Confident and Eager Moïse Bombito: “I Feel Like I Belong Here.”

EDITORIAL – My fellow parents know that when your child is of a certain endless-energy age, team sports can be an absolute lifesaver. Moïse Bombito’s mother was no different. Thankfully for Colorado Rapids fans, the young boy from Montreal took to much about the game and has followed his passion to Commerce City, Colorado and MLS.

“I was always trying to run around, not even playing soccer, just doing whatever sport, just go go go,”
Moïse told Burgundy Wave following a recent Rapids training session.

Relationships and Position Changes:

He noted it wasn’t just the game, but the relationships in a team atmosphere that drew him in.

“When I was too active at home my mom said ‘I need to put him in sports.’ She put me into a house league in my hometown, soccer obviously, and I loved the game – the adrenaline, the running, the scoring, the celebrations, all of that. Bonding with your teammates at an early age you found your brothers, your friends, and some of my teammates I was growing up with I’m still friends now, so it’s awesome to have that.”

Moïse developed a very open mind at an early age, one that kept his trajectory moving upwards
and helped develop an attitude any coach would love.

“I was someone who had the passion and I didn’t care where I was going to play. Growing up, I was a striker and when I started getting taller I was down to midfield, and when I was really tall and gained some weight that’s when I was in the back. It wasn’t my choice, it was my coaches choice. For me, I just wanted to be out there.”

It wasn’t easy to change positions so many times. Bombito embraced each move. It has made him a better player overall.

“You just need to adapt and buy into the process, because I feel like it’s evolving and if you don’t want to be there it’s not going to be a good habit to have.”

“I just wanted to learn all the positions too,” the versatile Canadian explained. “I just kept going and I
ended up being a center back. When you play striker is when you develop your dribbling abilities. It’s
not something that goes away if you change positions. It keeps going with you. That’s why when I’m
playing center back I’m comfortable on the ball. I’m not scared of losing it if there’s a striker coming at
me. If I have to dribble, I’ll dribble.”

Moïse admits he didn’t really plan this path even as he entered into his later teenage years, admitting,
“Growing up, for me I didn’t even think about being a pro.”

From Montreal to Iowa, then New Hampshire, then MLS:

Once he saw the professional path was available, nothing could keep him off of that, especially with his work ethic and the opportunity to make it happen.

“When I hit 19, and I thought center back was going to be my position as well, and I thought I might give
it a shot – Is it too late? Do I still have time? At 19, people are already having their debuts playing in the
Premier League or the Spanish League.”

That first step out of Canada took him to an unlikely river town in the Midwest, of all places.

“For me it was ‘what are the routes to attain the professional level?’ I heard about the NCAA and university in America. Since I was still in school, I could’ve transferred my credits from Montreal and attend a Junior College. From Junior College I could go to D1, and I saw the plan. It’s going to be tough but it’s doable. I’d seen people do it so why can’t I?”

So, Moïse headed for the soccer mecca of Council Bluffs, Iowa, which is where he learned some of the
most important lessons and habits of his young life so far. “I went to Iowa Western Community College.
That was the best decision in my life I’ve made. That’s where I created this bond with teammates and all
those good friendships.”

His decision was made a bit easier by having a friend and teammate make the journey with him as well,
but that didn’t necessarily make things any easier, according to Moïse. “I went with one guy from
Montreal (Ibrahim Conde), I left with him to go to Junior College and we had the same plan to go pro.”

“I got there and met with Mike Brown, the Head Coach. He has the roughest regiment I’ve ever
encountered (bloody nose and the gauntlet mentality). Credit to him, by going into that environment I
started to build a little discipline on myself.”

“There were curfews. Every player had to do everything with the team and nothing but the team. If
you’re not in, you could just leave. He was not scared about kicking out the best players and he did that
while I was there. I said, ‘ok you cannot mess with this guy because you’re either in or you’re out.’”

“In the moment…… no I’m out of here, this guy is crazy. But, when I look back I needed this. If it wasn’t
for him I wouldn’t be here. By going there, it set myself for the next step in D1.”

“It didn’t feel like the easiest, but it felt like it was the simplest. When you’re D1, you know what the
next step is and once you’ve done it you’re in the pros. But, when you’re in Junior College, I have this
much to do and then I have to do it again to go to the pro level.”

From Western Iowa, the burgeoning Bombito drew the interest of Division 1 coaches. When the
offer to attend the University of New Hampshire came in, Moïse recognized the next step of his plan and
took full advantage of the opportunity to shine on the next level.

“I only did 6 months there, so it proved how much I learned from that experience in Junior College.”

He put that knowledge to good use in the Eastern College Athletic Conference during his one season with the Wildcats, earning team MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, All ECAC Team of the Year, and Second Team All-American. Not bad for the new guy just in from JC?

After a successful MLS Combine experience, Moïse was selected third overall in the MLS Draft, and so
began his next move as a full-fledged professional. Since then, he has shown what a bright, young talent
he is in the back four, not only for the Rapids but for his home nation of Canada as well.

2023 Progress Leads to National Team Opportunity:

His career was just beginning to blossom early in 2023, when a knee injury put him on the sidelines for a
tough three months just as he was making strides in an MLS side.

“Mentally it was hard,” he admits with a slight shake of the head. “You wake up the same time you used to go train but you’re not going to train and do your rehab. You see the guys sweating and giving their all and I wish I was out there.”

Moïse was quick to praise the Rapids staff who helped him deal with the derailing injury and focus him
on the rehab tasks directly in front of him.

“When you have a beautiful training staff like them, whatever they tell me to do, do it and you’re going to come on the field as quick as you can. That’s how it was for me. When I came back, I played some games (with Rapids 2) and that helped me a lot. In no time I was in the first team playing again and getting called up with the National Team. That shows how great they are.”

Speaking of his Canadian Men’s National Team, Bombito is making the most of his call-ups since he’s been in Burgundy. It’s something to wonder about, whether a young man ascending to his place for his club team at the same time he does that with a completely different set of teammates and playing style on the International level.

“I think it helps 100% because it gives you a different environment. In soccer, it’s really rare that one guy is going to stay at the same club all his life. So, if you’re able to switch environments and learn from them, I think it’s going to set you up for the next step whether it’s staying in Colorado or going elsewhere.”

“Me going to that National Team environment just gives me another perspective on how they’re doing
things, how professional are they, their quality on the ball – I can learn from them.”

Looking Ahead to 2024:

As for his immediate future here in Colorado, Moïse is quick to point out his teammates that have had to
go through the same challenges with him, as they bounce back together in 2024 under the new regime.

“I feel like when you’re surrounded by good people, you don’t even feel like you have to do too much to
buy in, it just comes with good people and you open yourself up without even knowing. Since I
came back for my second year and it was with these people, I just felt like it wasn’t going to be a hard
thing to do and to just be myself. I feel like I belong here.”

The new coaching staff in Colorado feels the same as they implement a new energy and tactic style
within the Rapids. Bombito feels it’s not as daunting a task as it seems, however, since many of the
young corp of players being counted on to turn things around are already trusting and familiar with each
other.

“(The coaching staff) give us an idea of how they want to play and they’re bought into that process. They
know it’s not going to be easy from the start because they know it’s not the same people, but it’s a
different mentality, different ideas they are trying to bring in.”

“Since we all know each other a bit more, just going to games and training sessions are more clear every
time. The result we had (in Portland), if someone is seeing it from the outside, they go, ‘they didn’t do
anything from their pre-season.’ Us as a group, we felt like we were bought into the process. We knew
that we were conceding goals, but on the ball we were clear on what we want to do. You just have to
keep on going and don’t change who you are because as we go through the games it will be clearer and
clearer and the results are going to show so I’m not even worried about it.”

Bombito has played well since that nightmare first half in Portland. He made big plays against Nashville in the home opener. He helped see out the final 15 minutes last weekend in the Rocky Mountain Cup, as the Rapids got just their second ever win in Sandy, Utah.

“If I could show you how much work we put, but the success is so small, but it tastes so much better, so
you just want to give 100% every time.”

“With you or without you, (Coach Armas) is going to get it. As a team, our job is to just stick to it.
Maybe you’re going to miss a pass or maybe it’s not going to go well for you, but you’ve got to stick with
it. that’s the sport – sometimes it’s going to be good, sometimes it’s going to be bad. You’ve just got to
be bought in every time.”

Moïse Bombito admits that challenge isn’t always an easy one, but he isn’t afraid to put in the work to bring success back to Colorado.

“No, sometimes you don’t want to do it. It’s a hard sport. You’ve just got to have that resilience in you.”

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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