CANADA CALLS AGAIN
Rapids defender Moïse Bombito has been named to the Canada Men’s National Team roster ahead of the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup, which kicked off on June 16. The call up comes after the Montreal native was named to Canada’s Nations League Finals roster last week.
Bombito, 23, is in his first season with the Rapids after being selected third overall by the club in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft from the University of New Hampshire. He made his MLS debut on May 13 and has gone on to make five appearances for the Rapids, recording 211 minutes and two starts since.
Canada kicks off their 2023 Gold Cup run on June 27 against the winner of the preliminary match between Guadeloupe and Guyana. They’ll then face Guatemala and Cuba for their remaining Group D matches on July 1 and July 4, respectively.
LOOKING FOR GOLD
Rapids midfielder Bryan Acosta has been named to the Honduras Men’s National Team roster ahead 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup. Honduras will start their tournament run on June 25 against Mexico before taking on Qatar on June 29 and Haiti on July 2 in Group D.
Acosta, 29, is in his second season with the Rapids after joining the Rapids as a free agent when he was selected by the club in the 2021 MLS Re-Entry Draft. He made his Rapids debut on February 26, 2022, and has gone on to make 37 appearances (32 starts) for the Rapids, delivering four assists across 2,750 minutes.
The La Ceiba, Honduras, native has been a stalwart for his home country’s national team. Acosta made his international debut during Honduras’ 2-1 victory over Venezuela on March 6, 2014, in a friendly. Since then, Acosta has made a total of 58 appearances for his national team, scoring a pair of goals and delivering one assist.
A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
Rapids forward Diego Rubio scored his first MLS goal against Vancouver Whitecaps FC in a 1-1 draw on April 27, 2016, while playing for Sporting Kansas City.
Midfielder Danny Leyva made his first MLS start against Vancouver on June 29, 2019, while with Seattle Sounders FC. Leyva also recorded his first assist in MLS against Whitecaps FC, on June 14, 2022, on Alex Roldan’s 89th minute goal in a 4-0 Sounders FC victory. Lastly, Leyva made his Rapids debut this season when he substituted into the match in the 89th minute against Vancouver on April 29, 2023.
CLUB CONNECTIONS
- Rapids goalkeeper Marko Ilić and Whitecaps defender Ranko Veselinović were both born in Novi Sad, Serbia, and were teammates at Vojvodina from 2015-2018. Both have also been teammates at the international level with Serbia’s U-17 (2015), U-19 (2017) and U-21 (2019) sides, as well as been capped at the senior level.
- Whitecaps FC defender Karifa Yao and Rapids defender Moïse Bombito were both born in Montreal, Canada.
- Rapids homegrown defender Sebastian Anderson and Whitecaps FC midfielder Sebastian Berhalter were teammates in 2018 with the U.S. U-17 youth national team.
- Whitecaps FC defender Ali Ahmed and Rapids midfielder Ralph Priso were both born in Toronto, Canada.
- Rapids head coach Robin Fraser and Whitecaps FC defender Javain Brown were both born in Kingston, Jamaica.
- Whitecaps FC midfielder Ryan Gauld and Rapids midfielder Sam Nicholson both represented Scotland at the U-19 level (2013-2014) and U-21 level (2015-2016).
- Whitecaps FC assistant coach Ricardo Clark was teammates with Rapids defenders Lalas Abubakar (2018-2019) and Aboubacar Keita (2019) with Columbus Crew.
MILESTONES TRACKER
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- F Diego Rubio is one goal away from tying John Spencer for fourth-most goals in club history (37).
- Rubio is one assist away from tying Dillon Powers for sixth-most in club history (26).
- Rubio is one game-winning assist away from tying Ross Paule for the third most in club history (9).
- Rubio is 69 minutes away from recording 10,000 minutes in MLS.
- F Michael Barrios is one start away from collecting his 50th start as a member of the Rapids.
- M Bryan Acosta is just four appearances away from collecting his 100th appearance in MLS.
- M/F Sam Nicholson is two appearances away from collecting his 100th MLS appearance.
- GK William Yarbrough is four appearances away from collecting his 100th as a member of the Rapids. The two-time Liga MX champion would become just the fourth goalkeeper in club history to reach that feat.
- D Anthony Markanich is 10 minutes away from recording 500 minutes with the Rapids. Markanich was drafted by the Rapids with the 26th overall pick by Colorado in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft.
