Happy belated Canada Day; we hope your long weekend was as fun as ours here at the Canadian Premier League.
It feels like a while ago now, but matchweek 13 began last Friday night, where a national audience on TSN was treated to.. serious chaos on Vancouver Island. Pacific FC took a 2-0 lead on rivals Vancouver FC, only for VFC to fight back and equalize. Then Pacific scored again. Then Vancouver scored again, twice, and in the 91st minute had a 4-3 lead.
But in the end, Kadin Chung had the last laugh for Pacific; he fired goalward in the 93rd minute, and the ball came off the post and hit the back of Callum Irving's head, landing in the net as we finished with the CPL's first ever 4-4 draw.
Saturday featured Atlético Ottawa's second trip of the year to Calgary, and their second win at the home of the champions this season. Atleti made sure to keep pace atop the table with a very impressive away performance.
On Sunday, Forge FC hosted York United in a spirited 905 Derby clash. York took the lead twice there and came so close to their first derby win since 2023, but David Choinière managed to snatch a point for the Hammers in a 2-2 draw. That was, of course, the only match of the day in the Canadian soccer world, and there certainly wasn't any football played in Minneapolis on Sunday.
Finally, matchweek 13 wrapped up in Halifax, where the Wanderers brushed off a 1-0 halftime deficit and eventually found a breakthrough against Valour FC, winning 3-1 in front of a club-record crowd of 7,049 at the Wanderers Grounds.
Here's how the table looks now:
We mentioned last week that Ottawa didn't control their first-place destiny anymore thanks to Forge's game in hand and the gap shrinking to two points. Now though, Atleti are safer atop the table, with a four-point advantage over both Forge and Halifax. The Hammers do still have one fewer match played, but they'll make that up this weekend against Vancouver FC. Even if they win, they'll still be a point behind Atlético Ottawa.
York will be fairly content with getting a point out of Forge on the weekend, but with Cavalry losing they'll be a little annoyed they couldn't pick up all three and put more pressure on the Cavs. York now sit six points behind the Calgary side, who have a game in hand.
Meanwhile, the clubs at the bottom of the table remain relatively far back of the playoff line. Vancouver are a frustrated team at the moment despite taking a point off their derby rivals -- particularly since they led in stoppage time. They have now won just one of their last 20 CPL games.
Valour, likewise, are in trouble at the moment; after last week's 5-0 loss to Forge, they needed a big response and almost got one, but they couldn't hold onto their lead against Halifax. They're 0-1-2 this season when scoring the first goal.
The upcoming weekend is a quiet one in the CPL, with that Forge-Vancouver match the only one going on. That said, six CPL teams are in action next week in the second legs of the TELUS Canadian Championship quarter-finals. We have two all-CPL matchups on Tuesday night: York United vs. Atlético Ottawa, and Cavalry FC vs. Vancouver FC. Atleti have a 2-1 advantage in their tie, while Vancouver and Cavalry are tied 1-1.
On Wednesday night, it's a pair of CPL-versus-MLS clashes, starting with CF Montréal vs. Forge FC, where the Hamilton side have a 1-0 advantage. After that, Valour head to B.C. to play the Vancouver Whitecaps, hoping for another strong performance after a 2-2 draw in leg one.
Elsewhere in the Canadian soccer world, the women's national team is in action on Wednesday night, as they'll take on the United States at D.C.'s Audi Field in perhaps their biggest test yet under Casey Stoney.
Oh, and the Gold Cup is still going on, but we don't need to talk about that.
Awards Watch
Sam Salter is up to nine goals now, which is a remarkable figure to hit before the midway point of the season. He's got his eye on the single-season scoring record (14), because he's on pace for 19.
However, another goal for Brian Wright over the weekend plus two for Tiago Coimbra mean they're on seven and six goals, respectively. This race ain't over yet.
Let's check in on the goalkeeping battle, too: Nathan Ingham has posted four clean sheets in a row for Atlético Ottawa. He has been outstanding for the club, playing an important leadership role behind their very young defensive line. Also important in Ottawa: Diego Mejía feels like the current frontrunner for Coach of the Year. He has Atleti comfortably atop the table and winning statement games, like Saturday's in Calgary, while also proving his team's depth and diversity of abilities.
It's an impressive first half of the season for Ottawa. That said, Forge haven't lost yet, and they keep getting better, it seems. Bobby Smyrniotis will surely still be in the coaching conversation come October. He gets a chance to battle with Atlético in two weeks.
U-21 Minutes Update
It was a good week for U-21 minutes, with Cavalry and Pacific becoming the next two sides to cross the 2,000-minute mark and fulfill their quota for the year. Cavalry, in particular, has had some outstanding contributions from their youngsters recently, particularly Mihail Gherasimencov who was excellent at left-back against Ottawa despite the loss.
Every team is above 1,000 minutes now, so everybody's at least halfway there. Valour's Kelsey Egwu gave them another strong performance on Tuesday in Halifax, but he's up to 677 minutes now; as a loan player, he can only contribute another 323. Myles Morgan will likely get a few more opportunities up front in the coming weeks.
| Team | U-21 Minutes |
|---|---|
| Atlético Ottawa | 3,916 |
| Vancouver FC | 3,425 |
| Cavalry FC | 2,050 |
| Pacific FC | 2,044 |
| Halifax Wanderers FC | 1,501 |
| York United FC | 1,261 |
| Valour FC | 1,051 |
| Forge FC | 1,041 |
Coming up next…
Saturday, July 5
Forge FC vs. Vancouver FC — 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT
(Watch all games live on OneSoccer.)
Photo of the Week
It got a little heated in Halifax this week...
