Well, that was kind of a whacky weekend in the Canadian Premier League to close out May.
Matchweek 8 kicked off in Laval on Friday in an absolute downpour — seriously, that game looked wet. Things were going okay between FC Supra and Inter Toronto, but around the 20th minute the skies opened. They soldiered on for a bit, but one brief lightning delay later, Supra finally opened some floodgates of their own.
Safwane Mlah hit a screamer from outside the box, then Loïc Kwemi hit one from almost the goal line, and finally Sean Rea threaded one through traffic. With a Tomasz Skublak goal mixed in there, it ended 3-1 as FC Supra returned to the win column.
The weather stayed dry in Halifax on Saturday, when the Wanderers finally bagged their first home win of the year. Tavio Ciccarelli played last-minute hero again, and they beat Vancouver FC 1-0.
The evening matchup offered some more drama. Pacific went 2-0 ahead against Atlético Ottawa, thanks in large part to Ronan Kratt, but Ottawa stormed back in the second half. The equalized from the penalty spot, after a... controversial call in Ballou Tabla's favour.
So, it ended 2-2 and Pacific remain winless.
The weekend's finale was a first-versus-second rivalry clash between Forge and Cavalry, and it wasn't necessarily the most thrilling game of the four. Still, the Hammers did what they needed to do, and Antoine Batisse headed home a corner for a 1-0 win.
It was a chippy game, and neither head coach seemed thrilled with the referee by the end of it, but it was about par for the course for a clash between these two rivals.
Now that Forge are back in first place, here's how the table looks after eight weeks:
| Pos. | Team | GP | W | D | L | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Forge FC | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 19 |
| 2 | Cavalry FC | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 17 |
| 3 | Inter Toronto | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
| 4 | Atlético Ottawa | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
| 5 | FC Supra du Québec | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| 6 | Halifax Wanderers | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| 7 | Vancouver FC | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| 8 | Pacific FC | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
Halifax's win felt absolutely huge for them. There have been some frustrating times for the Wanderers in recent weeks, because they hadn't quite managed to turn draws into wins at home. Ciccarelli hasn't played much this year, but he seems to have a knack for those heroics. First it was his late equalizer in Toronto, now it's this winner; the 19-year-old has two massive goals for Halifax, in just 103 minutes of action.
He won't be playing any minutes next week, though; the second yellow card for taking his shirt off in celebration will be a learning experience for the youngster.
If that result was a weight off one team's shoulders, it added more grief to Vancouver FC. Once again, they out-shot, out-possessed and out-chanced their opponent, but they have nothing to show for it. And Martin Nash will be incensed with how cheaply they conceded at the end of the game.
Pacific not getting three points also felt pretty cruel; that was arguably the best they've looked all year. The attack was dangerous, and Ronan Kratt in particular was outstanding.
Ottawa keep finding ways to get points, even when not at their best. That's going to serve them well, especially over the next few weeks now that Diego Mejía (and his assistant Diego Campos) has gone.
Congratulations to Mejía, by the way. As had been heavily rumoured, he's officially off to Atlético San Luis in Liga MX. He'll be reunited with David Rodríguez down there, which should be fun.
There's no word yet on who Atleti might bring in to take over the Ottawa job; Drew Beckie will take charge of a couple games as interim manager. It may be a tricky few weeks for the team with all this upheaval, so it's a good thing they've picked up some big points recently.
Meanwhile, Pacific might've been encouraged by the news of Terry Dunfield arriving next month as their new head coach. Yiannis Tsalatsidis will now be tasked with trying to build some kind of momentum on Vancouver Island before Dunfield takes over on July 5.
It's a pretty exciting time generally for soccer in this country; apparently there's some kind of tournament happening this month?
Shoutout to Cavalry FC alumnus Joel Waterman for making Canada's squad for the FIFA World Cup. Although he was only in the CPL for one year in 2019, he has always been outspokenly grateful for his time in the league.
Waterman is a true CPL original for us all to be proud of. Keep an eye on CPLsoccer.com this week for a feature on him, and how Tommy Wheeldon Jr. converted him into the ball-playing defender he is today.
We'll have that, plus many more World Cup-related stories here over the next couple of weeks. For those who missed it, go back and read what FC Supra's Rocco Placentino had to say about developing Moïse Bombito and Ismaël Koné.
Coming up this week in the CPL, we've got another Red and White Out match, as Cavalry FC take on Halifax in their final home game before the break.
Plus, FC Supra head on tour to Québec City for a match with Pacific FC, and Sunday gives us our first 905 Derby of the year between Inter Toronto and Forge.
Awards Watch
I'm going to use this space to talk about Antoine Batisse. He was absolutely superb once again for Forge on Sunday, as he has been all year. Whatever concerns we had about Forge losing Alex Achinioti-Jönsson have been absolutely silenced, because Batisse is another converted midfielder who inspired calm with the ball at his feet — a quintessential Forge player.
That said, the competition for Defender of the Year is going to be crazy this season. In fact, there's a chance Batisse and Nimick end up splitting the vote as teammates. Right now, both would probably be in with a chance of nomination.
Keep an eye out this week for the CPL's monthly awards for May.
U-21 Minutes Update
It's cool to see that the top three teams in U-21 minutes are all also in the top half of the league table.
The best U-21 contribution of the week was, obviously, Ciccarelli's goal for Halifax, but he wasn't the only young player to have a good week. Adam Pearlman continues to shine for Cavalry, even in a week where they lost.
Also, Aghilas Sadek made his debut for Forge; the highly-touted 17-year-old will be one watch as he gets more accustomed to Bobby Smyrniotis' systems.
| Team | U-21 Minutes |
|---|---|
| Atlético Ottawa | 862 |
| Forge FC | 751 |
| Cavalry FC | 745 |
| FC Supra du Québec | 713 |
| Pacific FC | 687 |
| Vancouver FC | 678 |
| Halifax Wanderers FC | 558 |
| Inter Toronto FC | 467 |
Coming up next…
Friday, June 5
Vancouver FC vs. Atlético Ottawa
10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT (OneSoccer)
Saturday, June 6
Cavalry FC vs. Halifax Wanderers FC
7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT (OneSoccer)
FC Supra du Québec vs. Pacific FC (Québec City)
7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT (OneSoccer, TSN, RDS Direct)
Sunday, June 7
Inter Toronto vs. Forge FC
2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT (OneSoccer, CBC Gem)
Photo of the Week
How in the world do these guys jump that high?
(Photo by Kevin Light)
