leading an impressive CanMNT defensive transformation
He just keeps getting better.
It seems to defy logic given how good he’s been over the past 12 months, but Moïse Bombito continues to hit new levels for the CanMNT, continuing to be a crucial part of this Canadian defensive group under Jesse Marsch.
Having had just four caps to his name when Marsch was hired, all coming at the 2023 Gold Cup, Bombito has been arguably the biggest beneficiary of his new coach’s arrival.
Immediately thrust into Marsch’s first starting XI for a friendly vs. the Netherlands, he literally hasn’t come out since - he sits as the only player to start every game and play every minute of all 15 games Canada has played under their new coach, giving an idea of how perfectly he fits into his system.
Thanks to that, he’s hit some impressive levels at the club level, too.
At the time of that Netherlands friendly, he was still with MLS side Colorado Rapids, where he was off to an impressive start to the 2024 season, one that had already led to some pushing him to become a Canadian starter even before Marsch’s arrival. As a result, once he immediately hit the ground running as a starter under Marsch, big clubs came calling, and he eventually headed to Ligue 1 side OGC Nice for a reported fee of 7 million euros.
So far, he’s had a great debut season with Nice, too - they sit tied for third in Ligue 1 as of writing, putting them in a UEFA Champions League spot, with Bombito playing in 29 (27 starts) out of 36 games across all competitions (including Europa League and Coupe de France) for a total of 2445 minutes.
Still, only about to turn 25, it’s been a remarkable rise for Bombito, who was still in college when Canada took the field at the 2022 World Cup. Now, he’s become one of their most important players ahead of the 2026 World Cup, where he’s expected to play a huge role.
In fact, it can be argued that he might be the team’s best player not named Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David right now - certainly when factoring in his importance to this team, having helped turn Canada’s defence into a very solid outfit, there are merits to that claim.
Just look at his performances in the Nations League finals, where despite Canada finishing third, he had another strong tournament.
Even though his team conceded three goals, including two in their semi-final loss to Mexico, Canada’s defence shone, as only some bad luck and world-class finishing from Raúl Jimenez sunk them in that semi-final, before they bounced back nicely in a 2-1 win over the US in the third-place game.
As he tends to be, Bombito was at the heart of that. First, he had several good defensive actions against Mexico, including two interceptions, five recoveries and five clearances, and then had two tackles, three interceptions, five recoveries, and seven clearances against the US.
Bombito's defensive actions from the CanMNT's CNL SF vs. Mexico (left) and 3rd place match vs. the US (right), via OPTA
In particular, some of his recoveries really stood out. He only contested 15 duels in both games (winning nine and losing six), and attempted two tackles (winning both), as he wasn’t getting stuck in as much.
This is a textbook play from Bombito. He anticipates the run of Mexico's Santiago Giménez, starts running before him, and gets to the ball first, making it all look easy. Had he waited an extra second or two, this could've been a breakaway for Giménez, or more of a 50-50 challenge for the ball.
Instead, through his positioning and anticipation, he ended up putting out a lot of fires for Canada, often shutting down potential attacks well before they got dangerous, hence his high number of recoveries (he led Canada with 10 recoveries across these two games).
Then, in the few moments when Canada did suffer some defensive breakdowns, he used his most dangerous attribute, his speed, to keep opponents away from the goal.
The US's Patrick Agyemang, who is on a breakaway, gets shut down by Bombito, who uses his pace to turn a likely US goal into a good Canadian attack.
Through that, Canada was once again able to employ their typically aggressive high line, one that sees their back four position themselves at the opposing half line, eager to jump on opponents as early as possible.
Not often you see a centre back making a challenge 10 feet into their opponent's half. Perfect tackle here from Bombito to snuff out what would've likely been a goal from Raul Jiménez given his form lately.
It’s proven to be very effective, and the numbers from these Nations League finals prove that - they held Mexico to 0.92 xG, as per WyScout, and the US to 1.62 xG (with 1.18 of that xG coming after the 85th minute as the US pushed late), which are both solid numbers, especially when considering how score effects skewed the US figures.
Yet, their overall defensive xG numbers have been good under Marsch - they’ve allowed just an average of 1.11 xG across 15 games, per WyScout, doing so on an average of 9.13 shots, which are elite defensive numbers.
Especially given the level of opposition that they’ve faced, that’s doubly impressive, as other than a 2.55 xG showing from the Netherlands in Marsch’s debut and a 2.46 xG showing from Argentina in Canada’s 2024 Copa América opener, other opponents like France in a friendly (1.25 xG), Argentina in a Copa América semi-final (1.38 xG), Uruguay in the Copa América third-place game (0.93 xG), US in a friendly (1.46 xG) and Mexico in a friendly (1.11 xG) have all been reasonably held at bay by Canada’s defensive play.
On top of that, they’ve limited opponents to an average shot distance of 16.98 yards, which is quite good - if they were a Premier League team, that would have them seventh in the 2024-2025 campaign.
Given that the lone constant at the back in all of those games has been Bombito, that’s a credit to him, however, as he’s become a key cog in Marsch’s system.
Scrambled defensive play? No problem, as Bombito makes a nice challenge AND turns it into a dangerous Canadian counter-attack.
Not only does he play a big role in the system, but he also frees up those around him to play more aggressively, too. Take his regular centre back partner, Derek Cornelius, for example - he was able to play extremely aggressively against Mexico, making six interceptions and contesting a whopping 17 duels, as he wasn’t shy in throwing himself at the ball and other players, knowing that Bombito would be there to cover for him if he didn’t succeed in his defensive action.
Look at how Cornelius flys up to contest the Mexican attacker on the throw-in. Hard to imagine him doing that if Bombito wasn't behind him.
In fact, sometimes Cornelius would even throw himself into a duel he had no chance of winning, knowing that slowing down the opponent just makes it easier for Bombito to clean up the mess, as he’d capitalize on the sloppy touch or pass that would follow.
Usually most centre backs won't go flying into a duel that deep into an opponents half, but Cornelius has the confidence to do so, and it pays off here.
It’s been a big departure from how Canada defended before, where they were at their best when they dropped deeper and let things play out in front of them, as they now instead prefer to be the team initiating proceedings without the ball, led by Bombito.
Textbook, aggressive Bombito, who makes a nice tackle high up the pitch, and turns it into a good Canadian attack.
Otherwise, Bombito is also no slouch in possession, either - he completed 93 out of 102 passes across both games (91%), completing 13 out of 18 long balls and making 11 passes into the final third. That’s also a big asset for this Canadian team, as while being solid defensively is a big part of Marsch’s system, their play on the ball plays a big part, with defenders expected to circulate the ball quickly and often up to their attackers, which Bombito does quite well. 
Bombito's pass map from the CanMNT's CNL SF vs. Mexico (left) and 3rd place match vs. the US (right), via OPTA
Overall, though, it’s clear that he ticks all of the boxes in terms of what Marsch needs from his centre backs, on both sides of the ball, and he once again showed that this month.
Because of that, what was once a position of worry for Canada has now become one of strength, as the numbers show. That’s especially huge ahead of the World Cup, as it gives them a better chance at making a deep run, with teams that are defensively solid usually more likely to go far than teams who can score goals but leak them.
Canada’s Copa América run is a good template in that regard - Canada scored just one group stage goal, yet made the semi-finals, as they kept two clean sheets in the group stage and then eked out a penalty shootout win after a 1-1 draw in the quarter-finals. Of course, they’ll have to score more at the World Cup to have a better chance, but given the talent they have up front, it feels like they can do that, which is scary to imagine given how well they’ve defended.
Speaking of scary, what’s most impressive about Bombito is that he still has more growth to come. Still very young for a centre back, as players in that position don’t peak until their late 20s and early 30s, it feels like there is a lot of upside for him to hit, especially when remembering how late of a bloomer he is.
That’s certainly exciting for his club future - Nice has been a talent factory over the last few years, selling the likes of Khéphren Thuram to Juventus, Jean-Clair Todibo to West Ham and Mario Lemina to Wolves, just to name a few. Given Bombito’s prominent role on a team that is likely to make the UEFA Champions League, that’ll greatly increase his profile, with top teams in Europe likely to start calling to get their hands on the next Nice gem.
It doesn’t mean Bombito will be in a rush to leave this summer, especially if Nice secures Champions League participation, but don’t be surprised to see rumours start to emerge, perhaps leading to a surprise transfer.
No matter what, it feels like the summer of 2026 is one to watch - given that by then Bombito will have completed his second full season with Nice and likely his first full Champions League campaign, will have played a leading role for Canada as they co-host the World Cup, and will only be 26, he could be one of the hottest commodities in the world by then.
Until then, however, look for him to keep coming up huge for Canada, while still growing and improving his game.
He’s already grown a lot in his first 12 months as a regular Canadian starter, as his positioning has improved significantly, and he continues to get stronger, but he’ll now look to further tweak his game going forward.
Yet, that’s a big reason for his success. As Marsch said last fall, a big reason for Bombito’s success is his willingness to continue to work on his game.
That’s why Marsch remains very bullish on how high his ceiling can be, having himself coached centre backs like Dayot Upamecano, Ibrahim Konaté and Joško Gvardiol, players he’d put Bombito right up against.
Based on Bombito’s play this past window, it’s hard to argue with that, either.
“He has potential. I said this during Copa America, and I didn’t want it to be taken the wrong way, but I said that his talent is among the best in the world in that position,” Marsch said after Canada beat Panama in a friendly last October. “I’ve coached players that are considered the best in that position, and their talent levels, their raw skills and abilities, are on the same level.”
“And so I’m trying to just continue to push Moïse the right way and challenge him to continue to grow.”
