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August 11th Edition
CanWNT Japan friendlies, TFC sign Djordje Mihailovic & CanChamp semis preview
It has been a wild summer for Canadian MLS teams, and this week it was Toronto FC’s turn to make headlines.
After CF Montréal’s chaotic flurry of moves, and the Vancouver Whitecaps’ signing a global icon, Toronto FC added a DP of their own with the acquisition of Djordje Mihailovic.
Plus, CanWNT will have more high-profile friendlies in the fall, the CanChamp semis kick off this week, and plenty more in this week’s edition of The Northern Pitch.
A quick note: we’ll be taking next week off for a much-needed summer vacation, but we’ll be back August 25th to catch you up on everything we missed!
In this week's edition:
CanWNT
🇯🇵 CanWNT to play Japan during November window
Canada Soccer
It appears as though Casey Stoney’s pleas for more top opposition and tests for the CanWNT have not gone unheard.
In November, Canada will take on World #8 Japan in a pair of friendlies on November 29 and December 2. Japan sit one spot higher than Canada in the rankings — after a drop to 9th in the World for CanWNT.
They are coming off of a difficult 3-0 loss to the United States, where Stoney was clear that the level of her team was not good enough. A big factor, she said, was that the group hadn’t been battle-tested enough against top opposition.
Japan, who are preparing for March’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup, definitely fit that bill. They beat the United States earlier this year and are regularly among the world’s top teams. Canada also lost to Japan 3-0 in their most recent meeting, which came at the 2023 SheBelieves Cup. Getting two matches against them as well will give Stoney a chance to test several players against top opposition.
Canada still have a window in October to fill before the end of the year, so expect further announcements about the plans for that in the coming weeks.
CanChamp
🏆 Who draws first blood in the CanChamp semis?
One Soccer
Cancel your Wednesday night plans, because it’s time to sit back and watch an incredible semi-final double-header in the 2025 Canadian Championship.
Starting in Hamilton at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, and then out in Langley at 7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET, the first legs of the competition’s home-and-away semi-final round will be contested.
For one team, this stage is nothing new. The Whitecaps visit Hamilton on Wednesday, looking to become just the third team in CanChamp history to win four in a row.
They face a Forge side, however, that are incredibly ambitious and experienced in this competition as well. The Hamilton club are the only CPL team to ever play in a CanChamp final, and have reached the semis in three of the past four tournaments. The winner of this matchup will host the final.
As is always worth a reminder, away goals are not in effect in this year’s tournament. That will be well and good for Forge, as Toronto FC eliminated them on away goals in last year’s semis.
Then, out west, it is an unlikely semi-finalist in Vancouver FC who host Atlético Ottawa in the later game. Sitting last in the CPL table, the Eagles have gone on an incredible run to get here, winning on penalties against Cavalry FC and Pacific FC.
That said, they now face by far their biggest challenge yet: a deep and talented Atleti side who look primed to smash the CPL’s record for most goals in a season this year.
The second legs aren’t until September 16 and September 18, but teams have a great opportunity to take a crucial lead and put themselves in a great position.
MLS
🔴 Djordje Milhailovic signs with TFC
Toronto FC
The American midfielder is back in Canada. Instead of dawning the bleu-blanc-noir of Montreal, Djordje Milhailovic will be in all red this season. Toronto FC has acquired the attacking midfielder from the Colorado Rapids for $8 million plus $1 million if certain performance metrics are met. The American comes as a designated player and has signed through 2028 with the option for 2029.
Impressive stats at Colorado. The former AZ Alkmaar baller has enjoyed an impressive stint in Denver. The 26-year-old midfielder has registered 23 goals and 22 assists in 63 appearances since joining the Rapids in January of 2024. Finisher and creator.
A crucial component to CF Montreal in 2022. Montreal fans won’t be happy with this move, not because he was a former player of theirs but they know the potential TFC will have with him on the squad. Milhailovic was a major component to Wilfried Nancy’s impressive 2020 season. He broke club records by registering 16 assists in 2021 and helped lead Montreal to finish in the second round of playoffs in 2022.
A full package midfielder. Toronto have been missing effective playmakers and finishers, moreover, they need big game players. Milhailovic promises to deliver those things. While in Montreal, he always delivered in big games and became the X factor. Here is an example of Milhailovic displaying himself as a big game player.
Breathing room for Toronto. With the departures of the Italians, TFC will have made their first important signing. If Toronto were to build a team around Milhailovic, the same way CF MTL has, this could be the beginning of a new era at BMO Field.
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Canucks Abroad
🌍 Canucks Abroad
Utah Royals FC
⬇️ CanWNT drop to ninth. The newest FIFA women’s world rankings are out, and Canada are not having the best of times. After ending last year in sixth, Canada have been jumped three times over the last four rankings, by Japan in March, by Brazil in June, and now France. At the top, Spain have dethroned the US, who drop to second, despite falling to England in the Final at the Women’s Euro. Sweden, England, and Germany round out the top five.
👑 Cloé Lacasse is back. That’s right, Laclasse was back in action for Utah. The winger spent 291 days on the season-ending injury list for a torn ACL, but was cleared this week. Lacasse came on with 23’ to go in a Canadian swap for Bianca St-Georges as the Royals fell 1-0 to Nichelle Prince’s Kansas City Current.
🏴 Jonathan Sirois linked with English clubs. Granted, one of those clubs is not English but Welsh but the CF MTL keeper will likely be a Canuck Abroad soon. Championship club Southampton and League One Cardiff City have entered the conversation. So far, Montpellier emerged as the first to approach him but other French clubs have entered the chat as well. Sirois is wanted in Europe.
🟥 Luc de Fougerolles red card. If football games only lasted 49 minutes, LDF would’ve had a barnstorming performance, winning most of his 15 duels and being fouled seven times (as a centreback!) in Dender’s 2-1 loss to St-Truiden. Alas, they, in fact, last 90 minutes, and LDF was sent off for DOGSO, marking a rocky start to his loan spell. Must be something in the water, as Nathan Saliba also struck bad luck, running into the ref as Anderlecht conceded first to Zulte Waregem.
🤘 Sophie Schmidt match-winner. Okay, back to good news and good feels. Sophie Schmidt rescued all three points for Houston this week in a 2-1 win against North Carolina. Yes, it was a tap-in, but they all totally count, especially when it’s a second-half stoppage time winner.
⚜️ Janine Sonis assists Louisville’s opener. Sonis helped Louisville to a 1-1 road draw against Orlando, turning an assist just before half-time. It was a perfectly placed cross to the back post. What a dime.
🌹 Back-to-back games with assists for Jessie Fleming. Another game, another Fleming assist. A lifted ball over the top gave the Thorns a 2-1 lead over Seattle, which became 4-2 by full-time. Fleming’s in good form.
🇫🇷 Luka Boiteau and Boulogne promoted to Ligue 2. The season might’ve ended three months ago, but movements are still happening in the French pyramid. Initially due to financial troubles, AC Ajaccio, after a long series of appeals, reinstatements and relegations walked back, have finally been administratively relegated. While it’s never good to see a club go down due to mismanagement, what it does mean, is that Boulogne, and 19-year-old Canadian midfielder Luka Boiteau, will have a confirmed spot in Ligue 2 after coming runners-up in the promotion play-offs last season.
🏴 A first Premiership start for Ethan Schilte-Brown. More milestones for the former Canadian U20 centre-back. Schilte-Brown has been in and around the Kilmarnock first team for the last few months, getting opportunities on the bench. But now, he’s a bona fide Premiership player. Schilte-Brown started and played 90 minutes in a 2-2 draw against Junior Hoilett’s Hibernian.
🇺🇸 Leagues Cup giving opportunities. Schilte-Brown wasn’t the only player to get a chance in the first team this week. Over back on this side of the pond, Sydney Wathuta, who has been lighting up MLS NEXT Pro, got the assist on Colorado’s early dagger against Cruz Azul. Toronto’s Sal Mazzaferro made his first-team debut for Atlanta in a rout against Atlas, while Dylan Judelson, on a brand new MLS NEXT Pro contract, was on the bench for Orlando’s 5-1 demolishing of Necaxa. Ballers.
Major League Soccer
⚽️ MLS News & Recaps
⚜️ Stalemate at Stade Saputo. It’s been a tough go for Montréal. After le Bleu-Blanc-Noir were dumped out of Leagues Cup with a 2-1 loss to Puebla that saw red cards on both sides, fans were hoping that returning to MLS action would yield more hope. And for all of 86 minutes, it seemed like that might be the case. Despite a quiet night for Prince Owusu, Dante Sealy’s first-half marker gave CFMTL the lead over Atlanta. That was until Aleksei Miranchuk’s equalizer hit the back of the net. It’s still a point, but time (and patience) is truly wearing thin.
🔴 Toronto salvage a draw against the East’s best. At the other end of the 401, the scoreline was the same, but with a much different feeling come the full-time whistle. Indiana Vassilev drew early first blood for Philadephia, and it looked for a while like that scoreline was destined to stay the same. Both sides caught breaks from the VAR as the Union had Jakob Glesnes dodge a red card, while TFC were held from going 2-0 down thanks to Tai Baribo straying offside at the hour mark. The Reds had their looks at the end of the first half, but it took until the first minute of stoppage time for Deandre Kerr to knock home his third of the season. Djordje Mihailovic also looked good in his debut.
🏔️ Vancouver fall to San Jose. Where do we begin with this one? Late goals were once again a bookmark. Brian White would once again save the Whitecaps with an 88th-minute equalizer… or so one would think, except for Preston Judd’s 94th-minute winner. More pressing, especially for seasoned ‘Caps fans, was the fact that Tim Ford was the referee for this one. Yes, that Tim Ford, from that famous 2023 Vanni Sartini presser. As a result, Édier Ocampo’s second booking in the 27th minute definitely struck a few chords as it led to Vancouver playing down from that point on.
This week’s MLS fixtures:
Saturday, August 16
CF Montréal vs. DC United (7:30PM ET @ Stade Saputo)
Toronto FC vs. Columbus Crew (7:30PM ET @ BMO Field)
Sunday, August 17
Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Houston Dynamo (6PM PT @ BC Place)
Canadian Premier League
🍁 CPL News & Recaps
✅ Two underdog wins early in the week. A pair of games stretched into this week, with Vancouver and Pacific both getting the spoils. VanFC travelled to Halifax, with first goals of the season for Matteo Campagna and Hugo Mbongue giving Martin Nash his first win as interim head coach in a 2-1 final. TMG pulled one back in the 89th for Halifax. Pacific, meanwhile, had Sean Young to thank as the homegrown midfielder scored in the second minute of stoppage time for the lone goal against Cavalry.
⚒️ Forge claim another 905 Derby. Forge went to North York and snapped York’s seven-game undefeated streak in the CPL with a 2-1 win to start matchweek 18. Tristan Borges scored for a second-straight game, while Alessandro Hojabrpour marked his full return from injury with an empty-net strike. Leonel Lopez, making his Nine Stripes debut, had York’s consolation. The win was also Forge’s tenth undefeated result in a row against their regional rivals.
🤝 Scoreless at Spruce Meadows. You’d be sorely mistaken for thinking it was a boring one, though. No, this one instead evolved into a goalkeeping battle between Marco Carducci and Rayane Yesli. Both pulled out the stops, and along with a potential handball in the box missed early on and Ntignee hitting the post late in the second half, there was plenty of entertainment on show. Though it ended 0-0, this one had the potential for five or six goals.
🦖 Ottawa also keep winning. The CPL’s big two this season keep getting better and better. Ottleti kept lock step with Forge and futher distanced themselves from third place this week with a 2-1 win over Valour. David Rodríguez and Sam Salter each fired home while Themi Antonoglou had the Winnnipeggers’ consolation.
🔱 Pacific take the BC Derby spoils. This matchup this season has continued to deliver time after time. And, it was much the same on Sunday. Alejandro Díaz scored his first (and second) since returning to the Island, against his former club. Elage Bah, Ndiaye Pathé and Josh Heard all found the net as well, with the lead changing three times. Eventually, the three points settled with Pacific, 3-2.
🦅 Vancouver FC loan Jay Herdman. The summer transfer window remains open for CPL clubs’ business dealings, and we got some of those this week. Cavalry and Vancouver must be familiar partners by now, as the two clubs announced Herdman would be heading to BC for the rest of the season. The move makes sense for both parties, as Herdman will get some game time, Martin Nash gets another familiar player in his setup, and Cavalry balancing out the arrivals of Ntignee and Sellouf up front.
🔱 Pacific FC add Matthew Baldisimo. The Tridents, meanwhile, are continuing to get their title-winning band back together, in the hopes of getting back above the playoff line. Baldisimo has been out of contract since leaving York United at the end of last season. The Island club also announced the signings of centreback Ahmad Mansour and midfielder Roshawn Juhmi until the end of the season.
This week’s CPL fixtures:
Saturday, August 16
Pacific FC vs. Halifax Wanderers (3PM PT @ Starlight Stadium)
Sunday, August 17
Valour FC vs. York United (12:30PM CT @ Princess Auto Stadium)
Forge FC vs. Atlético Ottawa (4PM ET @ Hamilton Stadium)
Cavalry FC vs. Vancouver FC (5PM MT @ ATCO Field)
Northern Super League
🌌 NSL News & Recaps
🔴 AFC Toronto, first to ten wins. It’s happened. An NSL club has crossed the ten win and thirty-point threshold. AFCT had Nigerian WAFCON hero Esther Okoronkwo back from international duty and they looked even better with her in the eleven. Nikayla Small started the party, before Kaylee Hunter, assisted by Okoronkwo, smoked home a 30-plus-yard effort. Steph Hill knocked one in off a corner to start the second half, but Montréal Roses just ran out of gas by the end, as it ended 2-1.
🦉 Jaclyn Sawicki fires Calgary to three points. The race for the playoffs in the NSL is heating up. Two of the three teams occupying the space around the line, Ottawa and Calgary, faced off this week at TD Place. The fifth-place Wild, needing to make up five points on fourth-place Vancouver, got just that as Jaclyn Sawicki finished off a tidy knock-down header in the 77th minute. The 1-0 win for Calgary brought them back within four points of Ottawa.
🌊 A much-improved Halifax draw to Vancouver. Stephen Hart’s team did much better this time around, after the Rise dropped six on the Tides the last time these two met. It was a chess match throughout, until the final few minutes where Milly Clegg had two golden chances to ice the game. Unfortunately, the New Zealander couldn’t buy a finish, allowing both Morgan McAslan and Anika Tóth to come away with clean sheets in a 0-0 draw.
🔄 NSL summer transfer window check-in. NSL teams have also been busy making additions since the window opened.
AFC Toronto added Danielle Krzyzaniak this week, after the Canadian goalkeeper’s departure from A-League club Newcastle Jets. Krzyzaniak joins Sarah Stratigakis, Zoe Burns and Lauren Rowe as new names in Toronto. Let’s just hope the red cards don’t come along for the ride.
Halifax Tides also signed Sofia Cedeño this week, throwing the Panamanian-American midfielder straight in against Vancouver on Saturday. Cedeño is a US U19 international and is the Tides’ fourth new face after Amanda Allen, Tiffany Cameron, and Julianne Vallerand. The Tides also mutually parted ways with Gianna Creighton.
All four other teams have also welcomed new players into their folds this window.
Ottawa Rapid, down a goalkeeper after injury to Mollie Eriksson signed Italian-Canadian goalkeeper Kelly Chiavaro from Brazil’s Santos.
Calgary Wild announced two forwards in Coquitlam, BC’s Kathryn Harvey and American Jorian Baucom. With Baucom’s kit number choice, they now have a CB with the #9 shirt, and a striker with the #4 shirt. No, it’s not setting off our football OCD.
Vancouver Rise, down multiple defenders after season-ending injuries to Sara Vidlund and Ariel Young, picked up Japanese defender Yuka Okamoto from the WE League. Okamoto adds to a growing contingent of Japanese players in the NSL.
Montréal Roses, lastly, added some defensive help as well, bringing veteran centreback Olivia Mbala home from a decade-plus-long career in France’s Première and Seconde Ligues.
This week’s NSL fixtures:
Wednesday, August 13
Ottawa Rapid vs. AFC Toronto (7PM ET @ TD Place)
Saturday, August 16
Montréal Roses vs. Ottawa Rapid (2PM ET @ Stade Boréale)
Calgary Wild vs. Halifax Tides (2PM MT @ McMahon Stadium)