August 5th Edition

Happy August long weekend!

While it’s still just early August, in some ways, it feels like the Summer of Soccer in Canada is over.

We’ve watched Canada get to the final four in Copa América, and battle through a crazy point deduction at the Olympics, all while filling up any other free time with the U-20s, Euros, CPL, CanChamp and MLS.

But with the women’s national team falling to Germany in the quarter-finals of the Paris Olympics, the major tournament madness is behind us. Whether for good or bad, this will be a summer we certainly will never forget in the sport in this country.

With that being said, as the European season begins, our Canucks Abroad section is sure to get as big as ever, with more Canadians set to play at higher levels than ever before on both the men’s and women’s side. We have more rumours, reports and stories ahead in this week’s edition of The Northern Pitch.

In this week's edition:

• 🇨🇦 CanWNT say au revoir to Paris

• 🇫🇷 Derek Cornelius to Marseille

• 🌍 Canucks Abroad

• 🏡 Canucks at Home

• 📰 Other News

• 📺 Games of the week

CanWNT

🇨🇦 CanWNT say au revoir to Paris

It was a heartbreaking end to what had been a heroic tournament. 

On Saturday, Canada were eliminated from the 2024 Paris Olympics in a penalty shootout by Germany.

Canada had a billion and a half chances (22 shots attempted, three big chances, if you go by the data) to win the match during the 90 minutes plus extra time. It almost felt inevitable that one of those chances would be converted by this team of destiny.

But in the end, Canada lost their third penalty shootout this year alone. Ann-Katrin Berger stood tall in the net for the Germans, and then scored the winning penalty herself. It was the first time since the 2008 Beijing Olympics that Canada did not medal.

That, however, won’t be what hurts the most as they exit this tournament. Canada’s program reputation took a serious hit at these Olympic games as the result of a spying scandal which became international news, and saw the team penalized with a six-point deduction that made it nearly impossible for them to advance out of the group stage.

Once again, however, when the Canadian soccer program falls short, the players continue to ball out.

Canada won all three group games, including beating hosts France, in a way that inspired a nation. What could have been an unilaterally horrible news story turned out to have some real moments and performances to celebrate.

Vanessa Gilles reached another level at this Olympic games, scoring the winner against France, and then again versus Colombia while providing unbelievable defensive performances.

Alongside her, Jade Rose looks like a leader at the back for this team for years to come, with composure beyond her years and an ability to make plays under pressure that is outstanding for a 21-year-old who still hasn’t played a minute of professional football.

Simi Awujo, meanwhile, absolutely bossed the game against Germany and at just 20 years of age is going to be a star in this team for many years to come.

While Canada’s 2024 Olympic campaign is far more likely to be remembered for what happened off the pitch than what this team was able to accomplish on it, there is still tremendous reason for optimism.

The next time these Canadian women play in a major international tournament, at the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, they will do so with their own domestic league having been founded. Not only that, but this group of players will be as battle-tested and galvanized as they’ve ever been.

The future is bright, even if the present of this program remains painful at times.

CanMNT

🇫🇷 Derek Cornelius to Marseille

It may be nearing a month since the Copa América, but the positive impact of Canada’s performance is continuing to be felt across the program.

After Ismaël Koné moved to Marseille midway through that tournament, it his national teammate Derek Cornelius will be joining him with De Zerbi’s men this coming season. Reports indicate that the deal is in the neighbourhood of 4.3 million euros.

According to Fabrizio Romano, Cornelius has signed a contract until 2028 with the French giants. The 26-year-old central defender had a breakout tournament at the 2024 Copa América for the national team, but has been balling out for Malmö in the Swedish top flight for several seasons now.

Marseille are looking to turn things around after a season in which they finished eighth — their lowest league position in the past eight campaigns.

They clearly believe that Cornelius can be a part of that turnaround, and it will be exciting to see how an incredibly important player within the men’s national team can step up into a top-five league in World football.

Canucks Abroad

🌍 Canucks Abroad

🍁 Alistair Johnston in Copa America best XI. AJ is the only CONCACAF player to make it to the CONMEBOL Copa America best XI. In a 4-4-3 formation, Johnston occupies the RB position with nemesis Rodrigo De Paul ahead of him and Lionel Messi on the same wing.

🏆 Stephen Eustáquio lifts his second Supertaça. In his first bit of action since Canada’s run at the Copa, Steph would make a big impact. With Porto trailing 3-1 just past the hour mark, he would be inserted into the match — less than five minutes later, it would be 3-3, with Eustáquio getting an assist on the game-tying goal. Porto would add one more in extra time to complete the comeback, 4-3, over Sporting.

🇫🇷 Ismaël Koné scored his first goal for Marseille. What more can we say? He scored, and it was expected. Koné opened his scoring account in a friendly between Marseille and Netflix’s greatest doc series, Sunderland—a strong run down the wing with a tidy finesse shot to the far post. We love to see it.

🇳🇱 Luka Kulenović signs with Heracles Almelo. The 24-year-old striker, eligible for Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Canada, has officially swapped Czechia for the Netherlands. Kulenović notched seven goals and two assists in 32 appearances for Slovan Liberec last season, earning a (rumoured) €1m move to Heracles, complete with a deal through 2028.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Sabrina D’Angelo has joined Aston Villa. The former Arsenal keeper has officially joined CanWNT teammate Adriana Leon at Aston Villa. The Birmingham club signed the Canadian as a free agent from Arsenal. She will compete for the #1 spot with New Zealand keeper Anna Leat.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Junior Hoilett leaves Aberdeen. The former Whitecaps winger was offered a new contract to stay but stalled because he was away with CanMNT. The Dons gaffer, Jimmy Thelin, decided to look elsewhere. Junior Hoilett is fighting to return to full recovery and is reported to have options in Scotland and England.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Sunderland are chasing Ike Ugbo’s signature. Troye has reportedly set Ugbo’s price tag at £2.5 million. Sheffield Wednesday’s bid for the striker has been rejected, but it has been reported that personal terms have been agreed between the club and Ugbo. Sunderland has entered the chat and has made progress in securing the transfer fee for Ugbo. If Wednesday fails to secure the money, Sunderland will likely be the favourite.

🇺🇸 Chris Mannella, guiding the next generation. After a decade-plus of plying his trade across Ontario and North America, the former midfielder is moving onto the sidelines. Mannella was unveiled this week as the new Academy Scouting Coordinator for the Philadelphia Union, a system whose graduates include the likes of Brendan and Paxten Aaronson, Mark McKenzie, and Auston Trusty.

🇳🇱 Charles-Andréas Brym went crazy. The young Canadian forward decided one goal wasn’t enough and scored four in Sparta Rotterdam’s 4-1 win against PAS Lamia in a friendly.

🇺🇸 Back-to-back clean sheets for Triston Henry. Life in the 901 has started brilliantly for the former Forge original — the keeper now with two five-save shutouts in a row for Memphis, after a 0-0 draw against El Paso on Saturday.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 First-team time for Ethan Schilte-Brown. The 19-year-old defender had a busy end to the week after being recalled from CanM20 duty on Tuesday. Schilte-Brown would make the bench for Killie’s matches in the Europa League and Premiership against Cercle Brugge and Celtic. Though he didn’t feature for minutes, opportunities are surely coming soon.

Follow Canucks Abroad on Twitter and Instagram.

Canucks at Home

🏡 Canucks at Home

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Jacen Russell-Rowe is wanted in Scotland. The Columbus Crew have rejected a bid from a Scottish club for the young CanMNT striker. Under Wilfried Nancy, Jacen’s talent has become apparent, and his potential is promising. It turns out that Celtic was the Scottish club that was bidding for the young striker. Russel-Rowe joining Johnston at Celtic would be a major move.

🇪🇺 Moïse Bombito wants to go to Europe. It’s August, and Europe is full of tourists and blistering hot. The worst time to visit. But not for Bombito. The young Montreal defender is keen on leaving Colorado to push himself at a higher level. Colorado and Lyon disagreed on terms, and RB Leipzig showed interest in the young defender. Hopefully, terms can be agreed upon so that Moïse can develop into the world-class defender Jesse Marsch believes he can be.

🏆 Dayne St. Clair makes Leagues Cup history. Minnesota United hosted Necaxa in the Leagues Cup and defeated the Mexican side, 1-0. The CanMNT goalkeeper stood out as the player of the game, making history with 16 saves and keeping a clean sheet. It was an unbelievable performance. Well done!

Follow Canucks at Home on Twitter and Instagram.

Other News

📰 In other news this week

🤝 Vancouver Whitecaps played Wrexham. The Ryan Reynolds Darby has officially happened. 35,000 fans turned up to BC Place to watch this highly anticipated friendly. Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney and Alphonso Davies were present in Wrexham’s 4-1 win over the Whitecaps.

🔵 CF Montréal’s Leagues Cup hope stays alive. This game was MTL at its finest, from the on-pitch performance and the incredible atmosphere of Stade Saputo. CFM took notes from their loss against Orlando and adapted a game plan that was dynamic and effective. New signings Dawid Bugaj and Tom Pearce made their debut against Liga MX club Atletico de San Luis. The English fullback had an impressive debut as he scored and assisted in MTL’s 3-2 win.

🌊 The Whitecaps picked up a dub against LAFC. Vancouver travelled to BMO Stadium for their League Cup matchup against LAFC. Let’s start with Sebastian Berhalter’s screamer, wow. The midfielder set the tone of the game with that opening goal. By the half, the Whitecaps were up 2-0 until LAFC brought the game back to make it 2-2 at full-time. As per Leagues Cup rules, games need a winner, so they went to penalties. Vancouver won 4-2 in the penalty shootouts, picking up all three points on the road.

🏆 But wait, there were more Whitecaps as they played Tijuana. After beating LAFC, the Caps came into this game confidently despite conceding the first goal. The Whitecaps replied with cutthroat counter-attacks. There was a cool finish from Fafa Picault, with Levonte Johnson picking up a goal and an assist and Pedro Vite closing the game with a goal. The Whitecaps are cruising with six points after defeating Tijuana 3-1.

🦝 York unbeaten in five after stalemate with Pacific. Early action was the name of the game in Langford on Friday. It took just 94 seconds for Thomas Meilleur-Giguère to head home off a Steffen Yeates corner. York would then hit back inside the first ten minutes, with a close finish into the roof of the net from Brian Wright. Benjamín Mora’s side would leg out the rest of the 90’ to make it a five-game unbeaten streak, this one finishing 1-1.

🐎 Cavalry win under rainy skies in Ottawa. Looking to capitalise on York’s dropped points, Ottawa would have home-turf advantage to help. Or so, they did, until mother nature decided on a nearly two-hour rain delay. The goals would also wait until deep into the second half, with Ali Musse’s brace — including the winger dribbling past three Ottawa defenders in the 89th minute on his return from an injury layoff — cancelling out Sam Salter’s 87th-minute equaliser, as this one ended 2-1 to the visitors.

🦁 Valour defeat Forge in Winnipeg. In a venue that Forge have struggled in at times over the years, Valour would take all three points for their first back-to-back victories this season. A banger of a free-kick from Jordi Swibel would kick things off, flying in directly past Chris Kalongo. Tristan Borges would sneak in for an unmarked header to level the scores, but Diogo Ressurreição’s tap-in before the hour mark cemented another 2-1 scoreline, this time, in favour of the hosts.

⚓…and there’s more action on Monday! The location of many Natal Day classics over the years, Halifax will once again be the welcoming party to cap off CPL action over the August long weekend. Patrice Gheisar’s side will be able to call on new arrival Sean Rea as they look to keep pace against Valour. Vancouver and Afshin Ghotbi, meanwhile, will be looking for a win of their own, to stay above the playoff line and distance themselves from Salish Sea Darby rivals Pacific, who’ll have a game in hand after tomorrow.

Games of the Week

📺 What we’ll be watching

*All times in ET

CPL 🍁
Cavalry vs. Halifax (Saturday @ 4 pm)
Forge vs. Atlético Ottawa (Saturday @ 7pm)
Vancouver FC vs. Pacific FC (Sunday @ 5 pm)
Valour FC vs. York United (Sunday @ 8 pm)

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