Some early-season trends continued to develop in the Canadian Premier League's fourth matchweek, with a few more late goals, some massive away performances, and points split in a pair of derby matches.
Friday night saw the CPL's first stop in Winnipeg for 2025, but it was the Halifax Wanderers who spoiled Valour FC's home opener party. Substitutes Vitor Dias and Tiago Coimbra combined beautifully in the 90th minute to break a scoreless deadlock and hand the visitors a 1-0 away win.
Next up was a clash between Cavalry and Atlético Ottawa, shown nationwide on TSN. It would be another momentous afternoon for Diego Mejía's Rojiblancos, as a disastrous second half for the reigning champions led Ottawa to a 3-1 win over 10-man Cavalry. Later on Saturday, Vancouver FC took the lead at home against Pacific FC, but a Kunle Dada-Luke red card gave the Tridents a lifeline as the Salish Sea Derby finished 1-1 in Langley.
Finally, Matchweek 4 wrapped up in Toronto where a back-and-forth first half meant York United and Forge FC both had a brief lead, only to go into halftime at 2-2 -- and that's how the score would remain, with the sides unable to solve one another in the final 45.
So, for a second straight week, it's Atlético Ottawa atop the table, with the Wanderers in close pursuit:
Four weeks in, three teams are still undefeated, with Halifax perhaps the biggest surprise in there given they've played just one of their four games at home. After picking up just six points on the road in all of 2024, the Wanderers already have seven from their first three away matches of the year.
Meanwhile, Vancouver, Cavalry and Valour are all still looking for their first win of the season; the reigning champs Cavalry had a catastrophic afternoon against Ottawa, but last year they won just one of their first eight games, and still came out the other end as champions. The year before that, they didn't win a match until Matchweek 6, and they won the regular season title. However, it'll still annoy them that the club has yet to win a match in April...
The coming week is a big one in Canadian soccer, with the TELUS Canadian Championship kicking off on Tuesday night.
Atlético Ottawa and Cavalry FC both play tournament debutants from League1 Canada, as Ottawa host Ontario champions Scrosoppi FC while Edmonton Scottish will be the first ever League1 Alberta representatives as they contest a Battle of Alberta against the Cavs.
Elsewhere on the OneSoccer airwaves, you're going to want two screens on Wednesday night, with Toronto FC vs. CF Montréal in a CanChamp first round clash, as well as the Vancouver Whitecaps taking on Inter Miami in Leg 2 of their Concacaf Champions Cup semi-final.
Awards Watch
No spoilers here, but the CPL's first monthly awards (for player, manager, and goalkeeper of the month in April) should be announced shortly, which gives us an early clue to some names that might be getting attention come November.
No front-runners have emerged yet in the Defender of the Year category; in fact, through four weeks, not a single defender has appeared more than once in the Gatorade Team of the Week. There's a wealth of talent in the CPL, but surely somebody will rise to the top soon.
We also have perhaps the best-ever class of U-21 Canadian players, which is going to make that award very competitive this year. Gabriel Antinoro was outstanding for Atlético Ottawa on the weekend in a hybrid wing-back role, and although he didn't get credit for the early tally -- marked an own goal -- the 21-year-old was imperative to just about everything Atleti did in that game. Another name needing a shoutout is Adam Pearlman, who has played every minute for Halifax so far. He's on loan from Toronto FC, but has fit right into the Wanderers' system in their back three.
U-21 Minutes Update
Speaking of U-21 players, a few teams are finding it easy to rack up the minutes this year. Vancouver FC might well pass the 2,000 mark by the end of May, and Ottawa aren't far behind. Atleti used four different U-21 players in their win over Cavalry, including 16-year-old Sergei Kozlovskiy who started in the back three on the side of Ali Musse and Fraser Aird, one of the CPL's toughest assignments.
Cavalry finally got Maël Henry back in the starting XI, which will be a major boost for them going forward.
| Team | U-21 Minutes |
|---|---|
| Vancouver FC | 1,235 |
| Atlético Ottawa | 974 |
| Pacific FC | 810 |
| Halifax Wanderers | 426 |
| Cavalry FC | 408 |
| York United | 375 |
| Forge FC | 303 |
| Valour FC | 51 |
Coming up next…
Friday, May 2
York United vs. Cavalry FC — 8 p.m. ET/6 p.m. MT
Saturday, May 3
Atlético Ottawa vs. Pacific FC — 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT
Halifax Wanderers vs. Forge FC — 5 p.m. AT/4 p.m. ET (Live on TSN)
Valour FC vs. Vancouver FC — 6 p.m. CT/4 p.m. PT
(Watch all games live on OneSoccer, and this week catch the Halifax vs. Forge match on TSN.)
Photo of the Week
Your 2025 Golden Boot leader, ladies and gentlemen:
