Atlético Ottawa find themselves all alone atop the Canadian Premier League table this week, after a win for themselves and a favourable result elsewhere, but the three unbeaten teams remain in close competition after matchweek five.
The action began Friday in Toronto, where Cavalry FC claimed their first win of the 2025 CPL season by beating York United 2-1. Although Julian Altobelli's goal before halftime cancelled out Tobias Warschewski's, Fraser Aird came off the bench to win it in the second half for the Cavs.
Saturday's action began with a lively first half from Pacific FC, who took a lead into halftime at TD Place -- only for Atleti to punch right back after the break, and go on to win it comfortably 3-1 with some outrageous goals from Kevin Dos Santos and David Rodríguez.
In Nova Scotia, Dan Nimick's return to the Wanderers Grounds wasn't quite the slugfest we'd all hoped, but Halifax and Forge battled to a 0-0 draw where it was the defenders who stole the show.
Finally, Vancouver FC claimed their first victory of the year, as they sped past Valour FC in Winnipeg. A goal and an assist in the first half for Alejandro Díaz helped the Eagles soar on a frustrating night for Valour, who saw both Kris Twardek and Jevontae Layne sent off as they finished the match with nine men -- and still just one point in 2025.
Here's how the standings look after five weeks:
We've gotten this far in and haven't yet mentioned the most important part of the weekend: Atlético Ottawa's second annual Wiener Dog Race. Check it out. It ruled. (Congratulations to star hound Blazin' Bricks.)
That said, it's not like we've needed much more than the football itself to entertain us this year. Goals are up so far this year -- we're averaging 2.84 goals per game at the moment, up from 2.54 last season, and Saturday's draw in Halifax was our first scoreless draw of the year, and only the third game with fewer than two goals in total.
Keep an eye out this week as we wrap up the now-past month of April by handing out some awards. The best player, manager and goalkeeper of the month will all be honoured this week, and you can have a say in the TELUS Goal of the Month -- keep an eye on @cplsoccer on social media.
Finally, round one of the Canadian Championship continues on Tuesday and Wednesday; we had some entertaining opening acts a week ago, but now we've got a couple huge games as the path to the Voyageurs' Cup starts to become clearer.
Forge and Halifax would both love a crack at CF Montréal in the quarter-finals, and that's what on the line in their matchup on Wednesday.
Awards Watch
We'll stop saying Julian Altobelli is leading the Golden Boot race when he stops scoring. The York United striker now has five goals in five games to continue leading the league.
Meanwhile, look no further than Halifax's Thomas Meilleur-Giguère for a potential Defender of the Year candidate. He was outstanding in a clean-sheet draw with Forge, making eight clearances -- plus a courageous goal-saving block on Brian Wright.
Also, Diego Mejía is already making a strong case for consideration in the coaching category; his halftime inversion of Kevin Dos Santos and Gabriel Antinoro made a huge difference in Atlético Ottawa's comeback win over Pacific. In just five games he's turned Atleti into an attacking juggernaut and perhaps the most exciting team in the league. However, Patrice Gheisar has also done some great things in Halifax; he's turned them from the joint-worst defensive team in the league in 2024 into a side that has conceded. just four goals in five games so far.
U-21 Minutes Update
Vancouver stay way out in front after starting three U-21 players this weekend. What's perhaps even more impressive for them is that the average age of the players making up their U-21 minutes is just 19.6.
On this front, Valour had a decent weekend, with Myles Morgan getting the start and both Kelsey Egwu and Erik Pop making appearances off the bench. They more than tripled their total from the previous week and now find themselves at a much more reasonable 186 minutes through five games.
Meanwhile, Ottawa's U-21 players keep playing massive roles in their success. Sergei Kozlovskiy and Loïc Cloutier once again started in the back three, while Gabriel Antinoro scored the winning goal from the right wingback position. The future is bright in the capital!
| Team | U-21 Minutes |
|---|---|
| Vancouver FC | 1,519 |
| Atlético Ottawa | 1,252 |
| Pacific FC | 899 |
| Halifax Wanderers | 580 |
| Cavalry FC | 550 |
| York United | 437 |
| Forge FC | 332 |
| Valour FC | 186 |
Coming up next…
Tuesday, May 6 (TELUS Canadian Championship)
York United vs. FC Laval — 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT
Pacific FC vs. Vancouver FC — 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT
Wednesday, May 7 (TELUS Canadian Championship)
Forge FC vs. Halifax Wanderers — 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT
Valour FC vs. TSS Rovers — 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT
Saturday, May 10
Atlético Ottawa vs. Valour FC — 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT
Halifax Wanderers vs. Cavalry FC — 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT (Live on TSN)
Pacific FC vs. York United — 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT
(Watch all games live on OneSoccer, and this week catch the Halifax vs. Cavalry match on TSN.)
Photo of the Week
York may have lost the game, but they won the photography contest. Shoutout to Denys Rudenko for capturing the sunset at York Lions Stadium like this.
