Jesse Marsch knows all about getting a team ready for a major tournament in a short amount of time. When he took over as head coach of the Canadian Men’s National Team (CanMNT), he was at the helm for just two friendlies before taking his squad to the 2024 Copa América.
In the first friendly, against the Netherlands in Rotterdam, he tried a centre-back pairing that had never played together before: Derek Cornelius and Moïse Bombito. The duo played fairly well, but Canada lost 4–0. In the second friendly, against France in Bordeaux, Cornelius and Bombito shone in a scoreless draw that shocked the 40,835 spectators expecting a triumphant send-off for Les Bleus on the eve of the 2024 Euro.
Cornelius and Bombito had become Marsch’s locked-in centre-backs, and they went on to star in a Cinderella run to the semifinals of the Copa América.
Now, less than two months before Canada co-hosts the World Cup, Cornelius and Bombito have not played together for over a year. They are two of six talented Canadian centre-backs who have dealt with injuries at some point in 2026, the others being Alfie Jones, Joel Waterman, Luc de Fougerolles, and Ralph Priso. Unfortunately, Priso’s hamstring strain in Canada’s recent match against Tunisia has likely ruled him out of the World Cup.
Marsch finds himself in a similar position to when he first joined the CanMNT: He has just two friendlies and then a major tournament, the World Cup. In the June friendlies against Uzbekistan and Ireland, he will look to either revive the Cornelius–Bombito duo or establish a new centre-back pairing.
Here is a look at the four centre-backs competing to be in Marsch’s starting eleven in June.
- Moïse Bombito
If Jonathan David is the CanMNT’s most important offensive player at the World Cup, then Bombito is their most important defensive player. Marsch has described centre-back as the most difficult position in his tactical system, and Bombito is Canada’s only centre-back with the size, skill, power, and, most importantly, speed needed to make playing this position in Marsch’s Red Bull style seem effortless.
Bombito turned heads with an amazing 37.27-kilometre-per-hour defensive run for the Colorado Rapids in April 2024. The following month, he helped secure Canada’s clean sheet against France, and he went on to sign a contract with OGC Nice in Ligue 1 that summer.
He was expected to be back from his tibia fracture for the March 2026 friendlies against Iceland and Tunisia, but his recovery has undergone complications. Now, Canada Soccer has sent a physiotherapist to Nice to help out with the 26-year-old’s vital return to full fitness.
- Derek Cornelius
The same month that Bombito signed with Nice, Cornelius signed with Ligue 1’s Olympique de Marseille. With left-back Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich and right-back Alistair Johnston at Celtic FC, Canada suddenly had a starting backline of players all at major European clubs.
Cornelius was then loaned to Rangers FC in September 2025. The move was not ideal, but he was still at a major club, the archrivals of Johnston’s Celtic.
Cornelius’s Canadian stock seemed to be rising ahead of his Rangers debut. He started in the CanMNT’s impressive clean sheets in away matches against Romania and Wales, and it was his left foot that gave Canada the 1–0 win in Wales with a superb, Messi-like free kick. His momentum, however, was broken by a muscle tear sustained in November 2025.
Cornelius recently returned to full fitness, but Rangers coach Danny Röhl has no plans to play him, and the Scottish club does not plan to purchase him from Marseille.
As a southpaw, Cornelius pairs well with the right-footed Bombito, and the two have experience battling together against the attacking units of the Netherlands, France, Argentina, Mexico, and the United States. However, if the 28-year-old Cornelius does not see match time before June, he could get bumped from Marsch’s starting lineup by Alfie Jones or Luc de Fougerolles.
- Alfie Jones
As a starter for Middlesbrough in the EFL Championship, Jones is among the CanMNT defenders playing at the highest level. Although the Championship is England’s second tier, it is highly competitive.
Moreover, Jones could find himself in the world’s best league, the English Premier League, next season. Middlesbrough are currently fifth in the Championship table and seeking promotion.
While Jones, a native of South West England, was teamed up with Canada’s Liam Millar at Hull City last year, he told Millar he had an Alberta-born grandmother. Next thing you know, Jones had spoken with Marsch and, at 28 years old, was getting his Canadian citizenship for the November 2025 friendlies.
A bureaucratic delay meant Jones could not play against Ecuador. As a starter in the subsequent match, against Venezuela, he put in a rugged, no-nonsense shift in a 2–0 win and showed he is more than good enough to start for the CanMNT. Soon after, however, an ankle injury and surgery sidelined Jones, keeping his Canada caps down to just one.
Now, Jones’s return to play is imminent. Although he is right-footed and lacks experience with the CanMNT, a run of good Championship performances in the coming weeks could tempt Marsch to slot in Jones as Bombito’s partner in June.
- Luc de Fougerolles
Another CanMNT player who could reach the English Premier League is Luc de Fougerolles. The 20-year-old, right-footed defender belongs to Fulham, having grown up in the Fulham academy, but is currently on loan at Dender in the Belgian Pro League.
De Fougerolles was recently out for a partially torn ankle ligament but has returned to competitive play.
Although not fit to play for Canada in March, he joined the camp in Toronto and received the trophy for Canada Soccer’s 2025 Young Player of the Year before the 2–2 draw with Iceland. In his eleven CanMNT appearances, he has shown incredible skill on the ball, smooth passing, and an ability to deliver crunching tackles.
Experience is both a pro and a con for de Fougerolles in his hopes to make Marsch’s starting lineup. He has been a member of the Canadian squad much longer than Jones, but he is also eight years younger than the Middlesbrough man and, therefore, has less experience in his overall career.
Like goalkeepers, centre-backs often peak at a later age than other footballers because their position requires smarts, calmness, and maturity. De Fougerolles, still very young, sometimes appears to lack composure, a quality that will be crucial under the bright lights of the World Cup.
Other Options
Joel Waterman (Chicago Fire), Kamal Miller (Portland Timbers), and Jamie Knight-Lebel (Swindon Town) are solid Canadian centre-backs. But if the CanMNT can get through their injury issues, Marsch is unlikely to rely on any of these players as starters in June.
If Priso recovers quickly from his hamstring injury, he deserves to be placed above Waterman, Miller, and Knight-Lebel in the pecking order because of his superior athleticism. However, he is also an unlikely starter.