September 23rd Edition

If you’re reading this and are a professional Canadian baller who plays in Europe, odds are pretty good that you scored a goal this week.

It was an incredible seven days of action for Canadians both across the pond and at home with several scoring high-profile goals. That will only make selection for big upcoming matches for both national teams that much more difficult, as a lot of different players are starting their European season in top form.

Plus, it’s Canadian Championship final week, CanWNT are set to take on one of the top teams in the World, and much more ahead in The Northern Pitch.

In this week's edition:

• 🏆 Whitecaps looking for three-peat

• 🇪🇸 CanWNT to play World Cup champs

• ⚽️ Champions League is back!

• 🌍 Canucks Abroad

• 🏡 Canucks at Home

• 📰 Other News

• ✅ Northern Picks

CanChamps

🏆 Whitecaps looking for CanChamp three-peat against TFC

For the third straight year, the Voyageurs Cup trophy will be hoisted on the pitch at BC Place.

But will it be the host Vancouver Whitecaps who lift it a third consecutive time on Wednesday, September 25 (10:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. PT) or can Toronto FC add a record ninth Voyageurs Cup to their cabinet?

This is the fifth time that Toronto FC and the Whitecaps have met in the CanChamp finale, with TFC winning the first four meetings, before the Whitecaps finally clawed one back on penalty kicks in 2022.

The Whitecaps will also be looking to catch their rivals from Ontario in another record. If they can pick up a third consecutive Canadian Championship win, they would be only the second team to do that in the competition’s history after Toronto FC did the three-peat during their glory days of 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The Caps have undoubtedly been the better team this season in terms of league form. They have just one loss in their past six in all competitions, this past weekend 4-2 to the Los Angeles Galaxy with a heavily rotated side, and sit seventh in the MLS West with 46 points. One of those wins was 1-0 over Pacific FC, helping them clinch a 2-0 aggregate semifinal victory in the Canadian Championship. They also beat Cavalry FC on away goals in the quarters to get to this point.

Toronto FC, meanwhile, also needed away goals to defeat Forge FC in the semifinal after losing the opening leg in Hamilton. They were much more comfortable in the opening two rounds, beating League1 Ontario side Simcoe County Rovers 5-0 in the preliminary round and League1 Québec’s CS Saint-Laurent 11-1 in the quarters. They, however, only have one victory in their past four in MLS and sit eighth in the MLS East on 36 points.

In a one-game cup final, however, form often goes out the window. It will be which of these teams wants it more on Wednesday, and with a trophy and a spot in the Concacaf Champions Cup on the line both times will be incredibly motivated for what could be a make-or-break moment for their respective seasons.

All of the action will be available live on OneSoccer and FuboTV.

CanWNT

🇪🇸 CanWNT to play World Cup champs Spain in October

For the first time since their heroic performance at the 2024 Paris Olympic games, the Canadian women’s national team will be back in action on Friday, October 25 in Almendralejo, Spain (2:45 p.m. ET / 11:45 PT).

There, they will face an incredible test against the defending World Cup winners, world #3 Spain. Canada has never defeated Spain in three previous meetings.

Canada and Spain are both coming off a 2024 Olympic games where they ended their tournament with a loss to Germany, with Canada falling in the quarterfinals in penalty kicks, while Spain lost 1-0 in the Bronze medal match.

Also of note, an announcement on who will coach this team in the interim during the October window—as Bev Priestman remains suspended—will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Champions League

⚽️ Champions League is back!

The Champions League is back. Cue the music. Our Canucks performed this week, and we will recap some of their performances with their respective clubs.

Bayern Munich were mean to Dinamo Zagreb. It sounds childish, but how else to describe a 9-2 thrashing of Croatia’s most celebrated club? The Bavarian giants hosted Dinamo at the Allianz Arena, and the CanMNT captain started at left-back. Phonzy had a good game, with a 96% passing completion rate and winning a penalty in the 76th minute. It is only the first game, but Bayern Munich may be a favourite for this new edition of the Champions League.

Alistair Johnston enjoyed a massive dub with Celtic. The bhoys in green hosted Slovak club Slovan Bratislava at the legendary Celtic Park, a stadium unlike any other on a European night. AJ was featured in the starting lineup in Celtic’s 5-1 triumph over the opposition. Like Phonzy, Johnston also won a penalty converted by Arne Engels. Despite the positive, AJ also picked up a yellow in the 22nd minute. Regardless, Celtic started their European campaign on a positive note.

Unlike the previous two, Lille’s first game began with an L. Jonathan David featured in Lille’s first game away at Sporting CP. The Portuguese giants completely outclassed Lille. Les Dogues struggled to contain Sporting’s attacking threats, and to make matters worse, they conceded a red card in the 40th minute. JD was given a yellow for protesting the decision. The game ended 2-0 for Sporting CP. Despite the result, Lille’s ability to contain the goal line as such is also impressive. A silver lining that is irrelevant without the crucial three points.

Inter Milan performed admirably. Internazionale travelled to the Etihad to play against Prem Champs Manchester City. Despite Tajon Buchanan being sidelined due to injury, his club were able to walk out of Manchester with a point. With Man City’s squad, that is a feat that one will admire. The game ended 0-0.

Canucks Abroad

🌍 Canucks Abroad

⬆️ CanMNT move up to 38th ranked. Canada is on the rise. The CanMNT ranking is slowly catching up with its CanWNT counterparts. The CanMNT have moved up from 40th to 38th ranked. Canada is above Nigeria, Venezuela, and Algeria.

🇮🇹 Evelyne Viens clutched with a brace. AS Roma faced off against Servette in the UWCL qualifiers. The CanWNT forward scored in the 85th minute and scored her second of the night in the 93rd minute. Viens sealed Roma’s 3-1 win over Servette, giving them a two-goal lead for the second leg of the qualifying match.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rylee Foster joins Everton. It’s official: Rylee Foster returns to Merseyside. The former Liverpool keeper has now joined arch-rivals Everton in the WSL. After 19 appearances with New Zealand club Wellington Phoenix, Foster will have another opportunity to play in England on a short-term deal.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 WSL debuts for United and Liverpool. Across the other side of the Merseyside divide, a Canadian debut was on our hands. Back from Les Rouges’ run to the quarter-finals at the U20 Women’s World Cup, Olivia Smith was named to Liverpool’s opening day XI, going 70 minutes in a 1-1 draw against Leicester. Over in Manchester, Simi Awujo would also get a first runout of her Red Devils career, picking up the final 13 minutes of a 3-0 win over West Ham at Old Trafford.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Oh so close from Sabrina D’Angelo. Sticking in the WSL, it was only the first match of the season — but we came so nearly close to a goalkeeper goal. The Welland, ON native made the long trek up field and connected on a late Villa free-kick, only to see it diverted over the bar for a 1-0 final.

🇨🇭 Mathieu Choinière made his debut and scored for Grasshoppers FC. Choinière’s career over the last two years has been impressive. In his first game in Switzerland, the Montreal baller scored in Grasshoppers’ 2-2 draw against Servette. Not only did he score an equalizer, he celebrated in front of the ultras. Welcome to Zurich.

🇺🇸 Nichelle Prince scored for KC Current. Nichelle Prince scored her first goal for Kansas City against the Washington Spirit. Prince’s goal came in the fourth minute and contributed to KC Current’s 3-0 win over the Spirit.

🇭🇷 Niko Sigur scored his first goal of the season. The CanMNT youth has scored his first goal of the season in Hadjuk Split 4-1 win over Gorica. Sigur ran into the box and scored Hadjuk’s fourth goal in the 73rd minute.

🇫🇷 Jonathan David scored his fourth goal of the season. Lille faced off against Strasbourg in a 3-3 draw. Lille were down 2-3 until the visiting club conceded a penalty in the 83rd minute. Step forward, the Iceman. JD calmly slotted the goal to salvage Lille a point.

🇳🇱 Luka Kulenovic is off the mark for Heracles. The 24-year-old striker was the subject of a rumoured €900k move to the Eredivisie at the end of July. Now, the CanMNT-eligible triple-national is scoring in that same Eredivisie. Kulenovic had a nice strike early on in the side’s 2-1 win over Njimegen.

🇧🇪 Kwasi Poku is enjoying life in Belgium. RWD Molenbeek travelled away to Genk’s U23 team and defeated the home side 3-0. The former Forge baller scored a brace against the opposition. These are his first two goals in the Belgian second division.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Liam Millar picked up his second assist of the season. Life in the English Championship is looking nice for Liam Millar. The CanMNT winger registered an assist in Hull’s second goal against Stoke City.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Aribim Pepple’s first (and second) for Southend. The former Cavalry starlet, now on loan from Luton to the National League, opened his account on the season with two goals and an assist in a 4-2 win at Solihull. The latter of his two goals came off a flick-on from a corner.

👏 Milestones galore… and no, we’re not talking about the restaurant. It felt like just yesterday that players were signing abroad en masse. But just this week, a handful of players hit notable milestones. Alphonso Davies made his 200th appearance in all competitions for Bayern, while Stephen Eustaquio hit 100 for Porto. Staying in Portugal, Marie-Yasmine Alidou hit the big 5-0 for Benfica.

🇵🇹 Speaking of Marie-Yasmine Alidou (and Chandra Davidson!)… Alidou would find the back of the net on her 50th appearance for Benfica in a 4-0 win over Famalicão. Fellow Canuck Chandra Davidson would be named player of the match after providing not one, but two assists.

📝 NCAA notes. It was back to school this week for many on the CanW20 roster — and many also staying on form as they returned for conference play south of the border. Just to name a few, Laurence Gladu came up with back-to-back shutouts for USC, Kierra Blundell fired home a brace for Arizona State’s first win in the Big 12, Nyah Rose made it 15 goals on the season for SMU, and Annabelle Chukwu would seal a 1-0 win for Notre Dame.

Ismaël Koné featured in his first Choc/Darby des Olympiques. Olympique Lyonnais hosted Olympique de Marseille, one of the fiercest rivalries in France and Europe. This was his baptism by fire in French football for the young Montrealer. Derek Cornelius was suspended from this game due to a red card, but Ismaël Koné was featured in the starting lineup. Despite being subbed off in the 67th minute, Koné got to experience his first French Darby win in OM’s 3-2 win over OL.

Follow Canucks Abroad on Twitter and Instagram.

Canucks at Home

🏡 Canucks at Home

🫨 Nathan Saliba saved MTL with a banger. The MTL homegrown talent is steadily impressing the supporters and making a name for himself in the league. CFM travelled midweek to Foxborough to face off against the Revolution. The game went poorly for MTL until Tom Pearce scored a stunning free-kick, and then Saliba went viral with an equalizer. From the edge of the box, the MTL youth turned under pressure and scored a curler with his left foot. Bang. A 2-2 result in New England was vital for MTL.

👕 Jacob Shaffelburg is the 12th most popular MLS kit. This is the ranking that no one expected, but low-key matters. The stats are measured based on the sales within the first eight months of the season. Jacob Shaffelburg is the most popular Canadian player in terms of jersey sales. Not only is he the only Canadian player in the top 25 most-sold kits, but no other Canadian from the three Canadian MLS clubs has made it on the list. Maritime Messi is more popular than Jonathan Osorio, Ali Ahmed and Mathieu Choinière.

Follow Canucks Abroad on Twitter and Instagram.

Other News

📰 In other news this week

‼️ It was a double matchday week in the MLS. All Canadian clubs had games on Wednesday and Saturday. Let’s get into them.

🌊 Vancouver picked up a point in Texas. The Whitecaps travelled South to the city that gave us Chopped and Screwed hip-hop. Despite conceding a penalty, Vancouver’s attack remained relentless all game. The Caps are finally rewarded with an equalizer from a Brian White goal in the 73rd minute. The game ended 1-1.

😕 It was a big game in LA for Vancouver. This was a thoroughly entertaining six-goal thriller. Unfortunately, the home side won. LA Galaxy is undefeated at home, while the Caps have the best away record on the West Coast—stats that the commentators mentioned before kick-off. The highlights in themselves are thoroughly entertaining unless you’re a Caps fan. The game ended 4-2 for the Galaxy.

🔴 It was a disappointing night at BMO versus MLS Champs. Wilfriend Nancy continues handing Ls to TFC. It was a long night for the boys in red. Despite having chances in Columbus’ box, the shots were not threatening. For the Crew, the individual brilliance of Cucho Hernandez unlocked TFC’s defence. While the second goal is an arguable foul against Raoul Petretta. The game ended 2-0 for the Columbus Crew.

🥲 With no Insigne and Bernadeschi on the bench, it was a long night for TFC. The boys in red were missing key players in their starting lineup. Lorenzo Insigne and Jonathan Osorio were out due to injury, while Richie Laryea and Bernadeschi started on the bench. Rotation is key, especially when thinking long-term with the playoffs approaching. TFC walked away with a 2-0 loss to the Rapids. Former MTL baller Djordje Milhailovic played like it was Le Classique.

👏 Josef Martinez finally scored. That’s right, Martinez has finally scored in Montreal’s 2-0 win over the Chicago Fire. CFM looked confident and played with a swagger at Stade Saputo. Precise passing, confident dribbling and taking their chances on the net when possible. This was a team that did not hold back but played positively. Along with Josef Martinez scoring, Caden Clark found the back of the net with a cheeky chip at the near post. MTL are now 1 point from a play-off spot.

⚓️ Honours even in Halifax. Table watchers, rejoice! — for all eight teams were finally back on the same number of matches played after Pacific’s midweek meeting with Halifax. This matchup also felt like a lot déjà vu for those Wanderers, after a 31st minute red card to Dan Nimick. Still, the ten-man Wanderers would manage to take the lead twice, first through Massimo Ferrin, then Nassim Mèkideche after Moses Dyer’s equalizer. Thomas Meilleur-Giguère would lift the Tridents to a late 2-2 draw with a stoppage-time kick-in-the-teeth for the home fans.

🐎 Cavalry ride into third at York Lions Stadium. Questions were once again asked of Benjamín Mora’s side after Cavalry opened up brightly on the road. We would get our first answer 20 minutes in, as Ali Musse tapped in a double-rebound from close range. Then the magical — after Valour’s Diogo Ressurreição nearly beat Thomas Vincensini from halfway last week, Sergio Camargo got the job done, lobbing the York keeper from all of 35 yards. Mora, to his credit, owned up to instructing his keeper to play a high defensive line post-match… as well as another late red card in what was an extremely chippy match with 10 cards dished out as it ended 2-0 to the visitors.

⚓️ Halifax draw again, this time in Winnipeg. Leading off Saturday, the Wanderers would go on the road to take on fellow outsiders-looking-in Valour. Two evenly-matched sides all the way through past the hour mark, it looked like the hosts would get all three points after Shaan Hundal’s opener. However, Halifax would get their own late equaliser, thanks to Zachary Fernandez. What that all meant was a 1-1 result that was unhelpful for both sides, losing ground to Pacific and Vancouver in 5th and 6th.

🔨 Forge clinch in Langley. The first side to lay claim to a postseason berth this season, the Hammers would get the job done on the road in the back half of Saturday’s back-to-back. Vancouver would react late on as TJ Tahid scored in the 88th minute — but consolation would be all that was, given David Choinière, Béni Badibanga and Noah Jensen all finding the net before that, for a 3-1 Forge win.

🔱 Another draw for Pacific. As their midweek opponents Halifax did before them, Pacific would come out of week 24 with two points, slightly extending their lead over the chasing pack. Ottawa would have Aboubacar Sissoko to thank, as despite Moses Dyer’s fourth goal for Pacific since a July swap deal with Vancouver, a single point from the 1-1 draw would see them become the second team this weekend to clinch a spot in the playoffs.

✅ Northern Picks

This week’s picks come from The Northern Pitch team. Make sure to give the newsletter a follow on Instagram @thenorthernpitch.

✅ Who to follow

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON PLANTS is a brand doing some amazing football shirt re-works. They’re almost all 1 of 1 and guaranteed to catch some eyes. Give them a follow to see when the next batch drops!

📺 What to watch

Looking for football history? Fun statistical deep-dives? … The British Jon Bois? Well, look no further than Route None! Since coming across this fledgling channel on a Saturday afternoon a few months back, we can’t believe that their high-quality editing and animation has equated to less than 40,000 subs.

👕 What to buy

Toronto-based KOTN have dropped a lovely pair of football kits paying homage to Cairo’s cherished El-Nady community sporting clubs. Needless to say: we’re a fan.