- Home
- Canadian Premier League
- CPL Matchweek 10 Recap – Canada’s Game
Photo Credit: Nick Iwanyshyn
CPL Matchweek 10 Recap – Canada’s Game
By With the World Cup arriving in Canada, the country’s top flight saw four games produce an incredible eighteen goals before a two-week break in play.
Northern Tribune Is At The World Cup – Consider Supporting Us On Patreon
After last week foreshadowed some shifting form, this week treated us to some incredible scenes including an astounding comeback eight-goal thriller from the reigning champions and, over in World Cup host city Toronto, a second consecutive heavy loss for Inter Toronto.
Without further ado, let’s dive into the latest Canadian Premier League matchweek:
Atletico Ottawa 5 – 3 FC Supra du Quebec
Drew Beckie’s first match in charge as interim coach of Atletico Ottawa was quite the baptism by fire. An eight-goal thriller unfolded at TD Place with this season’s late goal heroes once again staying true to form.
FC Supra went off to a flyer after the fast feet of Sean Rea put the hosts in front after just over two minutes, with Rea’s shot helped along by a deflection that caught Ottleti‘s new goalkeeper Christopher Kalongo off-guard:
The red-and-white would strike back just before the half hour mark through a tidy switch in play out left to Joaquim Coulanges. The 19-year-old did well to quickly turn beyond Charles Auguste and send in a tidy ball to Jean-Aniel Assi, who took a touch before blasting a right-footer into the back of the net:
Having scored the opener for the Quebecois visitors, Rea would help restore their lead once again. Stepping up to take a freekick, the former CF Montreal man whipped in a pacey ball that veteran midfielder Oussama Boughanmi struck a fine connection with, powering home a wonderful header:
Just a few minutes later, the visitors would double the advantage after Juan Castro slipped in the box, with Loic Kwemi pouncing on the opportunity to put his side 3-1 in front with the former Valour man’s third of the season:
Interim head coach Drew Beckie must have delivered a solid half-time team talk, however, with Atletico Ottawa storming out of the gate to score within three minutes of the second half. Veteran midfielder Manny Aparicio started the move by laying the ball off to the right, and after a bit of jostling, the ball weaved its way back to Aparicio, who completed his run with a close-range header:
Incredibly, Atletico Ottawa would tie things up with just over twenty minutes to go. Ballou Tabla was in the right place as the hosts crowded Supra’s box, with the forward beating goalkeeper Joakim Milli with a near-post effort:
A corner kick with twelve minutes to go would complete the most incredible of comebacks for Ottawa, with Joakim Milli coming up big to make a close-range stop only to see the ball ping towards Emiliano Garcia, who quickly buried the effort to give Atletico Ottawa its first lead of the match with the game’s seventh goal:
Garcia wasn’t even done there, with the Atletico San Luis loanee carving out a brace in added time to secure an incredible 5-3 home win for Atletico Ottawa.
After the reigning champions suffered a tough opening month to the CPL, they now rise to third place, while FC Supra drops to fifth. That’s one spot outside of playoffs, though there’s plenty of the season left yet for the league’s newcomers.
Inter Toronto 1 – 5 Cavalry FC
An absolute demolition of Inter Toronto means the side has now conceded twelve goals in its last three games, putting Mauro Eustaquio and his side under plenty of pressure entering the World Cup break.
It took Cavalry less than ten minutes to score through German striker Tobias Warschewski, who capitalized off a spilled rebound when Urtiaga couldn’t keep hold of following a long-distance effort from Harry Paton. Cavalry had moved quickly on the counter, effectively drawing defenders towards the flank before pinging the ball to an unmarked Paton to set up the goal:
It was Cavalry’s speedy counter attacking that would sting Inter Toronto once more just before the break, with Warschewski tearing down the wing before looking up and seeing an incredible four-on-two situation unfold as the ITO defense lagged well behind. He sent in a nice ball for the unmarked Goteh Ntignee, who had plenty of time to lay it back to the equally unmarked Sergio Camargo. The Cavalry original quickly made it two-nil for the visitors:
The second half started as calamatously as it had in the first for Inter Toronto, who were put under spells of pressure from Cavalry right away. After surviving an attack from the right flank, Cavalry recycled out left and sent it in again. Urtiaga came out to claim the ball, but collided with Luke Singh as the ball sailed clear to Nathaniel Edwards. The Cavalry man couldn’t miss the open net:
The hosts would get on the board after a long throw-in from near the corner caused chaos for Cavalry, with defender Levi Laing inadvertently flicking the ball into his own net:
With Cavalry continually finding plenty of space on the flank coming into possession, the visitors would restore a three-goal cushion through a fine shot from Caniggia Elva, who had time and space in the middle of the park as Inter Toronto struggled to get numbers back:
Ntignee had done a lot of work setting up the counter and would continue to play provider, with Cavalry giving itself a nightcap through Niko Myroniuk to finish with a 5-1 scoreline.
For Tommy Wheeldon Jr.’s side, it marks a hot performance that keeps the club close to top-of-the-table Forge FC. For Inter Toronto, it marks a continued collapse of form that will need some hefty fixing following the CPL’s World Cup break.
Forge FC 1 – 0 Halifax Wanderers
Read the full match recap here.
This was the third time Forge and Hamilton have met this season, with Vanni Sartini still feeling out how to secure any kind of result against the hammers – or some consistency in his debut CPL season.
The hosts looked the better side through much of the game, though Halifax did get a handful of opportunities. Still, it would be Brian Wright – one of the league’s perennial poachers – who put Forge in front with a rebound effort that Marco Carducci could only watch go in after having spilled Hoce Massunda’s effort directly into the feet of the striker.
Halifax came inches from a last-gasp equalizer through a freekick in the 92nd minute, with Lorenzo Callegari blasting the ball into the crossbar and out. With Forge surviving the moment, the club collects all three points to stay top of the table, while Halifax slides down to seventh in league standings.
Vancouver FC 2 – 1 Pacific FC
The Eagles are finally making good on their xG, while Pacific continues to fall short of a 90 minute performance.
The Salish Sea Derby was a bottom-table clash that, despite the standings of both teams, provided sharp finishes and plenty of action on Canada’s west coast in addition to a kangaroo-themed goal celebration for an Australian contingent of fans here for the World Cup.
The visitors from Vancouver Isle seemed to be off to a flyer in the first half when Marco Bustos – still seeking a return to his vintage CPL form – showcased exactly why he’s still feared league-wide, receiving the ball from Alejandro Diaz and getting in close to spoil the debut of Henrik Regitnig before kangaroo-hopping to a travelling contingent of Aussies.
The second half would see Lys Mousset strike the crossbar, though Kian Proctor would be there to tap it in and equalize for the hosts with one of the easier goals he’ll score in the career ahead of him.
Burindi international Mohamed Amissi would add on to Vancouver’s always-impressive xG with a crossbar strike of his own with just under half an hour to go, with VFC knocking at the door. They’d get the go-ahead goal ten minutes later, with New Zealand forward Luis Toomey playing Moses and parting weaving apart a sea of Pacific defenders to get in close and fire a sweet left-footer into the back of the net:
With Vancouver FC following up last week’s multi-goal win with repeat performance, the Eagles now rise up to fifth amidst a good turnaround in form. For the Pacific side still awaiting the arrival of head coach Terry Dunfield next month, however, a winless season continues to hang over their heads, with extra sting coming from a Salish Sea Derby loss.
The 2026 Canadian Premier League season marked its double-digit matchweek with a plethora of movement in the standings. Only the top two clubs and languishing bottom-feeder Pacific remained motionless, while the other five clubs all shifted up and down. That’s good news for Ottawa and Vancouver, but bad news for Inter Toronto, FC Supra, and the Halifax Wanderers.
It’s also worth noting that Forge and Cavalry are the only two sides to have a positive goal difference (and it’s very positive!), while every other club is running a deficit.
The league will now embark on a two-week break as the country shifts focus to the World Cup, with action returning at the end of the month. We’ll have a coast-to-coast clash between Halifax and Pacific on June 26, while Cavalry hosts FC Supra two days later. The rest of the league will ahve to wait until the weekend of July 4-5 to return to action.
In the meantime, you can follow along with Canada’s World Cup journey here.
Header Image Photo Credit: Nick Iwanyshyn
