After a week of Kevin Kilbane taking the reins, Steven Caldwell returns for Week 18 of Race for the Roster and comes back to a devastating injury for Canada. Nice centre-back Moïse Bombito incurred a fractured tibia during Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Monaco. If there is a silver lining, it’s that he’s expected to miss the next four to five months, which means that next summer’s World Cup remains in frame for the 25-year-old Montrealer.
Still, Bombito is arguably Canada’s most important player and now joins a number of squad members on the shelf with long-term injuries. What’s doubly cruel for Bombito is that he had only recently returned from a four-month spell on the sidelines and incurred the break in the same leg in which he sustained a stress fracture last year. If anybody has the mental fortitude to persevere, it’s the New Hampshire product.
So what does that mean for the immediate future with four big friendlies on the horizon between now and the end of the year? Canada takes on Australia on Friday in Montreal and then Colombia next Tuesday in New Jersey. Next month’s international window sees a pair of CONMEBOL opponents in Ecuador and Venezuela.
Taking Bombito’s spot for this week’s friendlies is veteran Portland Timbers defender Kamal Miller. While Miller hasn’t seen as much action under Jesse Marsch, he does have 40 caps to his name and was a regular under previous manager John Herdman, who handed him 27 appearances in 2021 and 2022 alone.
Reflecting this change, Caldwell has put Miller back on his bubble.
Miller takes the place of Sporting Kansas City’s Zorhan Bassong.
As for the longer-term implications of Bombito’s injury, Caldwell notes that there is opportunity for others to become indispensable to Marsch’s thinking.
The most obvious candidates to step up in Bombito’s absence are a pair of players on loan in Marseille’s Derek Cornelius, who is at Rangers, and Fulham’s Luc de Fougerolles, currently with Belgian side Dender. Cornelius is a player who Caldwell already has pencilled in as a starter, but a string of strong performances could ensure that he gets locked into the starting XI. It’s been a rough start to life in Glasgow for the Ajax, Ont. native who saw manager Russell Martin dismissed on Sunday after only 123 days at Ibrox.
De Fougerolles, who received his first Canada cap before he made a club appearance at the senior level, has never looked out of place in his nine games in a Canada shirt. How he deals with an increased workload and level of competition over the next several months will be something to monitor.
Race for the Roster: Week 18 (4-4-2)
Forwards
STARTERS: Jonathan David (Juventus) and Cyle Larin (Feyenoord, on loan from Mallorca)
BENCH: Promise David (Union SG), Daniel Jebbison (Preston North End, on loan from Bournemouth) and Tani Oluwayesi (Villarreal)
Midfield and Defenders
STARTING MIDFIELDERS: Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich) INJ, Niko Sigur (Hajduk Split), Stephen Eustaquio (Porto) and Tajon Buchanan (Villarreal)
BENCH: Jacob Shaffelburg (Nashville), Ismael Koné (Sassuolo, on loan from Marseille), David “Junior” Hoilett (Hibernian), Nathan Saliba (Anderlecht), Mathieu Choiniere (Los Angeles FC) and Ali Ahmed (Vancouver Whitecaps)
STARTING DEFENDERS: Richie Laryea (Toronto FC), Derek Cornelius (Rangers, on loan from Marseille), Moise Bombito (Nice) INJ and Alistair Johnston (Celtic) INJ
BENCH: Sam Adekugbe (Vancouver Whitecaps) INJ, Jamie Knight-Lebel (Swindon Town, on loan from Bristol City), Joel Waterman (Chicago Fire) and Luc de Fougerolles (Dender, on loan from Fulham)
Goalkeeper
STARTER: Dayne St. Clair (Minnesota United)
BENCH: Maxime Crepeau (Portland Timbers) INJ and Tom McGill (Brighton)
IN THE HUNT: : James Pantemis (Portland Timbers) and Jonathan Sirois (CF Montreal)
