Moise Bombito

[phresh]

Interview with Moise in French.

He talks in detail about his path to MLS, spent a lot of time with CS Saint-Laurent and was a rotation player in his youth, was plugged into different positions when guys were injured. Played fullback, winger and later defensive mid. One year at Ahuntsic the team didn't have enough central defenders, coach used him there and he established himself as a center-back. For those who aren't aware, Ahuntsic is a Cegep here in Montreal and has produced a couple pro players, Farsi, Charles Auguste, Pierre Lamothe. So he was playing on the school team while playing club. 

Decided at around 20 he wanted to play professional. Credits a couple coaches for his development, namely Kwame Ansah (CS Saint-Laurent), Francois Bourgeais (CS Saint-Hubert and Ahuntsic) and Mike Brown (Juco). He learned through social media that there was a pathway to MLS through NCAA and decided he wanted to go that route. Brown instilled in him a sense of discipline, strict curfews and regimented meal plans. He also started analyzing more game tape. The transition to New Hampshire was seamless.

Also mentions L1QC has a lot of talent but isn't respected enough domestically. Players are often forced to look abroad for opportunities, guys like him and Farsi (and Kone) will help raise the reputation of the league.

Edited April 4 by phresh

[narduch]

Starting v Inter Miami.

Messi is on the bench

[DeRo_Is_King]

On 4/4/2024 at 3:18 PM, phresh said:

Interview with Moise in French.

He talks in detail about his path to MLS, spent a lot of time with CS Saint-Laurent and was a rotation player in his youth, was plugged into different positions when guys were injured. Played fullback, winger and later defensive mid. One year at Ahuntsic the team didn't have enough central defenders, coach used him there and he established himself as a center-back. For those who aren't aware, Ahuntsic is a Cegep here in Montreal and has produced a couple pro players, Farsi, Charles Auguste, Pierre Lamothe. So he was playing on the school team while playing club. 

Decided at around 20 he wanted to play professional. Credits a couple coaches for his development, namely Kwame Ansah (CS Saint-Laurent), Francois Bourgeais (CS Saint-Hubert and Ahuntsic) and Mike Brown (Juco). He learned through social media that there was a pathway to MLS through NCAA and decided he wanted to go that route. Brown instilled in him a sense of discipline, strict curfews and regimented meal plans. He also started analyzing more game tape. The transition to New Hampshire was seamless.

Also mentions L1QC has a lot of talent but isn't respected enough domestically. Players are often forced to look abroad for opportunities, guys like him and Farsi (and Kone) will help raise the reputation of the league.

Always felt like Quebec had a lot of underdeveloped talent. L1QC is a good league. I posted a couple years ago from TSI Sports some goal stats for Kone. He had done well but was not the top scorer. As you rightly mention, Farsi also came through the league.

I haven't followed Quebec's youth system in a while, but Ahuntsic (including the club) does produce a lot of good players. The south shore (Longueuil) and Quebec City as well usually field decent teams (U. Laval at one point was one of the best uni. teams in the country). Panellinios (Tabla's old club) is another strong club team. My region of Lac St Louis used to have the Lakers, which normally did very well at national cub tournaments when they qualified. The youth provincial Quebec teams, to knowledge, are normally neck-and-neck with Ontario. We have a lot of good players here. I've seen AC Milan scouts at Quebec provincial youth camps. Obviously, nothing has come of that, but it's interesting. 

Edited April 8 by DeRo_Is_King

[InglewoodJack]

15 hours ago, DeRo_Is_King said:

Always felt like Quebec had a lot of underdeveloped talent. L1QC is a good league. I posted a couple years ago from TSI Sports some goal stats for Kone. He had done well but was not the top scorer. As you rightly mention, Farsi also came through the league.

I haven't followed Quebec's youth system in a while, but Ahuntsic (including the club) does produce a lot of good players. The south shore (Longueuil) and Quebec City as well usually field decent teams (U. Laval at one point was one of the best uni. teams in the country). Panellinios (Tabla's old club) is another strong club team. My region of Lac St Louis used to have the Lakers, which normally did very well at national cub tournaments when they qualified. The youth provincial Quebec teams, to knowledge, are normally neck-and-neck with Ontario. We have a lot of good players here. I've seen AC Milan scouts at Quebec provincial youth camps. Obviously, nothing has come of that, but it's interesting. 

Anecdotal, but a friend of mine coached in PLSQ and has plenty of connections in the league, but stopped being involved in soccer or following local players many years ago. I was talking to him about Kone when he got transferred to Watford, and he was shocked because he remembered coaching against him but had no idea he was good enough to make it outside of the province. Obviously he took that massive leap with Montreal, but I'm inclined to believe there are players who have a lot to offer who just never got their shot. I also know of a few players who went pro and were more or less bumped to the front of the line for reasons other than their play.

Even beyond the youth level, there are two players at Blainville who play for the Afghan national team. Not the best nation in the world, but both players played in their recent victory against India last week in WCQs, and Afghanistan has a legitimate shot of moving onto the next round where they would face some of the top teams in Asia. That's really impressive for guys playing semi pro ball in QC.

[DeRo_Is_King]

17 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Even beyond the youth level, there are two players at Blainville who play for the Afghan national team. Not the best nation in the world, but both players played in their recent victory against India last week in WCQs, and Afghanistan has a legitimate shot of moving onto the next round where they would face some of the top teams in Asia. That's really impressive for guys playing semi pro ball in QC.

I was going to mention Blainville as well. 

Also, I know of a few obscure players from the Quebec youth system, Impact Academy, etc., who went on to play for lower-ranked national teams (i.e. Guatemala, Lebanon, and better-known, Jems Geffrard for Haiti). 

Sometimes it's more about exposure and willpower. I remember Adam Braz telling me something along these lines. He mentioned how he knew a lot of really talented players who just did not have the work ethic. Also, it's hard to get exposure when there's no domestic pro league. But we have that now, so there's more to look forward to for young players. 

[narduch]

We desperately need a Quebec based CPL team (or 2) to close the gap from PLSQ to MLS 

[InglewoodJack]

1 hour ago, DeRo_Is_King said:

I was going to mention Blainville as well. 

Also, I know of a few obscure players from the Quebec youth system, Impact Academy, etc., who went on to play for lower-ranked national teams (i.e. Guatemala, Lebanon, and better-known, Jems Geffrard for Haiti). 

Sometimes it's more about exposure and willpower. I remember Adam Braz telling me something along these lines. He mentioned how he knew a lot of really talented players who just did not have the work ethic. Also, it's hard to get exposure when there's no domestic pro league. But we have that now, so there's more to look forward to for young players. 

Even some guys who did make it elsewhere could've jump started their career way earlier with the right exposure. My buddy's cousin who has some nebulous connection with CF Montreal claims that he was telling his connections to go and sign Mo Farsi back when he played at either Longeuil or Blainville, Montreal didn't rate him, so he went to school, CPL, Algeria, so on. Obviously he could be saying whatever, but these guys are hardcore IMFC fans who don't really care much about the national team or any other MLS club, so it's a pretty specific claim.

 

1 hour ago, narduch said:

We desperately need a Quebec based CPL team (or 2) to close the gap from PLSQ to MLS 

I just wonder where you put it. Montreal can't sustain two pro teams, not yet I don't think. Laval is the obvious choice, but can they draw 4-5k/night? The Rocket are one of the best attended AHL teams, but the arena is right on top of a metro and it's super easy to get there from anywhere in the GMA. I don't know that Quebec city has enough of a soccer culture for a team either.

Maybe Brossard, Longeuil, one of those suburbs with a big, affluent, multicultural and rapidly growing population could do it. With the REM, if we put a park that is relatively easy to get to, I think it could work. There are also a ton of fans who abandoned CF Montreal after the name change- I know many travel to support Vermont Green of USL2- they could probably build the foundation of a really cool supporter culture for a CPL team.

[narduch]

24 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Even some guys who did make it elsewhere could've jump started their career way earlier with the right exposure. My buddy's cousin who has some nebulous connection with CF Montreal claims that he was telling his connections to go and sign Mo Farsi back when he played at either Longeuil or Blainville, Montreal didn't rate him, so he went to school, CPL, Algeria, so on. Obviously he could be saying whatever, but these guys are hardcore IMFC fans who don't really care much about the national team or any other MLS club, so it's a pretty specific claim.

 

I just wonder where you put it. Montreal can't sustain two pro teams, not yet I don't think. Laval is the obvious choice, but can they draw 4-5k/night? The Rocket are one of the best attended AHL teams, but the arena is right on top of a metro and it's super easy to get there from anywhere in the GMA. I don't know that Quebec city has enough of a soccer culture for a team either.

Maybe Brossard, Longeuil, one of those suburbs with a big, affluent, multicultural and rapidly growing population could do it. With the REM, if we put a park that is relatively easy to get to, I think it could work. There are also a ton of fans who abandoned CF Montreal after the name change- I know many travel to support Vermont Green of USL2- they could probably build the foundation of a really cool supporter culture for a CPL team.

Well Quebec City for sure 

[InglewoodJack]

3 minutes ago, narduch said:

Well Quebec City for sure 

I just don't know if QC could support a CPL team and draw the kind of numbers that could keep a team there long term.

[Obinna]

4 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

I just don't know if QC could support a CPL team and draw the kind of numbers that could keep a team there long term.

What makes you say that? It's a metro comparable to Hamilton and Winnipeg.

Forge have been successful for many reasons, but one of them is probably being next door to a largest player pool in the country. QC is further away from the 2nd biggest player pool in the country, Montreal, but I would like to think it's close enough a CPL club could draw on that catchment area, just like Pacific draws from Vancouver. 

Winnipeg is an island of urbanism surrounded by nothing, so that is part of it's challenge IMO (amongst other things).

I have never been to QC, but my sense is that it's somewhat of a Grid Iron/College town despite it's size....do you see that as a hurdle if accurate?

[InglewoodJack]

2 minutes ago, Obinna said:

What makes you say that? It's a metro comparable to Hamilton and Winnipeg.

Forge have been successful for many reasons, but one of them is probably being next door to a largest player pool in the country. QC is further away from the 2nd biggest player pool in the country, Montreal, but I would like to think it's close enough a CPL club could draw on that catchment area, just like Pacific draws from Vancouver. 

Winnipeg is an island of urbanism surrounded by nothing, so that is part of it's challenge IMO (amongst other things).

I have never been to QC, but my sense is that it's somewhat of a Grid Iron/College town despite it's size....do you see that as a hurdle if accurate?

The main issue for me is that Quebec City is pretty detached from the greater Canadian market than a city like Montreal is- this idea of going to watch teams from parts of the country you're never going to even visit is probably not super attractive to people there. You are correct in that QC is a football town, though I'd also add that the Remparts are a massive draw as well. I also don't think Montreal fans would drive up to Quebec City for games- we have CF Montreal, but we also have Vermont Green if we want to watch lower level, cheap soccer, and their stadium would be much closer to us anyways- and our supporters do go out and watch them as well. Even with football, Quebec has never had a CFL team, even though U de Laval is a massive draw, and the Allouettes are big enough that they could still thrive with a second team in the province.

Beyond that, I think something like 91% of Quebec City residents report no visible minority status, and while that doesn't mean a team is impossible, I think the biggest growth driver in soccer in Canada are fans who come from families who have been generational soccer fans, and for most "pure laine" Quebecers, I don't think that's the case. There's also the issue of transit system- I don't know that QC has the infrastructure to get people to a game easily, and while I can't imagine Halifax transit being significantly better, they are still the only professional sports team in all of the Maritimes which I think really helps. There's also the fact that there's no obvious rival- a team from Brossard or Longeuil could easily bus over fans to an away day in Ottawa, whereas for QC that would take 5-6 hours.

With the Winnipeg comp, the thing I am wondering is- how attractive to the CPL is the idea of "what if we get this new team whose potential is to be like Valour, a team that is financially struggling and teetering on the edge"?

Quebec is a beautiful city, it's highly underrated, and I have heard that as the name bandied around when people talk about a CPL expansion team here, so perhaps I'm missing it, but I don't know that it can sustain the type of audience that the CPL probably wants teams to have. I would imagine CPL wants their new teams to be closer to Forge and HFX than Valour and York, and I think there's a ceiling to what a pro soccer team in QC could achieve. Quebec city is indeed the second largest population centre in the province, though the greater Montreal area is a about 5 times its size- there's a lot more population to pull fans from, and I think from what I've noticed, as these off-island suburbs grow larger and larger, more and more people want things in their city and don't want to depend on Montreal, much like the GTA's larger suburbs. I think a CPL team there could appeal to a lot of people, especially the young families who don't want to pay for Habs tickets and are too far for Rocket games.

[Obinna]

24 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

The main issue for me is that Quebec City is pretty detached from the greater Canadian market than a city like Montreal is- this idea of going to watch teams from parts of the country you're never going to even visit is probably not super attractive to people there. You are correct in that QC is a football town, though I'd also add that the Remparts are a massive draw as well. I also don't think Montreal fans would drive up to Quebec City for games- we have CF Montreal, but we also have Vermont Green if we want to watch lower level, cheap soccer, and their stadium would be much closer to us anyways- and our supporters do go out and watch them as well. Even with football, Quebec has never had a CFL team, even though U de Laval is a massive draw, and the Allouettes are big enough that they could still thrive with a second team in the province.

Beyond that, I think something like 91% of Quebec City residents report no visible minority status, and while that doesn't mean a team is impossible, I think the biggest growth driver in soccer in Canada are fans who come from families who have been generational soccer fans, and for most "pure laine" Quebecers, I don't think that's the case. There's also the issue of transit system- I don't know that QC has the infrastructure to get people to a game easily, and while I can't imagine Halifax transit being significantly better, they are still the only professional sports team in all of the Maritimes which I think really helps. There's also the fact that there's no obvious rival- a team from Brossard or Longeuil could easily bus over fans to an away day in Ottawa, whereas for QC that would take 5-6 hours.

With the Winnipeg comp, the thing I am wondering is- how attractive to the CPL is the idea of "what if we get this new team whose potential is to be like Valour, a team that is financially struggling and teetering on the edge"?

Quebec is a beautiful city, it's highly underrated, and I have heard that as the name bandied around when people talk about a CPL expansion team here, so perhaps I'm missing it, but I don't know that it can sustain the type of audience that the CPL probably wants teams to have. I would imagine CPL wants their new teams to be closer to Forge and HFX than Valour and York, and I think there's a ceiling to what a pro soccer team in QC could achieve. Quebec city is indeed the second largest population centre in the province, though the greater Montreal area is a about 5 times its size- there's a lot more population to pull fans from, and I think from what I've noticed, as these off-island suburbs grow larger and larger, more and more people want things in their city and don't want to depend on Montreal, much like the GTA's larger suburbs. I think a CPL team there could appeal to a lot of people, especially the young families who don't want to pay for Habs tickets and are too far for Rocket games.

Great post and very informative! Thanks.

Just 2 things to add:

- Would Quebec city have a pull from the northern regions of NB? I can understand why the typical Montrealer wouldn't make the journey, but if you reside in Edmonston or Bathhurst, perhaps you are tempted? We're talking small communities here, but in aggregate it could amount to something? And if you reside in Moncton, Halifax is an easier journey, but if you're francophone maybe Quebec City appeals more? Also, what about Saguenay? That's not an insignificant place a QC could draw from, I imagine...

- All this QC talk seriously makes me want to visit. 

[InglewoodJack]

30 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Great post and very informative! Thanks.

Just 2 things to add:

- Would Quebec city have a pull from the northern regions of NB? I can understand why the typical Montrealer wouldn't make the journey, but if you reside in Edmonston or Bathhurst, perhaps you are tempted? We're talking small communities here, but in aggregate it could amount to something? And if you reside in Moncton, Halifax is an easier journey, but if you're francophone maybe Quebec City appeals more? Also, what about Saguenay? That's not an insignificant place a QC could draw from, I imagine...

- All this QC talk seriously makes me want to visit. 

I don't know too much about NB to be perfectly honest, but because Maine is in the middle of NB's population centres and QC's, it would take around 6 hours to get there from Fredericton, longer from St. John, and I don't think Edmonston or Bathurst have enough people to make any sort of dent. I think the NB french also pride themselves as being a different kind of french, so I don't think they'd have the cultural ties strong enough to go that far to catch a game. Saguenay only has about 165,000 people in their greater area which is around the size of Longeuil, and if you consider the other Montreal south shore suburbs, you're probably nearing around 3-400k at the very least there. I'd love a soccer environment that would allow Saguenay to have a team- it would be one of the only draws in town, the city is comparable to plenty of places in England that have big clubs, it would be cool, but I question how much you could draw from there. I would compare it to Quebec's version of Sudbury- a big town for sure, but can Sudbury host a pro team? Would be great if they did, but tough to see them drawing so much, plus the travel to any other games.

I do highly recommend Quebec City- it's like Montreal, but smaller, it "feels" more European, and it's got almost everything that Montreal has, except smaller. You'll meet a lot more unilingual francophones too, so if you're looking for the authentic Quebec experience, that's where you'll find it. Great city, wish I could go more often.

[CanadaFan123]

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/early-season-stat-darlings-which-players-do-the-underlying-numbers-love
 

Bombito hype train in full swing. Once again, another Canadian talent seemingly out of nowhere. The hit rate on Canadian 1st rounders over the last 10 years is insane. Buchanan, Johnston, St. Clair, Larin, Laryea, Raposo,  Bombito… Stewart-Baynes soon perhaps. I’d be curious to see how the Americans best players would stack up over that period. 

[Bison44]

Oh the hype train is really running.  We still have to take into account misses like skyler Thomas, Awuah, Wright, Montgomery, Higgins, Harris, Mullinings, Omar, Afrifa, M Johnston, L. Johnson (maybe).    Its still a pretty good ratio but so many of our kids go that route.  Still such a big piece of where we get our national team from....... I'm looking in your direction CDN MLS teams.    

[narduch]

18 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

Oh the hype train is really running.  We still have to take into account misses like skyler Thomas, Awuah, Wright, Montgomery, Higgins, Harris, Mullinings, Omar, Afrifa, M Johnston, L. Johnson (maybe).    Its still a pretty good ratio but so many of our kids go that route.  Still such a big piece of where we get our national team from....... I'm looking in your direction CDN MLS teams.    

Just a year ago Hiebert was getting hyped

[kacbru]

Just so we're clear here - the hype is based on his offensive stats relative to other CBs and has nothing to do with his defending....

"The 24-year-old is the top center back in MLS based on ASA’s goals added metric. He’s in the 96th percentile in progressive passes and the 89th in progressive carries among his positional peers this year, according to FBref."

Great and all, but I'd be happier if he was the top centre back in MLS on goals defended metric.

[sebdeserio]

6 minutes ago, kacbru said:

Just so we're clear here - the hype is based on his offensive stats relative to other CBs and has nothing to do with his defending....

"The 24-year-old is the top center back in MLS based on ASA’s goals added metric. He’s in the 96th percentile in progressive passes and the 89th in progressive carries among his positional peers this year, according to FBref."

Great and all, but I'd be happier if he was the top centre back in MLS on goals defended metric.

Easier said than done on a transitioning Rapids team. Fwiw, after 6 games he's not only the highest rated canadian centre back in MLS according to Fotmob, but it's not close as he's at 7.22 and no one else is over 7.

[kacbru]

1 hour ago, sebdeserio said:

Easier said than done on a transitioning Rapids team. Fwiw, after 6 games he's not only the highest rated canadian centre back in MLS according to Fotmob, but it's not close as he's at 7.22 and no one else is over 7.

Yeah - agreed.  It would be nice to see a story about that, rather than a listicle article that takes its starting point 'here's a metric, now craft a story around it'.  I know I'm just shouting at stars here, but all these advanced stats don't do it for me.

[CanadaFan123]

2 hours ago, kacbru said:

Just so we're clear here - the hype is based on his offensive stats relative to other CBs and has nothing to do with his defending....

"The 24-year-old is the top center back in MLS based on ASA’s goals added metric. He’s in the 96th percentile in progressive passes and the 89th in progressive carries among his positional peers this year, according to FBref."

Great and all, but I'd be happier if he was the top centre back in MLS on goals defended metric.

Just so we’re clear, the posted article is just a snippet of the hype. Rapids fans are saying he’s their best defender and will be surprised if he’s not gone to Europe by years end. 

[saladroit]

2 hours ago, kacbru said:

Great and all, but I'd be happier if he was the top centre back in MLS on goals defended metric.

goals added (or G+) includes defending in its calculations:

Quote

Goals added (g+) measures a player’s total on-ball contribution in attack and defense. It does this by calculating how much each touch changes their team’s chances of scoring and conceding across two possessions. 

Just like goals added rewards players for improving their team’s situation in possession, it also rewards defensive actions that break up opposing possessions. A defender who turns a dangerous situation for the opponent into a neutral situation for their team by winning a tackle will earn goals added by the exact same method as our passer.

https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/what-are-goals-added

[Snowcrash]

Most people here probably aren't hard core enough to do it but watch a Rapids game, if only for 15 minutes and just focus on Bombito when the other team is on the attack or threatening in the box and you'll see how good his defensive awareness is.  His distribution playing out the back is also pretty good.

[Shway]

37 minutes ago, Snowcrash said:

Most people here probably aren't hard core enough to do it but watch a Rapids game, if only for 15 minutes and just focus on Bombito when the other team is on the attack or threatening in the box and you'll see how good his defensive awareness is.  His distribution playing out the back is also pretty good.

lol this is literally all I did. And then was like fack I need to get paid for this 🤣

[InglewoodJack]

Honestly, Herdman identifying Bombito as a future big player for us before almost anyone else did might be one of his most masterful strokes. I certainly didn’t see it last year and he didn’t look very good for us during his minutes, but those numbers are nothing to scoff at by any means. The defensive awareness bit and heavy touch are things that develop as you enter your prime and the stuff he’s good at is harder to teach. Excited to see what he looks like by the end of this season. 
 

If Baynes starts playing regularly, Rapids might be appointment viewing very soon.

Edited April 11 by InglewoodJack

[CanadaFan123]

4 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Honestly, Herdman identifying Bombito as a future big player for us before almost anyone else did might be one of his most masterful strokes. I certainly didn’t see it last year and he didn’t look very good for us during his minutes, but those numbers are nothing to scoff at by any means. The defensive awareness bit and heavy touch are things that develop as you enter your prime and the stuff he’s good at is harder to teach. Excited to see what he looks like by the end of this season. 
 

If Baynes starts playing regularly, Rapids might be appointment viewing very soon.

I don’t think Herdman deserves credit in this instance. It was MLS that identified him first and got him on the map. It’s not like a Larin or Kaye situation where they were identified prior to MLS. Not to mention that he was initially called as a replacement for Cornelius in a position of need. Kind of another situation where a player just fell in his lap.