AS IT STANDS: Goalfests out west as Vancouver snatch 3rd place

It's been a while since our last As It Stands column, but as we head into the second half of the 2026 season, it's about time we catch up on what's been happening across the league.

Matchweek 15 may have been a formative one for the playoff race we're about to have, and it breathed some new life into the CPL Shield battle.

It started all the way back on Tuesday, when Cavalry (with Joseph Holliday in goal for the first time this season) beat FC Supra 2-1 in a makeup of a recently postponed contest.

Then, on to Friday night in Langford, where heartbreak hit Pacific FC once again. They took a first-half lead over FC Supra, but the points slipped away as both Josh Heard and Marco Bustos were sent off and Supra scored twice to win out west again.

The other B.C. club's fortunes were rather different; they scored three in the first half to beat Atlético Ottawa 3-1 and leapfrog the champions into third place.

Saturday was another masterclass from Cavalry, who put five goals past Inter Toronto (all from different scorers) for a 5-0 rout at ATCO Field. Frustrating times for Mauro Eustáquio's side, winless in their last eight.

Finally, the Halifax Wanderers put a stop to Forge's quest for a league-record winning streak, as they held the Hammers to a 0-0 draw in a somewhat toothless matinee in Nova Scotia.

Here's how things look now that all teams but one have passed the halfway mark:

Let's start at the top.

For a moment, Forge were threatening to pull away in the CPL Shield race. They had won six in a row, and Cavalry's stumbles against Halifax and Vancouver gave the Hammers more breathing room.

However, with Forge dropping points on Sunday and Cavalry thrashing Inter Toronto, the gap is back to two, though double-match week for the Cavs gives Forge a game in hand.

Further down, there's a similar story in the fight for third. Atlético Ottawa were starting to carve out a niche for themselves, but with Vancouver on such a tear, the Eagles have caught up.

Martin Nash's side has won four league games in a row, and they look tremendous. Plenty of season left, of course, but is this finally the year that playoff soccer comes to Langley?

Ottawa still hold that final playoff spot, but how secure is that? They've got a four-point cushion over both Supra and Halifax, but they need to improve their form; one win in their last four makes their position unstable.

Inter Toronto are worth keeping an eye on, although their playoff hopes seem to be shrinking every week.

It's been over two months since they won a game; they have a record of 0-2-6 since May 17. In that stretch, Toronto have conceded three or more goals six times.

This is a club going through a very poor stretch, but there is one silver lining: despite it all, they're eight points out of a playoff spot with two games in hand. If Toronto were to turn it around quickly, they could be right back in the mix.

They essentially have to beat Pacific this Saturday; after that, it's three straight matches against playoff rivals: home against Halifax and Supra, then away at Atlético Ottawa. Mauro Eustáquio will hope that by the time they play in the capital, they're within touching distance of Atleti.

Before next weekend's CPL action begins, though, we'll have a different Canadian soccer story to watch.

Canada take on Jamaica in the Concacaf U-20 Championship quarterfinals on Wednesday, as Jesse Marsch and four CPL youngsters aim to secure qualification for the 2027 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Canada hasn't been at that tournament since they hosted it in 2007; Sergei Kozlovskiy, Emrick Fotsing, Marsel Bibishkov and Zayne Bruno will have massive roles to play in a big moment for this national team program.

Awards Watch

As August begins, keep an eye out for monthly awards beginning this week.

At the midway point of the season, candidates are emerging for each end-of-year honour. We did a full breakdown of each award race on the last CPL Newsroom show, so go check that out.

The Coach of the Year battle is looking like a three-horse race, if Vancouver FC can keep up this form. If the season ended today, Martin Nash would probably be the favourite for the award, but with Forge and Cavalry still up at the top, we can never count out Bobby Smyrniotis and Tommy Wheeldon Jr.

As for Player of the Year, the field is pretty wide. Tobias Warschewski, Sean Rea, and Isaiah Johnston are all options, as are either of Forge's centre-backs Dan Nimick and Antoine Batisse. There's surely a name or two in Vancouver that could be in the conversation; Mohamed Amissi, perhaps?

Pretty much every award still feels up for grabs with half a season to play.

U-21 Minutes Update

Having said that, is there a U-21 player that's been more dominant than Adam Pearlman? He opened the scoring for Cavalry on Saturday. However, as a loan player he has already played 1,000 minutes, so the Cavs need to make up the rest with their other youngsters.

Ottawa are closest to hitting the 2,000-minute plateau, and should do so within the next few weeks. They'd be fastest to the mark for a second straight season.

Every team is keeping the pace well; everybody but Inter Toronto is ahead of schedule, and even they have hit 43 per cent of their 2,000 with 46 per cent of games played, which puts them right on track.

Coming up next…

Friday, Aug. 7

Forge FC vs. Vancouver FC
7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT (OneSoccer, CBC Gem)

Saturday, Aug. 8

Atlético Ottawa vs. Halifax Wanderers
1 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT (OneSoccer, TSN)

Pacific FC vs. Inter Toronto
5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT (OneSoccer)

FC Supra du Québec vs. Cavalry FC
8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT (OneSoccer, RDS Direct)

Photo of the Week

Another great day on Van Isle for FC Supra...

(Photo by Justin Morash)