Error code: %{errorCode}
What Moise Bombito's injury means for Canada at the World Cup
Canada will be without their most important player for the upcoming World Cup.
No, not Alphonso Davies, who still could play a part in the impending tournament.
Canada's most important player is Moise Bombito, and a report from TSN landed late Saturday night that claims his inability to feature for Les Rouges in a home World Cup.
World Cup 2022 best goals
Featuring Brazil, Mexico, Cameroon, France
Bombito was undergoing an aggressive and optimistic rehabilitation program in order to get ready for the biggest games in his national team's history. Last week, he opined that he would "100%" play at least a part in the World Cup.
However, his dream is reportedly over, and the Canadian team is worse off because of it.
Bombito broke his leg last year while playing for his club side, Nice, with whom he signed after a breakout showing at the 2024 Copa America. In that tournament, the Montreal native shone against some of the most lethal attackers in the world, using his freakish athleticism and world class pace to minimize threats from the likes of Lionel Messi and Darwin Nunez.
The former Colorado Rapids man had come out of nowhere to become the centrepiece of Canada's defence, even moreso than Bayern Munich star Davies. Head coach Jesse Marsch's entire ethos relies on speedy defenders able to cover huge distances, and in the physical specimen that is Bombito he got that along with a calm ability to play the ball out of the back.
With Bombito out of the World Cup, there is now a massive hole to fill at the centre of defence. While no one on the Canada squad is a perfect like-for-like replacement for Bombito, there are options.
Luc de Fougerolles
Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
The most likely player to step into Bombito's place alongside Derek Cornelius is 20-year-old De Fougerolles, who just completed his first full season as a professional.
A ball-playing defender with great instincts, De Fougerolles spent this past season on loan at Dender in the Belgian league, where he was constantly under fire as the team failed to stay up in the top tier.
That shouldn't be a worry though, De Fougerolles' parent club Fulham is said to be high on his potential and the youngster already has 13 caps for the Canadians having played in both the aforementioned Copa America and the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
De Fougerolles got the start alongside Cornelius in Canada's final tune-up friendly over the weekend and has gained Marsch's trust in a pivotal position despite his lack of experience.
Joel Waterman
Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images
A solid-if-unspectacular option for Canada at centre-back, Waterman didn't see any action in the pre-World Cup friendlies and he is firmly behind Cornelius and De Fougerolles in the pecking order.
Currently enjoying a decent season with MLS side Chicago Fire, Waterman's strengths lie in his passing and relative calmness on the ball, likely due to his time as a central midfielder earlier in his career.
Where Waterman lacks is in the athleticism department — he's not exactly the speediest player around — and his decision-making can sometimes betray him.
Alfie Jones
Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images
Jones joined the Canada program last year after gaining his citizenship through familial ties, and the England-born defender is another potential option off the bench for Marsch.
The 28-year-old is yet another player racing to get fit in time for the World Cup, and before last week's second-half cameo against Uzbekistan the Middlesbrough man hadn't played an official game for club or country in 2026.
That lack of activity rules him out of a starting role for the time being, but Jones is another big body who is comfortable on the ball. His most obvious drawback is lack of playing time in the Canada set-up, as he's now up to just two caps since pledging his international future to the Great White North.
Ralph Priso
Dale MacMillan/Soccrates/Getty Images
If there was ever a near like-for-like replacement for Bombito, it's the Vancouver Whitecaps' midfielder-turned-centre back Priso.
The 23-year-old is also a former Colorado Rapids player and he shares a lot of attributes with Bombito: speed, ball-playing instincts, aggressiveness and physicality.
Where Priso falls short of Bombito — quite literally — is height, as the Torontonian is listed by MLS at just 5-foot-9, which is obviously nowhere near Bombito's 6-foot-3 frame.
However, Priso's recovery speed and ability to cover tons of space on the field cannot be overlooked, and his meteroic rise from just another promising midfield prosect to one of the best young central defenders in MLS parallels Bombito's from a few years ago.
Priso is currently with the Canadian team as an alternate, but his place in the official World Cup squad is more likely than ever. While he probably won't replace De Fougerolles in the starting XI, it would not be surprising if Priso leapfrogs Waterman and Jones as the first centre-back off the bench.
What Bombito's injury means for Canada
Combined with Alphonso Davies' hamstring ailment, Bombito's absence means Canada will be starting the World Cup without its two fastest players.
While speed isn't the be-all and end-all in this sport, Jesse Marsch has built the Canadian side to take advantage of the absurd athleticism available to them, with his pressing style reliant on defenders playing high up the field and able to make recovery runs.
Davies and Bombito are a massive part of that, so with the former out for at least part of the group stage and the latter set to miss the entire tournament, a tactical re-think may be in order.
It's far too close to the World Cup to completely abandon Canada's identity, and the squad still boasts several speedsters, but a more judicial usage of the press may be the right play for Marsch and Co. We know that Marsch prefers the 4-4-2 formation, with Ismael Koné and Stephen Eustaquio holding down the centre of the pitch in midfield, but as we saw in the second half of last week's friendly against Uzbekistan, Canada has the midfield depth to add another body to that area of the pitch and control the play.
I don't expect Marsch's team to start in anything but a 4-4-2, but a mid-game switch to a three-man midfield should be a viable option should the back line need some help alleviating pressure.
Introducing one of Nathan Saliba, Matheiu Choinière or Jonathan Osorio earlier than usual may help in that regard, especially if the makeshift back line shows signs of being overwhelmed.
World Cup Final 2022 highlights
Relive the epic finale between Argentina and France
Watch World Cup archive, highlights and documentaries for FREE on DAZN
DAZN is the home of FIFA+, a vast library of football on-demand content including World Cup archive, iconic documentaries, player profiles, live matches and both full match replays and highlights.
Watch it all for FREE on DAZN on smart TVs, phones, tablets, streaming devices, games consoles and web browsers.
FIFA+ includes:
- FIFA World Cup archive - full match replays of all matches from Brazil 1970 to Qatar 2022
- World Cup goals - the best goals from each tournament; every goal from every nation from every tournament
- Original documentaries - including Mo: A Global Icon; Golden Boot: The Documentary; After Diego
- Icons of the game - From Pelé to Cristiano Ronaldo
- Behind-the-scenes content
- Live matches from around the world
