AS IT STANDS: Forge & Cavalry keep climbing, Atleti stay on top

Matchweek 10 gave us no draws in the Canadian Premier League, which means we got some movement in the league table.

Atlético Ottawa held onto their lead in first place thanks to a 1-0 win over Pacific FC on Saturday in Langford; Ballou Tabla's goal from the penalty spot was all they needed, and Atleti remain four points clear of the pack.

Sunday's double-header featured a strong showing from Forge, who rode a dazzling afternoon from 19-year-old Hoce Massunda to a 2-1 win over the Halifax Wanderers.

Later that day, Sergio Camargo scored a pair of goals for Cavalry — his first brace since 2019 — as they downed York United, also by a 2-1 scoreline, in front of 5,114 fans, which sets a new regular season record for the Cavs.

Speaking of attendance records, though, perhaps the biggest triumph of week 10 was in Winnipeg. Valour took on Vancouver FC in their school day match, and a club-record 11,390 were on hand to see the home team beat the Eagles 3-1. They fought back from a goal down and landed on top in a match where both sides finished with 10 men, thanks to matching red cards for both sides just before halftime.

After a quartet of three-point performances, here's how the standings look now:

Cavalry remain arguably the hottest team in the league, having won five of their last six league matches and going unbeaten since April 26. Forge, meanwhile, still haven't lost a game yet this year, and are still riding an undefeated run of nine games, which ties Atlético Ottawa's record from 2024 for matches unbeaten to start a season.

We have three teams level on 17 points, and the tiebreaker scenarios make it complicated to determine which of Cavalry, Halifax and Forge belongs on top, but the Cavs' recent triumph over Halifax puts them ahead, while Forge fall behind the other two due to their one fewer win.

It's a frustrating time out on Vancouver Island right now, because Pacific FC have not scored a goal in their last four matches. Saturday's defeat to Ottawa was their third loss at home already in 2025, and they once again find themselves with the fewest goals scored in the league; James Merriman and co. are desperate for solutions up front with the team's confidence dipping, but it feels like all they need is one breakout moment for the belief to return.

It was a busy week on the international stage too, and not just for the Canadian national teams. Halifax's Andre Rampersad and York's Steffen Yeates were part of the Trinidad and Tobago side that beat Saint Kitts and Nevis 6-2 in World Cup Qualifying on Friday, and now they'll look to book their ticket to the third round of qualifying against Costa Rica on Tuesday. They currently sit second in Group B, which would be enough for them to advance, and they have a three-point advantage over third-place Grenada; they just need to hold on to their goal differential lead.

Meanwhile, Gabriel Bitar and Lebanon take on Yemen on Tuesday in AFC Asian Cup qualifying, while Shamit Shome and Bangladesh play Singapore as they too look to qualify for the 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.

At the youth level, CPL trio of Shola Jimoh (York United), Sergei Kozlovskiy (Atlético Ottawa) and Kevin Podgorni (Vancouver FC) has been in Spain the past week with the Canadian U-17 team for several friendly matches. All three started in a 2-1 loss to Morocco (and Kozlovskiy scored), and were on the bench for a 4-1 defeat to Japan; Jimoh and Kozlovskiy both started against the United States as well, as Canada picked up a 2-2 draw then won a penalty shootout.

Also, major congratulations are in order to the Canadian women's U-20 team, who beat Mexico in a dramatic extra-time final to win the Concacaf Women's U-20 Championship. Annabelle Chukwu scored after 120 minutes had been played, seconds before a penalty shootout, to give Canada just their third ever title in this tournament (and first since 2008).

In Toronto, the men's national team is in the midst of the Canadian Shield, having beaten Ukraine 4-2 on Saturday with a battle against Côte d'Ivoire coming on Tuesday. These games are excellent preparation not only for the Concacaf Gold Cup (which kicks off next week), but also the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which begins a year from Wednesday.

Speaking of which, here at the CPL we're celebrating One Year Out all week. Keep an eye on our social channels for plenty of coverage as we celebrate the world coming to Canada, and if you're able to, make sure you head to one of the four upcoming games this weekend for a full international celebration of soccer in Langford, Langley, Ottawa and Halifax.

Before we get to that, though, two CPL teams are in action in the TELUS Canadian Championship. Atlético Ottawa host York United on Wednesday night in the first leg of their quarter-final tie at TD Place.

Awards Watch

Let's use this space to talk about Hoce Massunda, who has scored or assisted each of Forge's last four goals. He has only played 211 professional minutes and already looks like a great piece in Forge's attack. It'll be tough to keep up this level of play, and with the likes of Nana Ampomah, David Choinière and Tristan Borges all expected back soon he'll have to fight for minutes, but don't be surprised if Massunda ends up in some U-21 Player of the Year conversations.

Atlético Ottawa's backline continues to be incredibly young, although technically their average age went up this week since the trio of Tyr Duhaney-Walker (21), Loïc Cloutier (21) and Noah Abatneh (20) was missing 16-year-old Sergei Kozlovskiy. Still, not only could a few of them be competition for Massunda in the U-21 award category, but someone like Cloutier could be a serious candidate for Defender of the Year, considering how strong Ottawa's defence has looked with him playing every game.

Also, Sergio Camargo seems to suddenly be Cavalry's in-form star; Tobias Warschewski and Ali Musse grabbed much of the spotlight in May, but June has been all about Camargo so far. At 30 years old, he seems to be playing some of his best football for the Cavs, and has now scored three in his last two games.

U-21 Minutes Update

Forge got a major bump this week thanks to Massunda's lengthy shift in the starting lineup, while Cavalry also added significantly to their total thanks to starts for Max Piepgrass, Jay Herdman and Maël Henry. They added a whopping 316 to their ledger.

Valour have been jumped in the U-21 minutes table by York United, who required the services of Ivan Pavela and Luca Accettola in the starting XI, as well as development players Joshua Lopez and Anthony Umanzor off the bench.

Coming up next…

Saturday, June 14

Halifax Wanderers vs. Cavalry FC — 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT
Pacific FC vs. York United — 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT

Sunday, June 15

Vancouver FC vs. Forge FC — 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT
Atlético Ottawa vs. Valour FC — 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT

(Watch all games live on OneSoccer.)

Photo of the Week

Three huge points in front of a record crowd; what a day it was for Valour on Wednesday.