It’s a big week ahead as this Friday Jesse Marsch reveals his long-awaited and much-debated squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

There is already speculation about a few players who have missed the cut, with The Athletic reporting that Kamal Miller and Theo Bair will not be among the final 26 players called up.

Hopefully, those are all the leaks we get, and there are still some surprises when the special roster reveal show takes place on TSN at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT on Friday.

Plus, some big coaching changes in the CPL, a Canadian baller is headed to the Prem, Lawrence’s tough loss in the UWCL final and more in this week’s edition of The Northern Pitch.

The Tigers are hunting in the Premier League again, and among their ranks is Canadian Liam Millar.

The 26-year-old started and went 62 minutes in the playoff final as Hull defeated Middlesbrough, the club of fellow Canadian international Alfie Jones, on Oli McBurnie’s stoppage-time winner at Wembley.

Of course, the final itself was not without drama as Hull City were originally supposed to be playing Southampton before they were disqualified following admissions to being caught spying on Middlesbrough training before their semi-final.

After returning from an ACL injury, Millar finished the season with 36 appearances, putting up three goals and three assists.

He has not played in the Premier League before, but he did make one appearance for Liverpool in the FA Cup in 2019-20. Now Millar will look to complete a dream few weeks by being named to Canada’s squad for the 2026 World Cup.

It was the end of an era for two CPL clubs this week.

On Thursday, Pacific FC announced that they had parted ways with head coach James Merriman. An assistant coach with Pacific since their inaugural year, the Nanaimo-born Merriman took over as head coach in 2022 following the departure of Pa-Madou Kah.

Other than Bobby Smyrniotis and Tommy Wheeldon Jr., Merriman was the longest-serving coach in the league. But since winning a CPL championship in 2021, it has been a downhill slope. Last season, they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019.

Since August 16, 2025, Pacific has gone 17 straight CPL games without a win, so something had to change.

Speaking of change, how about in the capital, where CPL-winning coach Diego Mejía is leaving at the end of May. While it hasn’t been made official where he is going next, plenty of reports indicate that he is moving up the Atlético pipeline to Atlético San Luis in his native Liga MX.

Mejía revolutionized the way that Atleti played during a dominant 2025 season, where they set a league record for goals scored before winning the CPL Final in the snow at TD Place.

It isn’t immediately clear who will be replacing either of these coaches in the long term, but it is certainly a big change with ramifications for the rest of this year’s campaign.

In the end, it wasn’t even close.

Lyonnes entered the 2025-26 UEFA Women’s Champions League Final with dreams of winning a record sixth title. But instead, a stunning second half saw braces from Ewa Pajor and Salma Paralluelo to give Barcelona their third title in four years with a 4-0 victory.

Canadian Ashley Lawrence, who was looking to become just the third Canadian to win the Champions League, following in the footsteps of Kadeisha Buchanan (with Lyonnes) and Alphonso Davies, played the full 90 in the match.

But in the end, there was no stopping the mighty Barca. Lyonnes will look to regroup quickly, however, as this coming weekend is the French league final between Lyonnes and Paris FC.

With AdQuick, executing Out Of Home campaigns is as easy as running digital ads. Plan, deploy, and measure your real-world advertising effortlessly — so your team can scale campaigns and maximize impact without the headaches.

Visit AdQuick.com

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Alistair Johnston is a double winner. AJ and Celtic completed a domestic double this weekend, as the Bhoys beat Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup Final, 3-1, to pair with their Scottish Premiership title win over Hearts last week.

🇮🇹 Évelyne Viens lifts the Cup. Évelyne Viens and Maya Antoine added to their trophy haul this season, also doing the double after Roma defeated Juventus, 1-0 in the Coppa Italia Final on Sunday. Moreover, Viens had the assist on Roma’s winner. They previously pipped Inter and Juventus to the Scudetto.

👑 Cloé Lacasse assist. Pure La-classe. Cloé’s rocking start to the season rolled on, Saturday, as the Royals broke open the deadlock in a 2-1 win over the Denver Summit. It was the most nonchalant of takeaways as Lacasse added her sixth goal contribution of the season.

Follow Canucks Abroad on Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram.

🔴 Chicago light Toronto’s hopes on fire. When, oh when, will Toronto’s losing streak end. As of now, it’ll be at least another month and a half as TFC enter the World Cup break with a 2-1 defeat to the Chicago Fire. Josh Sargent was back and scored an equalizer, but Andrew Gutman’s second-half dagger sealed the result.

🌊 Vancouver back atop the West. For all the off-field challenges the Whitecaps have faced this season, the on-field product is still the same as ever. It was the Brian White show, spurred on by a USMNT snub, as BDub had two goals and two assists in a 4-2 win. And, Ralph Priso scored. What more could you want?

🔵 Montréal find the draw in a goalfest. This one was end to end to end to- you get the gist. Prince Owusu was the star man for MTL again, scoring a hat-trick and getting an assist in a 4-4 thriller against DC. MTL fought back valiantly, never holding the lead in this one.

👋 Ivan Jaime leaves MTL. As soon as it started, the Iván Jaime experiment is over in the 514. While CFMTL had a 5.5 million euro purchase option for the DP midfielder when they agreed his loan from Porto, reports are that it won’t be triggered, especially after the Spaniard wasn’t involved against DC on Saturday.

None! Enjoy the World Cup break (or some more CPL and NSL action, as well) as MLS will be on hold until July 16, returning with a Canadian Classique clash.

Follow Canucks At Home on Twitter and Bluesky.

🐴 Cavalry go top. Thanks to their friends in the nation’s capital, there’s a new top dog … or horse? in the CPL. Cavalry coasted easily past a Pacific side adrift at the bottom of the table, 3-0, to set up an even more intriguing CPL Classic next week against Forge.

🦖 Ottawa send off Diego Mejía with a win. Who’s cutting onions in here? It was a dramatic goodbye, as Ottawa dug deep to preserve Diego Mejía’s undefeated record at TD Place. He marshalled Ottawa to a 12-7-0 record at home, including Sunday’s 2-1 win over Forge, also handing the Hammers their first defeat of the season.

⚓️ Halifax and Toronto at an impasse. Two former York players scored in this one, but the scoreboard at Wanderers Grounds read 1-1 at the end. That’s because ex-Nine Stripe Isaiah Johnston scored his fourth of the year to cancel out Julian Altobelli’s golazo of an opener.

⚜️ Vancouver and Supra leave it late. Fans had to wait a bit to get the goals in this one, but the excitement was definitely there once they arrived. Mo Amissi somehow was denied point-blank by Joakim Milli but scored anyways two minutes later, while Matisse Chrétien had Supra’s late equalizer for the 1-1 finish.

Friday, May 29
Supra du Quebec vs. Inter Toronto (7 PM ET @ Stade Boréale)

Saturday, May 30
Halifax Wanderers vs. Vancouver FC (4 PM AT @ Wanderers Grounds)
Pacific FC vs. Atlético Ottawa (3 PM PT @ Starlight Stadium)

Sunday, May 31
Forge FC vs. Cavalry FC (4 PM ET @ Hamilton Stadium)

Follow Canucks At Home on Twitter and Bluesky.

🏔️ Vancouver Rise win two in a row. Slow start? Who remembers that. The Rise didn’t just win once this week, but twice, and both times, 2-1, to claim their first two wins of the year. Not only that, but they beat Halifax and Toronto, throwing open the five-way playoff race once again.

🌹 Montreal Roses can’t be beat. Not even the league’s second-best side this season could find a way to defeat the Roses. Montréal extended their lead over the NSL this week, with Tanya Boychuk scoring a first-half brace to put them past Choo Hyo-Joo’s second-half consolation for the Ottawa Rapid in another 2-1 finish.

🌊 Halifax Tides lap up the win. Perhaps the less said about Calgary, the better. The Wild suffered another crushing defeat, this time, at the hands of Saorla Miller and Jubes Vallerand, each scoring a brace as the Tides won out 4-0 to close the week. It was another especially good game from Miller and Vallerand, goals aside.

🐐 BC’s finest, teaming up. While this isn’t strictly NSL-related, Vancouver Rise owner Christine Sinclair teamed up this week with Ryan Reynolds and Eoin Duffy to create an animated short, published by BC’s public broadcaster, Knowledge Network. It’s definitely worth the watch.

Friday, May 29
Halifax Tides vs. Ottawa Rapid (6 PM AT @ Wanderers Grounds)

Saturday, May 30
Montréal Roses vs. Vancouver Rise (2 PM ET @ Stade Boréale)

Sunday, May 31
Calgary Wild vs. AFC Toronto (2 PM MT @ McMahon Stadium)

Follow Canucks At Home on Twitter and Bluesky.

Take out an annual subscription to The Blizzard and receive a FREE copy of Whatever will be, will be: A Matter of Life and Football by Felix White!

What's more, you'll save over 10% on the magazine's cover price.

About the book: On the brink of turning 40, Felix White (of The Maccabees and Tailenders fame) sets out on a moving and often hilarious journey to watch a match from every round of the 2024/25 FA Cup. As he travels the country, football becomes a way to explore memory, identity, grief, joy, and growing up.

Subscribe today!