AS IT STANDS: One more week to decide the Shield & final playoff spot

Hello, Canada. Welcome to the most exciting week in Canadian Premier League history.

The CPL Shield and the final spot in the 2026 CPL Playoffs are both still undecided, with just one regular season game left.

All eight clubs will play at the same time on Sunday, which means there's no scoreboard watching. Each of Cavalry FC, Forge FC, Vancouver FC and FC Supra du Québec have to treat it as must-win territory.

This past weekend, all four of those teams won, giving us no further clarity in either race.

On Friday night, Supra closed out their home schedule with a 3-0 win over Inter Toronto, looking very much like a team that would like to play at Stade Boréale one more time this year. The win briefly put the Quebecois side up into fourth place, but only for a couple of hours.

Later that evening, Vancouver recovered their position by beating the Halifax Wanderers 2-1. That win was trickier, as the Wanderers did not go down quietly; they equalized shortly before halftime, meaning the Eagles needed Matteo Campagna's heroics once again.

For the second week in a row, Campagna scored a looping header with his back to goal, snatching an absolutely vital result for VFC.

Saturday was all about the Shield race, beginning with Forge's triumph in Ottawa. Anthony Aromatario and Levonte Johnson collected the goals in a solid 2-1 win for the Hammers, who ensured they'd stay, at worst, tied with Cavalry on points.

The Cavs had to get through a roller coaster of a contest with Pacific, who were very much up for the challenge in Calgary. The Tridents scored first, then conceded two in short order, then scored again, then conceded again... It was a chaotic first half.

All that really matters, however, is it ended 4-2 for Cavalry, who remain on top of the table on goal differential.

Here's how that looks right now:

Cavalry sit on top of the table because of their superior goal difference. They're still tied with Forge on points, wins, and head-to-head record, so if they and Forge get the same result this weekend, they just need to not give up a seven-goal advantage.

A win for the Cavs against Vancouver FC would, in effect, clinch them the Shield, unless Forge win by at least eight goals in Victoria. Otherwise, any slip-up by Cavalry would give Forge the opportunity to claim the trophy — and a coveted Concacaf Champions Cup spot — with a win.

Also, the Cavs made some history on Saturday; their 55th goal of the season (the second of that match) officially broke the record for goals by one team in a season, beating Atlético Ottawa's 54 from last year. They're up to 57 now, and could add to the total this week.

Vancouver will be aiming to prevent that, however.

The playoff race is a little simpler: Vancouver are in the postseason if they win, or FC Supra drop any points.

In a sense, the latter could be more likely — that game in Calgary is a daunting prospect for VFC, who have never won at ATCO Field and know they'll be playing a revved-up side that also needs a result.

Although the Halifax Wanderers are a tricky opponent, as they've proven in recent weeks (including against Supra), they're now eliminated from playoff contention. They'll undoubtedly be up for the match on Sunday, which is music to Martin Nash's ears, but Supra definitely feel like they can get a result there.

Three out of four of this weekend's games have playoff implications for at least one of the teams; it's pretty remarkable that both the Shield and playoff race have come down to the final day of the season.

Before we even get to those four matches on Sunday, however, there's business to be taken care of in the TELUS Canadian Championship.

Forge go to Stade Saputo to play CF Montréal for a sixth consecutive year, but the Voyageurs Cup is on the line this time.

The CanChamp Final is Wednesday night — which will make Forge the only side going into the weekend on short rest, but they won't complain about that.

The Hammers have perhaps the best chance they've ever had to finally capture the trophy that has eluded them for eight years. They would be the first Canadian Premier League team ever to win the Canadian Championship, which is an accolade Bobby Smyrniotis and co. would be thrilled to claim.

Plus, winning the CanChamp comes with a Concacaf spot; Cavalry might in fact prefer if Forge win on Wednesday, because they might not be quite as desperate to win the Shield for that reason — although Forge would also love to win two trophies in a week.

The storylines are incredibly straightforward at this point; this is the week where a lot will finally be decided.

Next time I write this column, we'll know the full playoff bracket.

Awards Watch

This is the final week for players to make a case in the awards conversation, because voting ballots will go out shortly after the end of the regular season.

A lot of races still feel tight; Nathan Ingham and Dimitry Bertaud still seem locked into the Golden Glove nominations, but will Bertaud's case be hurt by his absence on international duty the past month? It's also tough to pick who might be the third nominee for that one — Callum Irving? Joakim Milli?

Don't forget that there will be five nominees for Player of the Year and Canadian U-21 Player of the Year (every other award has three).

One other thing to consider: Who's going to be the third Coach of the Year nominee? Tommy Wheeldon Jr. and Bobby Smyrniotis are likely in there, as usual, but who's the other? If Vancouver make the playoffs, the obvious choice would be Martin Nash, but if not, then it's trickier. Gustavo Leal would make the most sense, especially since Kyt Selaidopoulos has only been at Supra for about a month.

U-21 Minutes Update

We can officially ring the "everybody hit 2,000 minutes" bell!

Cavalry got the 94 they needed thanks to Niko Myroniuk's full-game shift plus a few minutes from James McGlinchey.

The best U-21 story of the week, though, was Mattias Vales at Pacific. The 18-year-old was outstanding in a difficult role against Cavalry, and he scored his first professional goal just nine minutes into the game — a great finish through Nathan Ingham's legs.

Coming up next…

Note: Television broadcasters for each match will be confirmed later this week

Sunday, Oct. 26

Forge FC vs. Pacific FC
4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT (OneSoccer)

Cavalry FC vs. Vancouver FC
4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT (OneSoccer)

Inter Toronto vs. Atlético Ottawa
4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT (OneSoccer)

Halifax Wanderers vs. FC Supra du Québec
4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT (OneSoccer)

Photo of the Week

There was plenty of passion on display at Stade Boréale under the Friday night lights.

(Photo by Audrey Magny)