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Photo Credit: Matt Zambonin
CPL In Review: Matchweek 15 – Draw!
By The Canadian Premier League entered the back-half of the season with parity at the forefront: of the four matches played this weekend, all but one ended in a draw. The result sees minimal movement on the league table, with Halifax lifting itself over Valour at the bottom of league standings.
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That isn’t to say there weren’t goals and drama aplenty, however. Without further ado, here’s an at-a-glance recap of each Canadian Premier League match from the weekend:
Halifax Wanderers 3 – 1 Valour FC
Valour got off to a hot start with the pinpoint-passing over Themi Antoniglu allowing Shaan Hundal to fire the ball home from close range, but Halifax stormed back to a thrilling home win after Cale Loughrey’s first professional goal tied the game and a penalty brace from Dan Nimick – who actually had three shots from the spot – seeing Halifax return to the ‘fortress at home’ club we’d expected from last season.
Halifax Wanderers Quick Take: The Wanderers engine is revved up and looked like what fans expected to see after 2023. A composed performance saw players like Daniel Nimick and Ryan Telfer shine, with Gheisar-ball seeing the team keep the pressure on to great effect all match long.
Valour FC Quick Take: It’s the tale of 2024 for the Winnipeggers, who struggle to put in ‘full ninety’ performances. They opened strong, but lacked the grit needed to hold momentum once they had the lead and never really restored cohesion after falling behind.
Vancouver FC 1 – 1 York United
After a first half that saw the hosts perhaps edge things out, the second half kicked off with a kit-issue that will perhaps match Mathew Arnone lore: Moses Dyer was being substituted on, but had to fix something with his kit. Due to this, Vancouver started the second half down a man while that was sorted, at which point Molham Babouli put the visitors in front. Showing resolve after their previous tough losses at home, however, Afshin Ghotbi’s side fought back and secured a last-gasp equalizer after 16-year-old Grady McDonnell found veteran striker Alejandro Diaz in the box.
Vancouver FC Quick Take: It wasn’t the most clinical performance from Vancouver, who put just two of nine shots on target, but after some blowout losses at home, a sturdier defensive performance was the top priority. With newcomer Olivier Rommens starting the match, it’s clear the head coach was keen to implement changes, too.
York United FC Quick Take: Benjamin Mora came just minutes away from trimming the distance to first-place, so he’ll be bitterly disappointed not to have locked things down late in the game. That being said, a draw was probably a fair result in what was an evenly-contested night at Willoughby.
Atletico Ottawa 2 – 2 Valour FC
Valour’s second game of this matchweek got off to a horrendous start after conceding an own-goal in less than a minute, but former CS Saint-Laurent man Safewane Mlah – in his first start for the side – equalized in a first half that saw Valour put in the better showing. That consistency paid off in the second half when Gianfranco Facchineri put in a tantalizing header to put the visitors in front, though Ruben Del Campo would find a step from defender Tass Mourdoukoutas to fire in an equalizer later on, with Jonathan Viscosi keeping the scores level with a tremendous double-save minutes from time.
Atletico Ottawa Quick Take: Make no mistake, Valour are lucky to have gotten a point here: zero shots on target in a dismal first half and an overall xG of 0.85 paints a good picture of proceedings. It was an uncharacteristically sloppy night for Ottleti, though they remain five points in front due to similar results elsewhere.
Valour FC: After playing two matches in quick succession, a point on the road against the league leaders will satisfy things at a glance, but really this a match Valour could have taken. Unfortunate own-goal aside, it was a good performance from the visitors and a promising start for Safwane Mlah.
Cavalry 1 – 1 Forge
Matches between these two sides always provide drama, and this was no different: a struck post from Kyle Bekker and a penalty save from Chris Kalongo had the scoreline all even, but a wild two-minute stretch saw both sides find the back of the net. For Cavalry, this came in the form of a trademark Daan Klomp header to cap off a truly wild sequence of play, but under two minutes later a set piece at the other end saw Tom Field score a freak own goal off his own head.
The visitors would go down to ten men after Daniel Parra was giving his marching orders in the 81st minute, with Cavalry coming close to making them pay: U-21 midfielder Mael Henry took a chance from out of the box that pinged off the crossbar, keeping the scores level at 1-1 in a hotly-contested affair.
Cavalry FC Quick Take: Even with a rough first half, Cavalry should have been table to take this match – especially with a spot kick opportunity for what would have been Tobias Warschewski’s eighth goal of the campaign.
Forge FC Quick Take: This wasn’t Forge’s best showing in the derby, but they’ve left ATCO Field with a point and a showed plenty of resolve to do so. Plus, how nice was it to see Elimane Cisse make his return to the pitch?
With four matches ending up with three draws, there was only one bit of movement on the table: Halifax now puts itself ahead of Valour despite playing two less games, with Patrice Gheisar’s team hoping their rough patch of form is behind them – and Valour hoping a stretch of home games can inspire them to greater heights.
The next matchweek will see York United return home for a top-of-the-table clash against Atletico Ottawa on Friday night, with Vancouver FC hosting Cavalry afterwards. Saturday sees Forge host a re-energized Halifax Wanderers, while Sunday closes the action with Pacific and a now-bottom Valour.
Header Image Photo Credit: Matt Zambonin
