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- November 17th Edition
November 17th Edition
Vancouver Rise FC are NSL Champions, MLS shifts its Calendar, a historic U-17 World Cup for Canada and more.
Forever first.
The NSL Final made it back-to-back weeks of incredible Canadian soccer finales, with the Vancouver Rise winning the first-ever NSL Final over AFC Toronto.
That was the highlight of an incredibly busy week in Canadian soccer, with the men’s national team in action, the U-17s at the World Cup, a big change to the MLS calendar and plenty more ahead in this week’s edition of The Northern Pitch.
In this week’s edition:
NSL
🏆 Vancouver Rise to the top
André Varty / DARBY
They hosted the NSL’s first-ever match, scored its first-ever goal and now the Vancouver Rise are the first-ever NSL champions.
They lifted the Diana B. Matheson trophy at BMO Field on Saturday after a come-from-behind 2-1 win over regular-season winners AFC Toronto.
After a flurry of early chances, Kaylee Hunter converted to give AFC the lead in the 20th minute, her 16th goal in all competitions this season at just 17 years of age. To make matters worse, Quinn suffered an injury and they had to be removed from the match early.
Then, it was snow that caused havoc last week in the CPL final, but Thunder created a delay this time around. Such is life in Canadian winter.
The lightning delay allowed Vancouver Rise to adjust, and in the 54th minute, they equalized on an own goal off of a Nikki Stanton corner kick.
In the 68th minute, as she has done all season, Canadian international Holly Ward cut down the left, beat her defender and struck the ball across the goal for the winner. A star player in the NSL’s first-ever match, she was the hero in its first-ever final.
Hats off to everyone who made this incredible season possible. It was better than anyone could have expected, and this league is only just getting started. With more clubs, and continental competition on the line soon, the Rise better enjoy this trophy — because the next few years the competition for the crown is only going to get more fierce.
MLS
🗓️ It’s official: MLS has shifted its Calendar
MLS
Schedule shift set for 2027. The announced schedule shift was not for the vibes but to match the European transfer window. But is this a mistake?
Aligning with the world’s top leagues. MLS has stated that the schedule shift is designed to align with the schedules of the world’s top leagues. Four strategic benefits have been outlined: optimize global transfer market activity, maximize player signings, align with the FIFA calendar and elevate playoffs. Details can be read towards the bottom of the article.
The new schedule. The 2027-2028 MLS season will kick off in July with a winter break from mid-December to February. The season will end in April with playoffs in May. Two aspects stand out in this new schedule: competition with other sports and weather conditions.
MLS versus all other major leagues. To be fair, MLS has a dedicated fanbase and is currently the fastest-growing league in North America. However, they will have to compete with other major leagues in the same market, such as the NFL, NBA and NHL. It is a bold move to compete against the established North American leagues, but maybe MLS has reached a stability that it can compete.
What does this mean for Canadian clubs? There will be a need for indoor stadiums. For CF Montreal, they can use the Olympic Stadium if the renovations on its roof are completed on time. Likely not. BC Place has a retractable roof, but where will Toronto play? Who knows. Maybe Rogers Center? We love soccer in a baseball stadium.
Not just Canadian clubs, other northern and high-altitude US clubs will also be affected, such as Colorado, New England, Salt Lake City, Chicago, and both New York City teams, to name a few. Although the details of the schedule still needs to be finalized, there will be limited home matches for northern teams during the period of December and February. As we know, especially MTL supporters, this is not the most optimal experience.
How about relegation before a schedule change? Please, do not speak about such things! That is a forbidden topic.
Poll
Do you think the MLS schedule change will help or hurt the Canadian clubs? |
Let us know your thoughts! We’ll share the results in next week’s newsletter.
CanM17
🇨🇦 Heartbreaking end to a historic U-17 World Cup for Canada
Canada Soccer
History was made, but heartbreak soon followed.
The Canadian men’s U-17 side won their first game at a U-17 World Cup, and advanced for the first time over the past few weeks.
But in the knockout stage on Friday, they fell to Ireland in a marathon penalty shootout. Canada had equalized late in the match to force a shootout after Atlético Ottawa defender Sergei Kozlovskiy scored a screamer.
Canadian goalkeeper Jonathan Ransom put on a masterclass in sh*thousery, including doing chin-ups on the crossbar, earning a yellow card, before saving a pen. But it wasn’t enough as Canada fell 9-8 from the spot.
They followed in the footsteps of the Canadian women’s national U-17 side, who were also recently knocked out on penalties by Brazil and the Women’s U-17 World Cup.
Still, this was a strong tournament for the program, a sign of the growth of the talent pool and also, crucially, why it is so important to hold a bunch of camps in the lead up to tournaments.
This group looked as organized and as cohesive a Canada team as we’ve seen, and let’s not forget they were without three of their best players, Toronto FC’s Stefan Kapor, CF Montréal attacker Owen Graham-Roache and André Ali-Gayapersad.
CanMNT
🇪🇨 CanMNT draw with Ecuador in Friendly
André Varty / DARBY
It was another spicy scoreless draw for the Canadian men’s national team in front of a sellout crowd at BMO Field on Thursday night as they tied 0-0 with Ecuador.
Canada’s night looked like it was going to be ruined when Ali Ahmed was sent off in the sixth minute for a high tackle, but the boys rallied. Richie Laryea, in particular, put in a crazy effort, basically playing the entire left side himself and drawing a ridiculous amount of fouls in the process. He is becoming a must-start for Canada, even when the big boys get back.
A depth central defensive pairing of Kamal Miller and Joel Waterman also did the business, with Jesse Marsch having a lot to think about as he selects his back line over the next little while.
The only concern? A third game without goals. Tani Oluwaseyi had a great chance but couldn’t take it, and otherwise it is hard to get too critical of a team down a man not creating enough scoring.
Next up, it’s a Copa rematch with Venezuela in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday night (8:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT on TSN, OneSoccer), a chance for Canada to end their year on a high note, and, hopefully, score a few goals in the process.
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Canucks Abroad
🌍 Canucks Abroad
Manchester United Women
🏴 Jayde Riviere stars in the UWCL. Jayde balled out for United this week in a huge 2-1 win over PSG. The Red Devils stayed perfect in the group stage with the win, which saw Riviere pick up an assist and a crucial block in the final 10 minutes. She was named both Player of the Match awards by UEFA and the club.
🇩🇪 Vanessa Gilles is back. And just in time for Canada’s November/December window friendlies against Japan. Gilles came in off the bench in Bayern’s 3-0 clean sheet victory in the DFB Pokal over Ingolstadt. Sights for sore eyes.
🇮🇹 Évelyne Viens on form. Év is making it harder and harder to not start her against the Nadeshiko. The calls for Stoney to start her last window won’t be any quieter after Viens had the winning assist in Roma’s Darby della Capitale 1-0 result over Lazio.
🏫 NCAA Women’s College Cup underway. It’s already that time of year. CanW20 stars Annabelle Chukwu’s Notre Dame and Kayla Briggs and Noelle Henning’s Michigan State are among the 32 schools into the second round of the Division I tournament. The second round is set to play next Thursday, with a full slate of 16 games.
MLS
⚽️ MLS News & Recaps
Major League Soccer
🍀 Wilfried Nancy to Celtic? This rumour emerged a week ago, but it has now picked up momentum online. Sky Sports has reported that the Columbus Crew have given permission for Nancy to speak with Celtic about their currently vacant managerial position. This supposed rumour now feels legit.
MLS playoff fixtures:
Saturday, November 22nd (Conference semi-final)
Vancouver Whitecaps vs. LAFC (Time TBD @ BC Place)
Canadian Premier League
🍁 CPL News & Recaps
Atletico Ottawa
🦖 Atletico Ottawa are in the transfer rumours this week. Since lifting the North Star Cup, three of their breakout players have attracted the attention of MLS and European clubs.
👀 Noah Abatneh is wanted. The 21-year-old CB has garnered attention from various clubs, notably from Atlanta United and CF Montreal. It has been reported that the English League 2 club, Salford City, is also interested in the young defender.
🔴 Gabriel Antinoro to Toronto FC? Josh Healey’s article on OneSoccer has reported that Gabriel Antinoro could be joining Abatneh in MLS. Toronto FC are interested in the wing-back.
👀 Sergei Kozlovskiy has admirers. It has been reported that the 17-year-old defender has “admirers” in MLS and in Europe. It has not been stated who those admirers are, but the boy can ball. Here’s his volley against Ireland in the U17 World Cup.
Northern Super League
🌌 NSL News & Recaps
Northern Super League
👏 Year one of the NSL was a hit. The league released numbers for its first season during Media Day and many of them were eyewatering. Highlights included over $30 million in revenues, an average player salary of $75k CAD (above the NWSL!), top-five attendance for women’s leagues globally, and over 3 million viewers on linear TV and streaming. Strong foundations.
💰 Funding dollars in the pipeline. The NSL also got a major shoutout from the federal government this week. The suits were in attendance at the NSL Final to announce up to $5.45 million for “transformative upgrades for facilities used by the league across the country” — stadiums and training grounds also used by the CPL, League1 and other soccer bodies nationwide.
Other News
📰 In other news
U SPORTS Soccer
❄️ Drama at U SPORTS Nationals. Last but not least, we have to give a (late) shoutout to U SPORTS, who crowned their champions last week also in the Ontario snow.
🏆 On the men’s side, Carmine Isacco’s York Lions lifted their first Nationals title in ten years. While not quite as snowy as Ottawa’s CPL Final, the Lions fluttered to gold, 1-0, over the Mount Royal Cougars, thanks to an extra-time spot-kick scored by CPL draftee Christian Zeppieri. It was the second game of the day at Varsity Stadium in Toronto after the Montréal Carabins took home bronze in a 5-1 rout of the UQTR Patriotes.
🏆 Down in Hamilton, Nadège Akamse’s Carabins lifted the women’s title over the UBC Thunderbirds, 2-1. Montréal’s first gold since 2022 was all the more sweet as they snapped UBC’s historic 44-game winning streak that traced back to 2023. Earlier in the day, the bronze match was cancelled due to the weather, naming Laval and Trinity Western co-medalists and leading to impromptu celebrations in the snow.