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Casual Friday: Minty Fresh 2026 Edition
By For those of us stuck working on the Friday awkwardly sandwiched between New Years Day and the weekend, the least our workplaces can do is make today a Casual Friday, right?
For the uninitiated, Casual Friday is where we look back at the odds-and-ends of Canadian Premier League culture at large, with some extension to Canadian footy in general. These are things that I’ve stumbled across over the last few months that either made me laugh or were bizarre, oddball things that I want to share.
Given that our last Casual Friday was back in April, we’d say we’re long overdue to get caught up. Let’s dive in:
Grok Is Really, Really Sure Declan Rice Plays For Vancouver FC
If you haven’t used AI tools like Grok or ChatGTP, they fall for a similar crux: when they’re wrong, they’re so bloody confident that they’re actually right. If you open the above Twitter thread, Grok repeatedly claims that this image of Liverpool and Arsenal FC is not only from a Cavalry versus Vancouver FC match, but specifically is the moment that Aidan O’Connor scored his viral own goal in the Canadian Championship.
Except that isn’t O’Connor up there, that’s Declan Rice. For Arsenal. Against Liverpool. I know, I often confuse the two too.
Obviously, Grok is wrong – but it confidently reiterates it is correct about what match the screenshot is from on six occasions before admitting that Grok itself might be wrong since what it thought was Vancouver FC isn’t wearing white. Even then, it calls their 2025 home kits black-and-red, incorrectly referencing their inaugural 2023 home kits.
AI can be a helpful tool, but it can also be an idiot. But hey, AI writes from MLS and I don’t, so who’s the real winner?
The Eddies: We Are So Back
The official MLS website did a very cool move in listing every Canadian Championship match on the official schedule, though it inadvertently revived FC Edmonton in doing so. Rather than showing the logo for inaugural League1 Alberta entrant Edmonton Scottish SC, the website pulled the logo for defunct CPL side FC Edmonton instead. While the last commissioner said he hopes to bring the franchise back when the time is right, that time was not right circa April 2025.
Sons Of Carmine
We honestly don’t need to preface the legendary status of Carmine Isacco because this Sunday League team honestly sums it up just right, all in one picture. He’s a highly-respected coach who has helped develop several athletes who later reached national team heights, and while he was part of the original York9 FC (now known as Y̶o̶r̶k̶ ̶U̶n̶i̶t̶e̶d̶ Inter Toronto FC) coaching staff, he has always kept his position at York University as a priority.
Suffice to say, if you’re from the Vaughan area, you know Carmine Isacco. He’s kind of a big deal.
Evidently, a team from the area wanted to represent the man himself, and the real gift from all of this is now the image above gets to live on the official Canada Soccer page.
Maybe it’s our first glimpse of the next Inter Toronto rebrand? A return to the roots, anyone?
Toronto Metro Represent
Sometimes, you just don’t know where a bit of Canadiana is going to pop up. Imagine going to a Champions Cup match between two Liga MX sides in Mexico, and somebody rocks on up in a local Toronto university sweater.
We suppose they’d have worn something more football-esque, if Toronto FC wasn’t red. you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do when on vacation!
Yorks United
If ever it made sense for two clubs to affiliate in some manner or another based on name alone, it’s York United and York City FC.
…I had this section of the post prepared in May, so, uh, Inter Toronto FC has entered the chat to really staledate things on me. At least they got to collaborate when it made sense!
First Celine of 2025
If you’ll permit more self-tweeting, I absolutely don’t regret this edit.
Ronan Kratt is one of those players who I thought was an incredible addition to York United even if his time there was short, and I’m not saying that just because I got to see the Kratt Brothers on the regular. When Pacific signed him for 2025, I figured the club got itself a real gem. While Kratt’s season was unfortunately cut short through injury, the tweet above is basically how I felt about him coming back to the league in general.
Flex On ‘Em, Melvin
Sean Melvin took the number one spot with Pacific FC this year, claiming the minutes from one of the coolest names in the league in Max Anchor. He might have had a standout campaign between the sticks, but his reaction for the fans behind him after getting torn up by studs was stellar.
The Little Locker
Northern Super League side Calgary Wild wins some big bonus points from us after the club built a little mini locker for Sonia Maria O’Neill’s daughter, placing it right next to the midfielder’s own. That’s 10/10 cute, no notes.
Vancouver FC x Stranger Things
What a season it ended up being for Vancouver FC: finishing dead last, but qualifying for the Concacaf Champions Cup.
The bizarre season might have been foreshadowed when they came out wearing kits that had the Carlsberg sleeve sponsor upside down, and we’re not even sure how that happens. It’s just bizarre. Almost as strange as taking a loan from your own head coach and facing a lawsuit after you sack him.
That’s just Vancouver FC, baby.
Borges Is Gorgeous…Enough For Ink?
Listen, the Canadian Premier League will be entering its eighth year, so we’ve got fans who have been deep in the lore for a long time now. This fall, I stumbled across a fan who got Tristan Borges’ signature tattooed in a good size right across his torso, and honestly, the fact that he tagged the club but I was the only one to like it after five months has me feeling a way.
I mean, it’s a choice, but give the dude a like, Forge! Tristan’s signed off it, after all.
Sniper Starfish
If you thought a time-travelling egotistical humanoid cyborg was a terrifying mascot, you’ve never been pegged with a shirt hurled at you by a goofy-eyed giant purple starfish that, knowing him, was probably cartwheeling away from the crime scene two minutes later.
To be fair, Pacific could use some clinical finishers, so maybe Stewie was just showing that he can shoot his shot given the opportunity. Except that instead of a goal, he sniped an unassuming spectator.
…also, did you know starfish digest their prey by extruding their stomach through their mouth and enveloping their meal outside of their own body? Stewie’s slowly cartwheeling up behind you right now. RUN
An Unexpected Crossover
Wrestling fans might be familiar with Jim Cornette, a prominent author and colour commentator through multiple wrestling eras who now runs a podcast. In one of the more recent episodes, an unexpected crossover occurs after a question was submitted by a listener named Casey whom many in the Canadian football scene might know.
The question leads to Jim Cornette asking if John Molarino of TFC Republic fame was a cradle robber, so our apologies for absolutely sharing this. In our defence, this was a damn funny segment, and we love seeing Canadian football things pop up in strange places.
Also, Cornette goes on an absolute bop of a rant about Wendy’s, and it’s fun to listen to. I really had no idea they looked the way that they did in the ’70s.
Is This Canonical?
The fact that this league legitimately has an egotistical humanoid cyborg mascot canonically killed through a Simpson’s meme before being brought back as a satirical docudrama and, now, as a literal trash robot by a rival club, is all part of a sentence that might take a few seconds to sink in.
Behold Yorky: the defunct mascot that a Forge fan has resurrected into a Forge fan, and Forge itself has included on a canonical level.
We don’t even know what to make of this level of banter, and we still don’t know what was being smoked when the mascot itself was created in 2019…but this gift keeps on giving, and evidently not even death can end this painful service for Yorky.
Just Gotta Respect It
Man had a better touch than his own player. Well done, Smyrniotis.
Additional fun fact: he used to do bicycle kicks in training during his Sigma FC days, and I want him to bring it back.
With the 2026 Canadian Premier League season set to come in a few months time, I have little doubt that bizarre moments will be far off. After all, this is a league that finished in a bloody snowstorm – not even our final can be a normal affair!
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For now, we hope you’re enjoying this Casual Friday. We’ve just had a few stat holidays in short succession, so we hope you’re well-rested and ready for a 2026 that promises to be a wild ride!
