August 19th Edition

Never before have stocks risen this much on Canadian ballers. 

The national teams, and many domestic players, have been balling out this summer, and clearly the world has been watching. Each week right now leading up to the European transfer deadline is bringing more moves, rumours and reports surrounding national team players.

This week is no different, as Moïse Bombito looks set to become the fifth CanMNT baller in Ligue 1, Cloé Lacasse is a Utah Royal plus the latest on Mathieu Choinière, Kwasi Poku, and more.

Plus, the Whitecaps Girls Elite ball out in Concacaf, the Iceman defeats José Mourinho and plenty more ahead in this week’s edition of The Northern Pitch.

In this week's edition:

• 🇫🇷 Moïse Bombito to Nice

• 🇺🇸 Cloé Lacasse to the Royals

• 🇨🇭 Mathieu Choinière saga ends

• 🌍 Canucks Abroad

• 🏡 Canucks at Home

• 📰 Other News

• ✅ Northern Picks

CanMNT

🇫🇷 Moïse Bombito to Nice

Ligue 1 Uber Eats (damn, now we hungry too) should be on the screen of every Canadian footy fan on the weekends this year.

It looks like Jonathan David is still going to be doing his thing at Lille this season, while Derek Cornelius and Ismaël Koné are at Marseille, and Theo Bair is looking to bag goals for Auxerre.

Now, it appears as though Cornelius’ central defensive partner with the national team, Moïse Bombito is officially going to join the party. Not with Lyon, as was initially rumoured, but instead with OGC Nice.

Fabrizio Romano is reporting that Bombito is joining the Eagles on a four-year contract until 2028, on a fee worth €7 million from the Colorado Rapids, plus add-ons. This is around double what Lyon were offering — and an MLS record for an outgoing centre-back.

Bombito has spent the past two seasons balling out for the Colorado Rapids, playing 34 games in all competitions and scoring twice since being selected third overall in the MLS SuperDraft.

His real breakout performances, however, came at the 2024 Copa América, as well as the pre-tournament friendlies against the Netherlands and especially in a 0-0 draw with France.

Nice finished fifth in the table last year, meaning they will get to participate in the Europa League qualifiers with hopes of qualifying for the tournament proper.

Reminder, Ligue 1 is on Fubo TV, so if you haven’t already dropped the sub for the Premier League season it’s time to get on that ASAP to watch the boys rep the maple leaf in France.

Btw, use this link for 40% off a Fubo subscription:

CanWNT

🇺🇸 Cloé Lacasse to the Royals

We’ve seen a few CanWNT ballers make moves across the pond so far this off-season, but many have also made returns closer to home in the NWSL.

The latest is Cloé Lacasse, who signed with the Utah Royals this week after spending last season at Arsenal. Lacasse made 23 appearances for the Gunners in all comps, scoring five times, but didn’t always get the burn she probably would have wanted.

Instead, with Utah she has the chance to be their star player (especially in attack). The Royals currently sit dead last in the NWSL table, with just nine points from 16 matches and just 8 goals scored. A player with Lacasse’s ability in attack will certainly help in this regard, and hopefully, more minutes and in a setting where she is the go-to player again will see the 31-year-old progress for the national team as well.

She also joins fellow Canadian international Zoe Burns, who was drafted by the Royals last year and has already made 12 appearances. Definitely a team that CanWNT fans are going to want to watch over the back half of the NWSL season.

CanMNT

🇨🇭 Mathieu Choinière saga ends with transfer to Switzerland

A wild few weeks at Stade Saputo look like they will continue as the club’s All-Star midfielder, and Canadian international, Mathieu Choinière looks like he’s leaving the club for Europe.

The 24-year-old Québec-born baller is headed to Swiss club Grasshopper, per a report from Tom Bogert. The Zurich-based club will reportedly give CF Montréal around $1 million.

Choinière has spent his entire career with CF Montréal, playing 139 times since his debut back in 2018 with 12 goals. He has also appeared five times for the Canadian men’s national team, including at this summer’s Copa América. He had requested a move earlier this season after contract negotiations broke down with CF Montréal.

Grasshopper finished 11th out of 12 teams in the Swiss Super League last season. Interestingly, they are coached by Marco Shällibaum, who was the gaffer for CF Montréal back in 2013.

Canucks Abroad

🌍 Canucks Abroad

🇫🇷 Jonathan David scored his first goal(s) of 2024-25. It’s the first match day of Ligue 1 and JD has already found the back of the net. The Iceman scored against Stade Reims in the dying minutes and was able to put the game to bed in the 93rd minute with the game ending 2-0 for Lille. This was after David scored a 118th minute penalty on Tuesday to send Lille through in the Champions League against Fenerbahçe. Talk about late drama.

👀 But wait, more Jonathan David news. It’s more transfer rumour news. You read that right. Another one. PSG has entered the chat as their main striker, Gonçalo Ramos suffered a fractured ankle and will be out for three months. PSG are in need of a striker and JD has become a target. Already a proven Ligue 1 striker, this move feels a little more realistic. But honestly, who knows at this point. Other strikers are on PSG’s shopping list such as Victor Osimhen, Memphis Depay and Romelu Lukaku.

🇫🇷 Derek Cornelius started for Marseille but Ismaël Koné will have to wait. The CanMNT defender started in Marseille’s 5-1 away win over Brest. Despite the win, Cornelius was booked with a yellow card in the 6th minute and conceded a penalty. On the bright side, that pen was saved beautifully, and Cornelius grew into the match. Meanwhile, Ismaël Koné will have to wait as he missed Friday training due to a slight injury. Manager Roberto De Zerbi will not risk further injury to the young talent.

🇫🇷 Theo Bair makes Ligue 1 debut. Auxerre’s new #9 has made his debut on the starting lineup for the Burgundy club. His debut can be considered mixed as he was often isolated up front but for his first Ligue 1 game, it wasn’t bad. His stats show that he wasn’t out of place. At the end of the day, his first Ligue 1 game ended as a home victory defeating Nice, 2-1.

⬆️ CanWNT move up to 6th place. The Paris Olympic campaign was a challenging one. With drone-gate and Bev Priestman being sent back to Canada, it’s a summer to forget. However, CanWNT rose to the occasion and proved the world they are contenders by going undefeated in the group stage. Such a performance has earned CanWNT moving from eighth-ranked to sixth in the world.

🇺🇸 Brett Levis’ time to shine. The former Whitecaps and Valour fullback popped up with a big performance for Detroit this weekend. Levis tapped home a loose ball for his first of 2024, adding onto a clean sheet with the Rouge taking a 1-0 win at Rida Zouhir and Tyler Pasher’s Birmingham Legion.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Liam Millar picked up an assist. Hull City’s new #7 has made a mark with the club by picking up an assist in his third appearance. The CanMNT winger assisted Lewie Coyle’s equalizing goal against Plymouth Argyle.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Luca Koleosho scored for Burnley. The CanMNT-eligible young baller has scored in Burnley’s 5-0 win over Cardiff. The 19-year-old has yet to declare for a country at the senior level but has ten youth caps with Italy.

🇲🇽 Lucas Cavallini on the sidelines. The summer hasn’t been all sunshine and roses. Puebla’s talisman joins CanMNT hopefuls Liam Fraser and Harry Paton on the long-term injury list, having suffered a ruptured cruciate ligament during training. El Tanque’s Liga MX season, off to a blast with four goals in four games, thus, is at an abrupt end. We hope to see him back on the field soon.

🏆 Leagues Cup triumphs. There’ll be Canadian representation on three out of the four teams in the semi-finals of the controversial competition. Jacen Russell-Rowe’s conversion in spot-kicks helped send Columbus through to a date with Philadelphia. On the other side of the bracket, Kimani Stewart-Baynes and Colorado knocked off Club América in an upset on penalties, setting up a matchup against Thomas Hasal’s LAFC.

🇸🇦 Milan Borjan to Saudi Arabia? The weekend tabloids can often throw up some interesting rumours. The latest this week: Serbian outlet HotSport reporting that the free agent goalkeeper (and former CanMNT number one) has inked a deal with Al-Riyadh of the Saudi Pro League. The club finished 14th in the 18-team league last season, having gained promotion in 2023.

Follow Canucks Abroad on Twitter and Instagram.

Canucks at Home

🏡 Canucks at Home

🇧🇪 Kwasi Poku, Europe bound? Specifically, the Forge baller is wanted in Belgium by second division side RWD Molenbeek. Reportedly, Poku would sign a three-year contract and Forge will receive a transfer fee of $830,000 CAD. It will be the largest transfer fee in CPL history. Big moves, money moves. Everyone winning.

🤝 NSL staff hires. Alongside their brand launch this week (more on that below!), Ottawa Rapid announced that trio of key staff roles have been filled: Heidi Bloomfield as Chief Sporting Director, Kristina Kiss as Technical Director, and Stephanie Spruston as COO. NSL Montréal, yet to reveal their club colours, confirmed Sidney Ginchereau to the post of Director of Events and Community.

Follow Canucks at Home on Twitter and Instagram.

Other News

📰 In other news this week

👏 Welcome, Ottawa Rapid FC. Ottawa has officially announced the name their NSL club name: Ottawa Rapid FC. The owners of the club feel that the club name is connected with the city and the landscape of the Ottawa valley. The main colours of the club are blue and white with the peregrine falcon as the club crest.

🏔️ Whitecaps in the Women’s Champions Cup. It’s official, Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite REX defeated Salvadoran club Allianza FC 1-0 for a spot for the Champions Cup. The Caps’ only goal was scored by Emily Wong after converting a penalty. The first goal of the inaugural competition. Vancouver will now host Portland Thorns and San Diego Wave at BC Place. They will also travel to Mexico to play Club América and Panama to face Santa Fé.

🔵 CF Montreal signed some and released some. Last week, we asked if there was any room for Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty in the squad. Room has been made with Ruan and Ariel Lassiter being traded out of MTL. The Brazilian fullback has left MTL for FC Dallas after spending six months at the club. CFM has received $50k GAM with the potential of an additional $100k. Costa Rican international Lassiter arrived from Inter Miami last season in the Kamal Miller trade. CFM received $75k in GAM and potentially receiving another $75k next year. The departures of both players came as a surprise since both players are regular starters and have earned the trust of the fans. But with the influx of new and young talent, someone had to receive the axe. It’s business.

🔨 A midweek win for Forge. Forge and Halifax made up for lost time in the first of five matches — specifically, a match that was initially rescheduled back in May because of Forge’s home CanChamp date with Montréal. An early bath for HFX’s Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé after some choice words were seemingly directed straight at referee Michael Venne allowed Forge to ease their way through this one, picking up a thunderstrike from Alessandro Hojabrpour and insurance from Jordan Hamilton in a 2-0 win.

🐎 Cavalry continue their charge. After a sluggish start to the season, the Calgarians finally seem to be catching their stride, now unbeaten in their last five. Maël Henry would pull out his inner Thierry (Henry, no relation), finding the top-right corner for the opener. Josué Martinez would peg back with his first league goal for York, but Fraser Aird (and a late second-booking for Oswaldo León) would wrap up a 2-1 decision for Friday’s visitors at York Lions Stadium.

🦖 Atlético Ottawa? More like Set Piece FC. Not one, not two, but three set-piece goals were what Carlos González’s side found in the first 22 minutes at Starlight Stadium on Saturday. The cream of the crop? Ilias Iliadis adding his name to the CPL Olimpico/Bangers Only club, dinking one off the back post and past former Ottawa goalkeeper Sean Melvin. The host Tridents would try to hit back, but 3-0 to Ottawa was how this one would end.

🦁 Valour back in the hunt. Don’t look now, CPL fans, but Valour are up to sixth. An early Valour defensive lapse saw Massimo Ferrin put home Sean Rea’s first assist since his return to the league, on the latter’s former turf, no less. A Robin van Persie-esque own goal would put the Winnipeggers back even though, with Jordi Swibel’s seventh goal of the season coming at a prime moment to secure a 2-1 win at home. The result sees Valour leapfrog Pacific — and now, just three points short of the playoff line.

🔨 Make that a six-point week for Forge. Back in action four days on, Forge would roll into Langley, hoping to go back atop the CPL table. Jordan Hamilton and David Choinière gave the Hammers an early lead, capitalising on an under-hit back-pass. Elage Bah would put the three points in jeopardy with a quarter of an hour remaining. Matteo Schiavoni who hear his name called, however, and just four minutes after entering, a beautiful touch and finish from the CFMTL loanee in the 89th minute reclaimed all three points — and top spot — for the Hammers.

✅ Northern Picks

This week’s picks come from Jonathan Wilson (@jonawils). He’s a columnist for the Guardian and World Soccer, and the founder and editor of The Blizzard. He has written twelve books of football history, including Inverting the Pyramid, and a novel.

📺 What to watch

Croatia: Defining a Nation on Fifa+ is a thorough and evocative exploration of Croatia’s World Cup in 1998, featuring an extraordinarily moving interview with their coach, Ivica Osim filmed a couple of days before his death.

📚 What to read

The Blizzard is a quarterly magazine dedicated to football, packed with articles too detailed or too obscure for more mainstream media. The most recent issue, Fifty-Three, features pieces on Dinamo Tbilisi’s 1981 Cup-Winners’ Cup triumph, a team established by Kwame Nkrumah, the thriller writer Philip Kerr’s dabbles in football literature, Michel Platini leading France to Euros glory in 1984 and much more.

🎧 What to listen to

It Was What It Was. I’m plugging myself here, which may be against the spirit of the thing, but I’ve just launched a weekly football history podcast with Rob Draper. Available on Acast, Spotify, all the usual places.

📖 What to buy

Narcoball. Colombian football has been crying out for a book for years and now finally has one. I’ve just ordered it so no idea how good it is, but it’s hard to see how you could go wrong with the subject of Escobar, Valderrama, Maturana and Higuita.