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February 24th Edition
CanWNT kick off Pinatar Cup, NSL schedule drop, Promise David to CanMNT & MLS is back!
For the first time in 2025, we had senior national team football this week as the Canadian women’s team kicked off the Pinatar Cup, and more importantly the Casey Stoney era in Spain.
A pair of friendly announcements for the men’s national team give us a taste of what their year will look like as they also could be set to add a promising (sorry) dual-national in the next month.
Plus, is Jayden Nelson Lionel Messi now?, the much-anticipated NSL schedule dropped, and so much more ahead in this week’s edition of The Northern Pitch.
In this week's edition:
CanWNT
🏆 CanWNT draw with China & defeat Mexico in Pinatar Cup
OneSoccer
Canada was given a first look at the Canadian women’s national team under Casey Stoney this week as she was on the touchline for the first time in Pinatar Cup action this week.
They played to a 1-1 draw with China on Wednesday, before Stoney’s first win with the program on Saturday, 2-0 versus Mexico.
It took just 16 minutes into the Stoney era for Canada to show some magic. Direct and decisive from the start against China, a ball over the top from Gabby Carle to Julia Grosso, who showed great composure on the finish. From there, however, Canada’s attack struggled a bit to replicate that early dominance and China slowly grew into the game. In the 58th minute, Jin Kun equalized for China — with the game ending 1-1.
Still, Stoney was able to get a good look at her player pool against China in particular, in the second half especially she made several substitutions, handing both Carly Wickenheiser and Ella Ottey their national team debuts.
On Saturday, Canada faced Concacaf rivals Mexico and this time were a bit more convincing in their performance. It helped that Annia Mejia, who really should have already been off the pitch, got a red card in the 40th minute reducing Mexico to 10 players. Canada took full advantage, and in her 50th cap Vanessa Gilles made it 1-0, before a lovely team move gave Adriana Leon an 89th-minute tap-in to seal the deal.
Canada now enter the final matchday on Tuesday in a solid situation. Earlier in the day, Mexico plays China. Should the two sides draw, or Mexico wins, a win for Canada against Chinese Taipai would mean they lift the Pinatar Cup.
Should China win, Canada need to score multiple goals in their final group match to make up the goal difference, currently trailing China by two goals on goal difference (which would be up to at least three with a Chinese win). That would be a good scenario for Canada to end this tournament,
Regardless, it is all to play for when Canada face off with Chinese Taipai in their final match of the window on Tuesday, February 5 at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT on OneSoccer.
NSL
🗓️ NSL drops inaugural season schedule
Northern Super League
We already had the date, but this past week, we learned the time and place for the historic kickoff of the NSL’s inaugural season.
The league’s first-ever match will take place on Wednesday, April 16, with Vancouver Rise hosting Calgary Wild at BC Place in Vancouver. Then on Saturday, April 19, AFC Toronto battle Montréal Roses at Toronto’s BMO Field.
Both venues will host 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup matches, and BC Place hosted the 2015 FIFA women’s World Cup final so these are iconic stadiums to kick off this historic moment for the sport in this country.
Halifax Tides FC host their home opener at Wanderers Grounds on April 26, Ottawa Rapid play their home opener the next day at TD Place Stadium, Montréal Roses on May 3 at Centre sportif Bois-de-Boulogne, and finally Calgary Wild FC on May 11 at McMahon Stadium.
After 25 regular season games each, the top four teams will make the playoffs and will play home-and-away semifinals before the inaugural NSL championship game takes place on November 15.
CanMNT
🍁 September friendlies announced for CanMNT
Canada Soccer
The Canadian men’s national team is headed to Europe in September for a pair of friendlies against solid European opposition.
Canada Soccer announced on Tuesday that Les Rouges will take on Romania on September 5th in Bucharest as part of the September international window. Romania are currently ranked 38th, seven spots below Canada, and topped their group during an impressive Euro 2024 campaign.
A day later, they confirmed that during that same window they will face Wales in Swansea on September 9th. The Welsh are ranked 29th in the world, and have played at an incredibly high level over the past decade, including a third-place finish at the 2016 Euros. Both matches will be available on OneSoccer.
These will be good tests for a Canadian team looking to ramp up its competition in the lead-up to the 2026 World Cup. Canada has never before played Romania in an international match, while they have not played Wales since 2004 — previously meeting them twice in the lead-up to the 1986 World Cup.
Canucks Abroad
🌍 Canucks Abroad
@CanMNTBible
🇨🇦 Promise David “transferred” countries. It’s not often that a player is traded between national teams. After months of speculation, Promise David has officially filed his one-time FIFA nationality switch from Nigeria to Canada. The Athletic’s Josh Kloke has reported that Jesse Marsch will call up PD for the CanMNT provisional squad for the Concacaf Nations League finals.
🇧🇪 Promise David also registered two assists. Anderlecht hosted David and Union Saint-Gilloise. PD picked up two assists in USG’s 2-0 darby win over Anderlecht. In 28 games, David has scored 13 goals and five assists for USG.
🇪🇺 Alphonso Davies sends Bayern through to the Round of 16. It’s hard to believe that this happened this week, but it did. Phonzie slotted back into a Bayern lineup for the first time in over a month in his return from injury — and absolutely delivered with a second-half stoppage time tap-in to secure a 3-2 win on aggregate against Celtic and fellow MNT teammate Alistair Johnston.
🇳🇱 Charles-Andréas Brym scores against Feyenoord. It was a busy few days for Canadian forwards. Brym finally got off the mark for the season, scoring the opener for Almere City, albeit in a 2-1 loss, on the road at De Kuip. Almere currently sit last in the Eredivisie, six points from safety with 11 games to go.
🧊 Jonathan David is to leave on a free transfer this summer. In the French magazine Onze Mondial, Jonathan David disclosed that he would be free to leave Lille at the end of the summer with his contract coming to an end. JD did not disclose the club where he’ll end up, but it seems certain that he will be a free agent this summer.
🇫🇷 Derek Cornelius saw a red card. Derek Cornelius and Marseille travelled away to play against Theo Bair and Auxerre. Both Canadians were featured in the starting lineup, but Cornelius became the centre of drama. In the 64th minute, Cornelius picked up a second yellow and consequently was given a red card. In response, Roberto De Zerbi made scandalous statements calling out the quality of the referees and Ligue 1. Marseille President Pablo Longoria accused the refs for corruption. Spicy stuff. The game ended 3-0 for Auxerre.
🇵🇹 Eustaquio also received a red card. It’s been a week of reds for Canadians in Europe, this time in the Champions League. Stephen Eustaquio and Porto played at home against Roma in a must-win game to qualify in the CL Round of 16. Argentinian Leandro Paredes blocked Eustaquio, and in response, the midfielder extended his arm against Paredes resulting in the red card..
🍁 Canada went double digits on Dominica. The U20s played against Dominica this week in qualifiers for the Concacaf Women’s U20 Championship. Things went south for Dominica as Canada defeated them 22-0. The Baby Reds would also put nine more past Bermuda in a 9-0 win in the second game of the group stage. The final game of the group stage is set to take place on Tuesday against Trinidad and Tobago.
Canucks at Home
🏡 Canucks at Home
Forge FC / CPL
🔵 CF Montreal are finalizing the Emil Gazdov deal. CF Montreal have their eye on another CPL goalkeeper, Emil Gazdov. As reported by Tom Bogert, CF MTL is finalizing a deal to sign the 21-year-old Pacific FC goalkeeper. Furthermore, as reported by Manuel Veth, PFC will receive 200k + 50k in add-on and retain a 20% sell-on clause.
⚓️ Alessandro Biello has been loaned out to Halifax Wanderers. The CFM youth academy graduate has struggled to earn game time with his hometown club. The 18-year-old has earned a loan move to the Halifax Wanderers. Great opportunity for the youth.
👷🏾Jacen Russell-Rowe scored in the Crew’s league opener. The Columbus Crew hosted the Chicago Fire in their MLS season opener. The 22-year-old Canadian forward scored the opening goal of the game with a banger outside the box. Jesse Marsch is spoiled with forward talent.
Other news
📰 In Other News
CanMNTBible
⚽️ MLS is back! For our Canadian clubs, it’s been good, bad and… promising.
🌊 Jayden Nelson got the Caps feeling good. Jayden Nelson introduced himself to the MLS with a goal and three assists. The Vancouver Whitecaps travelled to Portland to play the Timbers and dispatched the home side 4-1. The job was made simpler as CanMNT defender Kamal Miller picked up a red in the 11th minute after fouling Brian White. It was a bad day in the office for Kamal, but there are signs of a much more positive 2025 campaign for Vancouver.
🔵 MTL started the season with an L. Despite the 3-2 loss at Atlanta, CFM played okay. The defence held off Atlanta’s attack and Montreal were finding weaknesses in ATL’s defence, notably with crosses into the box. Goals from Nathan Saliba and Prince Owusu came from crosses. It took individual brilliance from Edwin Mosquera’s top bins banger to break the deadlock. Caden Clark played well at wing-back, but he’s most dangerous as #10.
🔴 Promising: Toronto FC. Despite the 2-2 draw away from home, TFC performed well. After a horrendous 2024 campaign, they start the year with a promising performance. Theo Corbeanu was a present danger in attack while youth academy graduate Markus Cimermancic outshined Corbeanu as the most promising young player. Reds skipper Jonathan Osorio would kick off his 13th season with the club with the opening goal of the campaign for the side. With Ola Brynhildsen, this TFC team looks promising.
🏴 Toronto FC signed Arsenal’s Zane Monlouis. TFC have signed 21-year-old defender Zane Monlouis from Arsenal on a two-year deal with options for 2027 and 2028.
🏆 Whitecaps trail Saprissa after the first leg. Less exciting for Whitecaps fans this week was the side’s lacklustre showing in the first leg of their Round One tie, a 2-1 away loss against Costa Rican side Saprissa. Things did start brightly after Ryan Gauld swept home an Ali Ahmed cross in the 21st minute. However, a long-range Mariano Torres thunderstrike and a stoppage-time winner from Ariel Rodriguez, both in the second half, mean Vancouver will have their work cut out for them when Saprissa come to town next Thursday at 7 p.m. PT.
✅ Northern Picks
This week’s picks come from Tagwa Moyo. Based in Vancouver but always on the move, he’s the co-founder of DARBY, a proud Everton supporter and a certified shooter (@shuttersworth).
📺 What to watch
Tea with Timbsy. Back on YouYube after a lil hiatus, man like Timbsy is back chatting football. He his first episode back featured Vuj and for the old school Copa90 heads be prepared to be hit with nostalgia.
📚 What to read
Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography. I’ve made it a goal of mine to try and read four books this year. This is my first one that im halfway through. It’s an easy read and full of cool stories of Fergy ranging from him in his early days to the Becks drama.
✅ Who to follow
OG Drake (@dramburg). The homie Pej put me on to this account. If you're a fan of classic kits this is a must follow. Drake was a former designer for Nike and his work has inspired some oftoday'ss best kits like the 2020 Nigeria kits. Check him out and thank me later!