It's Tuesday, so we're a little late this week, but we hope you had a great Victoria Day, Canada!
Week 7 in the Canadian Premier League had a little bit of everything: roaring home victories, gritty triumphs on the road, a weather delay and a new CPL attendance record, among plenty of other memorable moments.
It began all the way back on Tuesday morning, when Forge FC packed a CPL-record 17,971 fans into Hamilton Stadium for their School Day Match against Atlético Ottawa. Those fans -- most of them children from 150 schools in the surrounding area -- were treated to an entertaining clash, with the home side striking back from a goal down twice to take a 2-2 draw.
The weekend began in Winnipeg, where on Friday night Valour finally picked up their first win of the campaign. Kelsey Egwu, after a frustrating game in Ottawa the week before, played hero this time and scored the winner in the 84th minute to finally get Valour on the board with a comeback 2-1 win over York United.
On Saturday, Cavalry hosted Pacific in a game that started well for the hosts and kept getting better. Mihail Gherasimencov found the top corner within the first 10 minutes, and then Cavalry buried back-to-back penalties (taken by Tobi Warschewski and Ali Musse) to put the game out of reach. A last-second Nicolas Wähling free kick goal was the Cavs' icing on the cake and it ended 4-0 at ATCO Field.
The Halifax Wanderers continued their outstanding road form later that evening in Vancouver. It was a stormy night on the Lower Mainland, which meant the two sides were sent to the dressing rooms briefly in the second half. The Wanderers used the break to their advantage though, and they returned to the pitch with an extra burst of energy to score twice and take the game 2-0.
After the latest four contests, here's how things stand:
Two teams remain undefeated, but in fairly different spots in the table. Ottawa's 5-2-0 record has them three points clear in first place at the quarter mark of the season. Forge, meanwhile, are right in the thick of the fight with 10 points, although they've got a game in hand on Atleti and Halifax.
There's quite a scrap underway among the sides near the bottom, but there's so many games left to play that nobody is really watching the standings just yet.
Before we get to matchweek 8 in the CPL, there's a lot to come in the TELUS Canadian Championship quarter-finals this week.
Tuesday night features a pair of CPL versus MLS matchups, including a first for the city of Winnipeg. Valour host the Vancouver Whitecaps, looking to test themselves against arguably the best team in Concacaf right now. Meanwhile, Forge meet CF Montréal once again, with designs on beating them for a second straight year.
On Wednesday, Vancouver FC will host Cavalry FC in leg one of that quarter-final. It'll be the first time VFC have hosted a CanChamp match at home. After the Cavs eliminated Vancouver last year in a heated affair, the Eagles would love a little revenge.
Awards Watch
Sam Salter now sits alone atop the Golden Boot race, after marking his sixth of the regular season in last Tuesday's game against Forge. His teammate, David Rodríguez, has been the front-runner for Player of the Year all season, but his red card in that same Tuesday match means he'll miss the upcoming trip to Halifax... so, we won't see the April Player of the Month again until May 30 at the earliest.
So, perhaps there's an opening now for somebody else to start grabbing the spotlight. Ali Musse has certainly started to do so, with another outstanding performance from him against Pacific on Saturday.
We'll also take this opportunity to continue heaping praise on Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, who has made a tremendous impact on the defensive grit of the Halifax Wanderers. He helped steer them to another clean sheet on the road on Saturday.
U-21 Minutes Update
Atlético Ottawa are now all but certain to be the first team to cross the 2,000-minute threshold. Since Amer Didić's injury, their back three will continue to be manned almost exclusively by U-21 players like Noah Abatneh, Loïc Cloutier and Sergei Kozlovskiy.
Meanwhile, there's some good news for Valour on the U-21 front, with Kelsey Egwu now scoring in back-to-back games for them. Phil Dos Santos is turning to the youngster more regularly, which will help Valour get to their total -- though not all the way there, since a loan player like Egwu can only account for 1,000 of the team's quota.
| Team | U-21 Minutes |
|---|---|
| Atlético Ottawa | 1,981 |
| Vancouver FC | 1,778 |
| Pacific FC | 1,125 |
| Cavalry FC | 967 |
| Halifax Wanderers | 781 |
| York United | 480 |
| Valour FC | 445 |
| Forge FC | 445 |
Coming up next…
Saturday, May 24
Halifax Wanderers vs. Atlético Ottawa — 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT
Pacific FC vs. Forge FC — 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT
Sunday, May 25
York United vs. Vancouver FC — 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT
Cavalry FC vs. Valour FC — 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT
(Watch all games live on OneSoccer, and this week catch the Halifax vs. Ottawa match on TSN.)
Photo of the Week
There's something quite beautiful about a full stadium. The sights in Hamilton last Tuesday were pretty special.
