March 24th Edition

It was a bittersweet week for the Canadian men’s national team who missed out on a big opportunity to win their first trophy in 25 years — but did still get a big victory against the United States in the Concacaf Nations League third-place game.

In further reason to celebrate, the Norther Super League’s six clubs launched their inaugural home kits this week (with a little help from the DARBY team). With the season just weeks away now, we are debuting something of our own: a dedicated NSL block which will keep you updated on all the latest news as the league begins its historic first campaign.

Plus, a new annual competition for CanMNT, CanWNT players balling out, and CPL getting matches on TSN all ahead in this week’s edition of The Northern Pitch.

In this week's edition:

• 🇨🇦 CanMNT defeat US, finish 3rd at Nations League

• ✨ NSL & Hummel unveil first ever home kits

• 🛡️ Canada Soccer announce Canadian Shield tournament

• 🌍 Canucks Abroad

• 🏡 Canucks at Home

• 📰 In other news

• ✅ Northern Picks

CanMNT

🇨🇦 Canada defeat USMNT to finish third at Concacaf Nations League

CanMNT won’t be leaving Los Angeles with a trophy this weekend, but they still do so with a statement 2-1 victory over the United States in the Concacaf Nations League Third Place game.

After having to wait 67 years since their last victory against the United States on American soil, Canada has now defeated the USMNT in back-to-back matches in the States.

Tani Oluwaseyi, who was starting in place of Cyle Larin, opened the scoring in the 27th minute. It was his first goal for country in 11 appearances. After Patrick Agyemang equalized for the United States in the 35th, Jonathan David put the game on ice in the 59th minute with a stunning strike into the far corner.

Things were tense throughout the match, with CanMNT gaffer Jesse Marsch being sent off in the 54th minute. Canada captain Alphonso Davies also left the match in the 12th minute through an injury, but Canada held on for another big win over their rivals to the south.

On Thursday night, Canada’s hopes of ending a 25-year trophy drought ended in the Nations League semi-finals when they lost 2-0 to Mexico. That was a far more disappointing performance, where Canada were quite frankly outfoxed by a Mexican side that showed a combination of quality and cunning to remind Canada of why they still a top Concacaf side.

Btw, we all know that was a penalty, and it would have changed the game. Concacaf gonna Concacaf. Mexico went on to win the Nations League, their first title, 2-1 against Panama on (you guessed it) a penalty in stoppage time.

As for what’s next for this Canadian men’s national team, find out more below.

NSL

✨ NSL & hummel unveil home kits for the inaugural season

In the latest monumental moment for the fledgling Northern Super League, and signal that we are one step closer to their historic launch, the league’s six clubs unveiled their first-ever home kits this week.

Calgary Wild FC, Halifax Tides FC, Montréal Roses, Ottawa Rapids FC, AFC Toronto and Vancouver FC all debuted stunning new unique pieces that are sure to become instant classics with photography by Ketsia Nkumbu and the DARBY Magazine crew.

Fans can cop the kits of their favourite club through the shops of each respective club. And it doesn’t stop there. The league is expected to unveil each team’s alternate kits in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

For a detailed look at the kit designs and the inspiration behind them, check out the full breakdown here.

In other NSL news:

🌊 Halifax Tides made a pair of signings this week, adding local defender Annika Leslie, and Québecios midfielder Karima Lemire. Leslie was the captain of West Virginia University’s women’s soccer team, and has previously repped Canada at the U-20 level. Lemire, meanwhile, has most recently been balling in the Portuguese league for Clube de Albergaria.

🦉Calgary Wild made a big off-field signing with the addition of Georgia Simmerling to their Partnership and Sales Division. Simmerling is a four-time Canadian Olympian, and the first Canadian athlete who has competed in three different sports in three different Olympic Games. Now she will bring that compete and talent to the Wild front office.

CanMNT

🛡️ Canada Soccer announce Canadian Shield tournament

The Canadian men’s national team will be home for the summer with the announcement of the 2025 Canadian Shield tournament this past week.

A new competition created in partnership between Canada Soccer and MLSE will see high-level friendlies played at Toronto’s BMO Field each summer. This is the first of what is expected to be an annual competition, which is exciting news for Canadian men’s national team fans in Toronto.

This year’s inaugural edition features Canada, Ukraine, Côte D’Ivoire and New Zealand. Canada take on Ukraine on Saturday, June 7, while New Zealand play Côte D’Ivoire later that day. Then on Tuesday, June 10, Canada face off against Côte D’Ivoire and New Zealand play Ukraine.

These will be more excellent tests for Canada, as Ukraine are a talented European side, currently ranked 25th in the World. Côte D’Ivoire, meanwhile, are the defending African Cup of Nations winner.

Canada Soccer has already announced the CanMNT will play Romania and Wales in those respective nations in September, while they will play a still-to-be-confirmed opponent in Montréal in October.

Most importantly, the Canadian Shield friendlies serve as preparation for the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup, which begins on June 14. Tickets are available now.

Canucks Abroad

🌍 Canucks Abroad

🇮🇹 Evelyne Viens scored. Roma travelled to AC Milan in the Championship group phase of Serie A. Roma came lying off the gate with Evelyne Viens finding the back of the net in the fourth minute. Unfortunately, that would be Roma’s only goal as they went down 3-1 to Milan.

🇵🇹 Marie-Yasmine Alidou found the net in the Lisbon Derby. Benfica hosted cross-town rivals Sporting CP in the Lisbon darby. Alidou started for Benfica and scored in the 40+1st minute. The game ended with 3-2 for Benfica.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ashley Lawrence registered a game-winning assist. WSL league leaders Chelsea travelled to fourth-placed Manchester City in an evenly matched game. The match was held at 1-1 for the majority of the game. However, in stoppage time, CanWNT Ashley Lawrence put in a cross to assist Erin Cuthbert’s goal-winning header. The game ended 2-1 for Chelsea.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jayde Riviere assisted against Aston Villa. Third-placed Manchester United travelled to lowly Aston Villa and thumped the home side 4-0. CanWNT youngster Jayde Riviere contributed a textbook cross into the box to assist Elisabeth Terland’s second goal.

🇫🇷 Vanessa Gilles scored in the Rhône-Alpes Derby. The second CanWNT baller to score in a darby this weekend. Olympique Lyonnais travelled to darby rivals Saint-Etienne and punished the opposition with a 5-0 defeat. Vanessa Gilles is among the goal scorers as she scored the fourth goal with a header in the box. Lyon are in first place in the league with 10 points cleared from second-placed PSG.

🇺🇸 Adriana Leon scored her first goal for San Diego. Leon and the San Diego Waves hosted fellow national teammate Bianca St. Georges and the Utah Royals. This game was a five-goal thriller as the home side broke the 2-2 deadlock three minutes after Utah’s equalizer. Adriana Leon scored her first goal in the club in the 37th minute. 

🧊 Want some more Jonathan David transfer rumours? This time, once again, coming from Arne Slot’s Liverpool. Anfield needs a striker, and Darwin Nunez is struggling to score goals consistently. It is rumoured that Jonathan David has been identified to be the man for the job. However, Liverpool are also eyeing proven Premier League strikers in Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins and Newcastle’s Alexander Isak. Liverpool love to Moneyball their transfers, and with JD leaving as a free agent this summer, the stars seem to be aligning.

Follow Canucks Abroad on Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram.

Canucks at Home

🏡 Canucks at Home

📺 CPL matches on TSN. Canadian football is going mainstream! For those without a OneSoccer subscription (which you definitely should have), you will be able to watch some CPL action this April on TSN. Four games will be aired, starting with a rematch of the 2024 North Star Cup final between Forge and Cavalry on April 5th. Pacific vs Forge will be aired on April 12th, with Cavalry vs Vancouver and Cavalry vs Ottawa to be played on April 18th and 26th. Hopefully this is the beginning of more CPL on TSN.

Follow Canucks At Home on Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram.

Other news

📰 In other news

💰 The City of Toronto wants to resell World Cup tickets. That’s right, Toronto is moving into the ticket scalping game. The municipal government is tapping into its special event reserve fund to spend $10.8 million on BMO Field suites, lounges, and ticket packages. MLSE will resell these packages to corporations at a markup price. One of the main motivations for reselling tickets is to alleviate the financial pressure of hosting World Cup games, including stadium expansion and renovations. Toronto City is spending $380 million for the World Cup. Nonetheless, is reselling tickets for profit somewhat concerning? Yes. Does it make financial sense? Yes.

🔴 TFC’s woes continue for another week. Toronto FC travelled to New Jersey to face off against the New York Red Bulls without the leadership of Jonathan Osorio and Richie. Toronto conceded a penalty right before the half but looked dangerous on counter-attacks. Deandre Kerr’s goal came from an effective counter started with a 1-2 pass between Derrick Etienne and Lorenzo Insigne. Hope restored. But, as the story goes with TFC, Sean Johnson can only do so much when the defenders are as porous as Montréal potholes. Case in point: Emil Forsberg’s second goal for NYRB is shocking from a defensive point of view. TFC were so close to walking away with a point, but the game ended 2-1 for NYRB. 

🔵 Another rough night for Montréal. Bleu-Blanc-Noir travelled to the country music capital, Nashville. CFM cannot finish nor create effective chances. With Joel Waterman away with the CanMNT at the Nations League, MTL are without their defensive leader. Prince Owusu did not impress, and Caden Clark needs more game time to develop chemistry with the striker. For MTL supporters, this was depressing. The only silver lining of the game was in the club’s youth academy graduates: Nathan Saliba and Aleksandr Guboglo. Both youngsters were exciting to watch and showed real potential. Clearly, the youth system is producing gems, but it needs to produce a goal scorer ASAP. The game ended 3-0 for Nashville. MTL and TFC are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

🌊 Vancouver’s first L of the season. The Cap's hosted Chicago without key figures: Sam Adekugbe, Ryan Gauld, and Tristan Blackmon are injured, with Ali Ahmed and Brian White who are away at the Nations League. The Whitecaps conceded the first goal in the opening minute but responded 13 minutes later with a close-range banger from Daniel Rios. Despite the goal, it was not enough to hold off Chicago as they came in waves and capitalized on Vancouver’s mistakes. The game ended 3-1 for Chicago. On the bright side for Vancouver, despite the scoreline, the Cap’s attacking prowess posed were effective and gave Chicago’s defence moments of panic. For Vancouver, it was their slight mistakes that made the difference.

✅ Northern Picks

This week’s picks come from Gonzalo Alfaro (@gonalpha). He’s a Designer, Photographer and Art Director from Argentina currently living in Sicily. He started his @casacadelmedio account during Covid-19 lockdown as a way to reconnect with the beautiful game through design.

🎧 What to listen to

“Trinchera Avanzada” by Babasónicos. Not too recent, but still kinda new. This is a rock-punk group from the 90s that reinvented itself without losing their deeper escence. This week I’ve been listening to the song “Trinchera” on a loop. Not the best for someone wanting to learn spanish.

📺 What to watch

“Papota” by Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso. These guys have been pushing the limit in the Indie/Trap scene in Argentina for a long time and they’ve recently made it to the big stage with a fantastic Tiny Desk Concert. “Papota” is the sequel to that success and paints a good picture of the modern musical scene. Bizarre but nice.

📚 What to read

“Under the tongue” by Soccerbible x Adidas. Not a word read, but an image read. Great for the eyes, and wonderful for the heart.