AS IT STANDS: York on the rise, Halifax & Cavs deadlocked

Matchweek 11 in the Canadian Premier League was all about celebrating that we're one year out from the 2026 World Cup's arrival in Canada, but there's plenty of entertaining football here already.

Four great matches across the country showcased some of the best of the CPL's talent, as the stars were shining on both coasts.

Saturday's action began in the Maritimes, where Tiago Coimbra scored a fantastic early goal against Cavalry, only for Caniggia Elva to come into the game and score the equalizer in the second half as the Halifax Wanderers and Cavs settled for a 1-1 draw. That stalemate meant two of the CPL's strongest teams to start 2025 remained deadlocked on 18 points apiece.

Meanwhile on the west coast, Pacific FC scored first against York United thanks to a powerful Aly Ndom strike, but the Nine Stripes went on a second-half rampage. York scored three to turn the result around, and collect their first win after conceding first since July 27, 2024.

On Sunday, Forge needed some time to find the back of the net, but they were never too worried as they rolled to a 2-0 win at Vancouver FC.

Later that evening, Atlético Ottawa survived a subpar first half against Valour FC, scoring a penalty just before halftime then adding two more in a 3-0 win to remain out of reach atop the table.

Here's how the standings look after week 11.

The biggest movers are Forge, who jumped into sole possession of second place thanks to their win out west. They set a new CPL record in the process, going 10 games unbeaten to begin the season, which surpasses Atlético Ottawa's nine from last year.

That won't worry Ottawa too much though, because they're still four points clear at the top, as they have been for a while. They're still undefeated at TD Place this year, and continue to show signs of getting even better under Diego Mejía.

A team who are worried, however, is Pacific; they finally ended a goalless drought by scoring in the first half against York, but it all fell apart in the second frame and now the Tridents are winless in the last month. They're a frustrated bunch out on Vancouver Island, and it's not getting any easier with a trip to Cavalry on the schedule for next week.

Meanwhile, York United are a lot of fun to watch when they're operating at full tilt; their meeting with Atlético Ottawa next Sunday is one to circle on the calendar because it's always a treat when those sides play each other.

This will be another jam-packed week of Canadian soccer, because the Concacaf Gold Cup is now underway, with Canada taking on Honduras at Vancouver's BC Place on Tuesday night. We're also keeping an eye on CPLers Steffen Yeates and Andre Rampersad, both of whom were unused substitutes for Trinidad and Tobago in a 5-0 loss to the United States on Sunday. Meanwhile, Haiti lost 1-0 to Saudi Arabia, with Vancouver FC's Mikaël Cantave and former Forge defender Garven Metusala also not seeing action. Perhaps these teams should be giving that CPL talent a shot...

Anyway, it was quite a festive weekend in the CPL at the One Year Out celebrations, with 76 different nationalities and heritages represented across the league and 12 Canadian national team alumni on hand. The world is coming to Canada in a year, and we'll be ready to welcome it.

Awards Watch

We're gonna talk about Noah Abatneh here. The 20-year-old anchored the middle of Atlético Ottawa's young back three on Sunday, and he was immense with the ball. Abatneh made 108 successful passes with 96.4 per cent accuracy, showing incredible maturity and composure in defence for a player of his age. It's hard to pick an individual standout from Ottawa's backline considering they're pretty much all U-21 eligible, but Abatneh might be the best of the bunch and in line for a Best Canadian U-21 Player nomination.

The goalkeeping battle is still hard to gauge, and nobody is really running away with that Golden Glove candidacy yet. However, it's worth pointing out that Jassem Koleilat has been quietly very sturdy in goal for Forge. However, Nathan Ingham will have something to say about it; he's got two clean sheets in a row for Ottawa.

U-21 Minutes Update

Ottawa and Vancouver are way ahead of everyone else, but Cavalry, Pacific and Halifax are all making excellent progress to hit their 2,000-minute quota well ahead of schedule too. The Cavs got solid contributions again from starters Max Piepgrass and Jay Herdman on Saturday, with Mihail Gherasimencov doing well off the bench too. Likewise, Halifax's Tiago Coimbra started and scored for the Wanderers, and Adam Pearlman put in a man-of-the-match performance.

York United also got a goal from their U-21 contingent this week, as Luca Accettola found the back of the net at Pacific.

Meanwhile, Valour may have the fewest minutes here, but they're still not far behind, as Kelsey Egwu played the full 90 and Myles Morgan got a solid 30 minutes off the bench. The issue they'll soon run into, however, is when Egwu hits 1,000 minutes. Since he's on loan from Estonian side Narva Trans, he's only allowed to account for half of the club's 2,000. Look for Morgan to get more minutes down the stretch, and perhaps Erik Pop if the team can get him healthy.

Coming up next…

Saturday, June 21

Halifax Wanderers vs. Vancouver FC — 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT
Cavalry FC vs. Pacific FC — 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT

Sunday, June 22

York United vs. Atlético Ottawa — 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT
Valour FC vs. Forge FC — 4:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. PT

(Watch all games live on OneSoccer.)

Photo of the Week

So many different cultures and heritages on display across the CPL this weekend...