League1 Canada Men’s Review – Week 7

Week seven in the 2024 League1 Canada Men’s season kept fans busy coast to coast with all four leagues, encompassing six total divisions, putting on a show.

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This recap will take a look at all of the men’s matches that took place over the last week. To find the article encompassing the women’s games, you can find that linked here.

League1 BC: All Out Battle for First

Burnaby FC 5 – 3 Rivers FC

Vancouver Whitecaps Academy 1 – 1 Altitude FC

Unity FC 3 – 1 Harbourside FC

As we approach the half-way point in the League1 BC season, west-coast pro-am footy fans have been treated to a four-way battle for first in the league, making 2024 the most competitive season to date.

Unfortunately, the first two teams in action this past week are not in said race for the top. Rivers made the trip to Burnaby Lake West Field this week to drop their fifth of the campaign. The side from Kamloops came out strong with three goals in the first 20 minutes, but Burnaby FC’s five unanswered strikes would sink the River.

Altitude FC were able to spoil the Whitecaps’ plans for three points in their home-and-home week. A defensive miscue by the the North Shore boys allowed Davis Ajagbe to make it 1-nil, but the full team effort seen above tied it up to split the points on Sunday afternoon.

Unity were able to put on a good showing for their home crowd as they hosted Harbourside FC from Van Isle. Patrick Izett and Joel Badger got back to back goals in the 11′ and 12′ to take an early lead which would hold. A second by Badger would outmatch Harbourside to end them 3-1.

League1 Alberta: ‘Impact’-ing History while BTB Bounce

Callies United 1 – 3 Calgary Blizzard SC

BTB SC 0 – 2 Calgary Foothills FC

Calgary Blizzard SC 3 – 1 St. Albert Impact

Callies United 3 – 1 Edmonton Scottish

Although the Scottish failed to further distance themselves from the second-placed Blizzard, week 7 of L1AB allowed for some of the other squads and players to shine – except BTB.

Closing the gap on the Scottish, the Calgary Blizzard’s men’s side picked up 3 points in an intra-city battle over Callies United. Sagaste and Kirschner netter two in the first half which held until Clayton Nelson cut the lead in half. But when the Blizzard went down to 10-men De Rocha would end the game in added time at a 3-1 scoreline.

BTB continued their four-game losing streak on Friday against an equally-struggling Foothills side. Gianmarco Plenzik would open the scoring at the 15′ followed closely by teammate former Ottleti-man Owen Antoniuk to end the scoring there. BTB’s few good chances couldn’t beat keeper Sterling Kerr as CFFC recorded their first win of 2024.

The Blizzard would pick up a second 3-1W this week as they hosted St. Albert’s Impact, but despite the action, all eyes rested on the Impact bench as 14-year-old Jordan St. Pierre dressed for the visitors. Subbed on in added time, St. Pierre would end the game +1 due to his presence during the Impact’s sole goal of the game, making him the youngest semi-pro in L1AB history.

Rounding out the week had Callies United back in action as they took on the Scottish. Despite getting on the board early with Habib Assem finding mesh in the 5′, David Baracaldo’s brace put the Callies up 2-1 at half. Come added time and the Scottish were down to nine-men which allowed for Daniel Tsaru to make it 3-1 at 90+8′.

League1 Ontario: The Relegation Picture Becomes Clearer

Also just over the halfway point of L1Ontario, some teams are having to reckon with the ever-present possibility of relegation or promotion between L1ON divisions. With the bottom two squads facing either certain or possible relegation, it’s now on for all sides within the three tiers in their quest for divisional dominance.

League1 Ontario – Premiership

ProStars FC 2 – 1 Sigma FC

North Toronto Nitros 1 – 1 Blue Devils FC

Burlington SC 1 – 2 Vaughan Azzurri

Scrosoppi FC 4 – 0 Simcoe County Rovers

Guelph United FC 1 – 2 Alliance United FC

Woodbridge Strikers 5 – 2 Hamilton United

Taking on the presently-bottom Sigma FC, ProStars were able to capitalize on their opponents’ stagnation to pick up three points on Saturday. 2021 League1 Champion Evan Dick’s 21′ goal would open the scoring for Sigma, but ProStars’ Vani and Blaskovic would strike back to close the scoring at 2-1.

Battling it out in the midfield saw the Nitros and Blue Devils go head-to-head. A fierce and tight match would transpire at Downsview Park with both sides scoring their respective goals only 2-minutes separate of one another. Despite the Nitros controlling possession throughout, the game would remain level to split the points,

Vaughan, on the other hand, used the counterattack to their advantage while taking the Bayhawks from Burlington. This 13-booking affair would have the Azzurri’s Pantaleo and Rose capitalize off of the rush to net the side’s two goals while Mauro Lulli’s sole goal in the 76′ wouldn’t be enough for the Bayhawks as they lose their first match in 2024.

In a rematch of last season’s L1O final, there was not close contest deciding the outcome of this match. The 2023 runners-up Scrosoppi FC dominated every aspect if this match, ending it 4-0 and with the visiting SCR parting ways with head coach Zak ‘Zico’ Mahrady and his assistant Arta Mohasses. Four separate scorers – including the on-fire Monti Mohsen – would find mesh during the 90-mins to keep Milton’s finest hot on Burlington SC’s heels.

All three ‘united’-named squads of the Premiership were in action as well this past week with Guelph, Alliance, and Hamilton alongside the Woodbridge Strikers taking to the pitch. Guelph wasn’t able to match Alliance’s speed, leading to a pair of goals against, while the Strikers would rout out any signs of Hamilton’s d-line with five different players finding success behind Hammer’s keeper Ethan Cagalj.

League1 Ontario – Championship

Pickering FC 0 – 1 Unionville Milliken SC

St. Catharines Roma Wolves 1 – 1 TFC Academy

North Mississauga SC 2 – 2 Master’s FA

BVB IA Waterloo 0 – 0 Windsor City FC

FC London 1 – 0 Darby FC

Although not many points were won by individual clubs, there was plenty of action in the fourth tier of footy this past week as FC London and their cousins at TFC Academy duke it out for first in the L1O-C.

Pickering will be kicking themselves following this week performance against Unionville Milliken. A tight match with plenty of bookings let it be a keepers game throughout as Matt Mattila and Preston Harold stopped everything coming their way. However it would be a last-minute conversion by Zuheib Mohamed that sent UMSC with all three points.

Another stellar match would adorn the pitch at Club Roma this past week as the last-placed Wolves attempted to stave off the unstoppable TFC Academy. To TFC gaffer Dino Lopes’ surprise, the Wolves did manage to get on the board first by way of a Luka Ragagnin pentalty, but were quickly tied up by a beautiful Michael Lee strike in the 66′.

The third match of the week also featured the other two struggling L1O-C teams in Master’s and North Mississauga. Tim Cordova would net a brace to put Master’s ahead but Tyler Yasaka and James Arango stopped the celebrations in their tracks with goals of their own to split the points even by the final whistle.

The Black and Yellow remain in striking distance of the top three in the Championship and thus were looking to get as many points as possible. Unfortunately for them, Windsor keeper Denys Cuevas was at the top of his game and stopped every shot to ensure a draw between the two sides.

FC London were finally able to steal first place from TFC after dispatching Whitby’s Darby FC 1-nil on Saturday. Dante D’Oria’s 24′ goal would be the only goal of the match that remained heated for all 90 minutes, including seeing Darby go down to 10-men 44′ in off of a Michael Dirienzo red card.

League2 Ontario

(Southwest) BVB IA Waterloo II 7 – 3 Hamilton United II

(Southwest) Guelph United II POSTPONED Rush Canada Academy

(Southwest) Scrosoppi FC II 3 – 0 FC London II

(Southwest) St Catharines Roma Wolves II 7 – 3 Windsor City FC II

(Northeast) Pickering FC II 1 – 3 Alliance United II

(Northeast) Master’s FA II 1 – 2 Vaughan Azzurri II

(Northeast) Darby FC II 0 – 2 Sudbury Cyclones

(Northeast) SC Rovers II 1 – 4 Alliance United II

(Central) North Mississauga SC POSTPONED The Borough FC

(Central) Burlington SC II 2 – 3 Blue Devils FC II

(Central) Woodbridge Strikers II 3 – 1 ProStars FC II

(Central) North Toronto Nitros II 0 – 1 Sigma FC II

The Sudbury Cyclones continued their three-game heater this past weekend as they travelled down to Whitby to take on Darby’s reserve side. Olu Olatoke and Jack Collins played the role of a heroic duo as their 32′ and 89′ strikes made it past Darby keeper Owen Schultz to claim all three points.

Ligue1 Quebec: Massive Week, Massive Results

AS Blainville 0 – 1 CS St Laurent

CS Mont Royal Outremont 0 – 0 CS St Laurent

CF Montreal Academie 1 – 0 CS St-Hubert

AS Laval 3 – 1 CS St-Hubert

Royal Selects Beauport 3 – 4 FC Laval

AS Blainville 1 – 0 Royal Selects Beauport

CS Mont Royal Outremont 1 – 0 OSU Atletico

CF Montreal Academie 1 – 0 OSU Atletico

Celtix du Haut-Richelieu 1 – 2 CS Longueuil

Celtix du Haut-Richelieu 2 – 4 FC Laval

This past week in Ligue1 saw many of the sides take to the pitch twice as they strive for their chance to play in next year’s Canadian Championship.

CS Saint-Laurent finally lost top spot after two average showings against Blainville and the CSMRO Griffons. A win and a tie would be seen as a success for most teams, but for the powerhouse St Laurent, having only Josue Youta find mesh over two games requires a reworking of strategy heading into the next matchweek.

The mid-table CS St-Hubert took a double defeat this past week facing off against CF Montreal’s academy and AS Laval. CFM’s Constantinos Iliadis while seven of his teammates made it into the ref’s book by way of yellows. Oppositely, while the Spatiale were able to open the scoring versus AS Laval, an onslaught of three unanswered goals would sink the south-shore side for their third loss of 2024.

Royal Selects Beauport has struggled to find points this season with only one win and four ties to their name, and this trend continued this past week. Against FC Laval, the Royal went up 2-0 early on but FCL responded with four goals in 26 minutes. Doryan Soualem would get one late to mount a potential comeback but it was not meant to be. Against Blainville, RSB would once against struggle to maintain momentum and Zackarya Oumamass’ 36′ strike would be the winner.

OSU Atletico would spend the week travelling l’isle de Montreal as they faced off against both the Griffons and CFM, surprisingly with the same one-nil result in both games. Kevin Le Nours would be the sole goal scorer for CSMRO to give his side all three points while Marc-Alexandre Happi Emaga would do the honours for his Academie squad on Saturday, keeping OSU relegated to nineth in the league.

The Celtix du Haut-Richelieu had a two-game homestand this week at Parc Pierre-Benoît and despite a respectable three goals over the two games, the side dropped all six points in front of a home crowd. Against CS Longueuil, following an early goal by Charles-Emile Brunet, Alex Fontaine would tie it up for the Celtix to hold the draw. Not to be bested, CSL would strike back in the 50′ to take back and hold the lead to win the match. In their other match against FC Laval – who were coming off of another win earlier in the week – the Celtix defence could just not hold back Laval as Qsiyer, Hedou, Jeanne, and Eze all found mesh to take the 4-2 win.