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September 1st Edition
Latifah Abdu heads west, CanMNT roster drop, transfer market news & more!
Happy European transfer deadline day to all who celebrate!
At 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT, the European window will slam shut. While this has already been a massive summer of movement for CanMNT players ahead of next year’s World Cup, there could yet be some more big moves to come before the deadline.
Plus, a spicy move in the NSL, a CanMNT squad drop and more ahead in this week’s edition of The Northern Pitch.
In this week's edition:
NSL
🏔️ Latifah Abdu joins Vancouver Rise
Vancouver Rise
Just four and a half months into its debut season, the NSL already has its first inter-league transfer. And it’s nothing short of a blockbuster.
After Latifah Abdu’s surprising revelation that she wanted to leave the Montréal Roses last week, the club dealt her to the Vancouver Rise — a move announced on Saturday.
With six goals so far this season, she departs Montréal as their leading scorer. Montréal currently sit in the fourth and final playoff spot, one point behind Vancouver Rise, who are in second and currently on a seven-match unbeaten run.
An interesting part of the deal: Abdu will not feature in the remaining regular-season matches against Montréal. That included a 2-1 win for the Rise on Saturday.
Prior to joining Montréal, Abdu spent several seasons playing in France. She has one appearance for the Canadian women’s national team.
I think we’re all now hoping for a Vancouver vs. Montréal showdown come playoffs.
CanMNT
🇨🇦 CanMNT squad announced for friendlies
Canada Soccer
For the first time since a heartbreaking quarter-final exit at the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup, the Canadian men’s national team are back in action this week.
They take on Romania in Bucharest on Friday at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT, a solid test against a very good European side.
This past week, Jesse Marsch named his squad for the September window, which also includes a match against Wales next Tuesday.
Newer faces include 21-year-old Jayden Hibbert, a dual-national goalkeeper for Atlanta United who had previously represented Jamaica at the senior level. Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, meanwhile, makes a long-awaited return to the national team after putting together a solid season so far while on loan at Charlotte, while veteran Junior Hoilett is back in the mix as well.
While the likes of Moïse Bombito, Alistair Johnston and Alphonso Davies miss out through injury, this is still a very strong Canada group, and one that will get a chance to show why they can make some serious noise on home soil in 2026.
Transfer Roundup
🔄 Transfer market news & rumours
Villarreal
As August ends, the transfer market has been active and here are some of the highlights and rumours of this window.
🇪🇸 Tani Oluwaseyi officially a Yellow Submarine. Minnesota United have sold the CanMNT striker for CAD $10 million to La Liga club Villarreal. Tani will be joining fellow CanMNT teammate Tajon Buchanan.
☀️ Bay FC acquires Collins and Courtnall from NC. A third of this deal was completed last week, when Bay FC traded $60k in intra-league transfer funds to North Carolina for CanWNT defender Sydney Collins. Now, they’ve paired that with the loan signing of CanW20 defender Brooklyn Courtnall. The club was also got busy extending Sydney Collins’ contract through 2027 with a club option for 2028.
🏴 Derek Cornelius to Rangers? DC vs AJ in the Old Firm? It’s looking more and more likely. Late on Sunday night Gianluca Di Marzio doubled down on reports that Rangers are trying hard to pry to Canadian central defender on loan from Marseille. They aren’t the only team intereted, French outlet FootMercato have said that Serie A club Cremonese are trying to co-opt the deal. But the Scottish side look like the favourite at time of writing.
🇩🇪 Ali Ahmed is wanted by Schalke. Canadians are (the good kind of) wanted in Europe. TSN’s Matthew Scianitti has reported that the 2. Bundesliga club has lodged their interest — though the Whitecaps don’t seem to be budging. He’ll join Stephen Eustáquio in staying with his club through the end of the window.
🤔 Who else might be on the move? Cyle Larin, Niko Sigur and a few other names have popped up as well in the national team picture, and could have a new club by midafternoon tomorrow.
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Canucks Abroad
🌍 Canucks Abroad
Reading FC
🏴 Liam Fraser worldie. Reading fans enjoyed what was a bit of a collector’s moment this week in the second round of the Carabao Cup. LF scored his first goal since one back in June 2024 with FC Dallas against Minnesota United. And boy, what a goal it was. Fraser set up and struck an absolute beauty in a 2-1 win.
🇩🇪 Vanessa Gilles is a serial winner. One game down in her Bayern career, and Gilles already has a trophy with her new club. Bayern lifted the German Supercup, 4-2 over Wolfsburg. Gilles made her debut in the 82nd minute to get her seventh club trophy.
Promise David vs. Nathan Saliba. USG versus Anderlecht was all it promised to be… and more. Despite having to come off the bench, Tobi’s solo stoppage-time effort all but guaranteed victory in the 2-0 affair. Nathan Saliba, meanwhile, was the one to be hit by the CanMNT’s recent red-card-for-club bug this week. He was sent off on a double-booking in the 81st minute.
Matteo De Brienne assist. MDB was back to his old attacking tricks. The marauding left-back provided his second assist of the season with a pacy cross. It helped GAIS defeat Häcken, 2-1.
Major League Soccer
⚽️ MLS News & Recaps
Toronto FC
🍁 It’s the 401 Darby/Le Classique. This felt like a restart of the Darby with major changes in both teams and now players featuring for the opps. Despite the slow start and the relative low score of a 1-1 draw, the game did not disappoint. It was action packed with back and forth attacking with former players of each other’s club performing at a high level. Prince Owusu had some pivotal chances, and so did Jules-Anthony Vilsaint with a deep run in the dying minutes. In from Dante Sealy scored in the 82nd with hometown legend Oso scoring in the 89th minute. This was a proper Darby with energy and passion with the players fighting for the badge.
Canadian Premier League
🍁 CPL News & Recaps
CPL
🐎 Cavalry put a pause on Forge’s run. The 2024 Champs, Cavalry have stomped the all-time champs Forge 4-1 at ATCO Field. Tobias Warschewski picked up a brace with his second goal being an absolute lazer to the bottom corner. With this loss, Forge are now only three points ahead of Atletico Ottawa.
🦖 Ottawa keeping pressure on Forge. Ottleti hosted last-placed Vancouver FC and handed the away team a 3-1 defeat. This was a particular moment for Sam Salter, as he scored his fourteenth goal of the season. The Laval baller has tied the league record with most goal in a regular season and will likely break that record.
🌾 Valour held to a draw at home. Pacific FC travelled to Winnipeg and were held to a 1-1 draw with all goals coming within the first half. It is worthy to note that the goal scored by Diego Konincks is a proper worldie. The result helps neither team in the standings. In fact, it aided Ottleti the most, as they clinched a play-off spot thanks to Pacific dropping points.
⚓️ Halifax and York to come. There’s more scheduled action on tap for Labour Day Monday. These two sides will once again meet in one of the CPL’s few annually-scheduled matches. The tradition stems back to 2021, when the meeting between the two sides ended in a back-and-forth 3-3 draw.
This week’s CPL fixtures:
Monday, September 1
Halifax Wanderers vs York United (3:00PM ET @ Wanderers Ground)
Friday, September 5
York United vs. Cavalry FC (7:30PM ET @ York Lions Stadium)
Vancouver FC vs. Valour FC (7:30PM PT @ Willoughby Community Park)
Saturday, September 6
Forge FC vs. Halifax Wanderers (4PM ET @ Hamilton Stadium)
Atlético Ottawa vs. Pacific FC (7PM ET @ Starlight Stadium)
Northern Super League
🌌 NSL News & Recaps
Northern Super League
🪽 The Rapid swept the Tides. Ottawa thumped Halifax at home 5-0. The first half ended 1-0 for Ottawa. A brief moment in which Halifax could salvage but things went south soon into the second half. This was a battering that Halifax would want to quickly move on from.
1️⃣ AFC stay on top. Toronto can’t stop and won’t stop. The league leaders played Calgary at home and walked away with a 2-0 dub. This was a good day in the office for Zoe Burns as she picked up a brace. With this win, AFC now have 35 points while second placed Rise have 29 points.
🏔️ Vancouver gained 3 points from MTL (and also Abdu). This was a double L weekend for the Roses. They travelled to Vancouver and were dealt a 2-1 loss in an otherwise tight game. On top of that, it was announced that Latifah Abdu had also made the switch from MTL to the Rise. Ouch. For Vancouver, this was a convincing win with a stand-out performance from Quinn. They picked up two assists in this game.
This week’s NSL fixtures:
Saturday, September 6
Halifax Tides vs. AFC Toronto (3PM AT @ Wanderers Grounds)
Vancouver Rise vs. Calgary Wild (4PM PT @ Swangard Stadium)
Sunday, September 7
Ottawa Rapid vs. Montréal Roses (12PM ET @ TD Place)