With Atlético Ottawa looking to clinch a Canadian Premier League (CPL) playoff spot, other CPL sides lurk below, battling for a spot in the final four.
Cavalry FC:
Current form: LWDLW
Cavalry FC moved from third to second place, just one point behind Atlético after a 1-0 win against Alberta rivals Edmonton FC on Sept. 17. The team had numerous attacking chances throughout the season, ranked second in goals (35) and first in shots (237) and shots on target (113).
However, Cavalry has a 14.77 per cent goal conversion rate, indicating that the team fails to finish most of what they create.
The club has been successful defensively, tied in second for most clean sheets with nine. Consistency, however, is something that the team lacks, as defensive breakdowns resulted in multiple games with two or more goals conceded.
Cavalry lost a skilled defender in Mo Farsi to MLS team Columbus Crew, along with attacker Aribim Pepple to English-side Luton Town FC. Pepple scored in six of his seven games this season before moving overseas.
Moving forward from their win in Edmonton, Cavalry will look to playmaker José Alberto Escalante Ràpalo to create chances, and to attackers Joe Mason and Ali Adem Musse to finish at a higher rate. Standout defenders Karifa Yao and Daan Klomp are expected to continue to defend consistently.
Cavalry’s remaining matches are against league leaders Atlético, fourth-place Valour FC and fifth-place Pacific FC.
Forge FC:
Current form: DLLWD
Sitting in third, one point behind Cavalry, Hamilton’s Forge FC are no strangers to the top of the table.
Forge won the 2019 and 2020 finals, making them a big name in the CPL. The club features MLS veteran Kyle Bekker, who has captained the team since their inaugural game, along with prolific goalscorers Terran Campbell and Woobens Pacius, the third-highest goalscorer in the league.
Forge is the highest-scoring team in the league with 43 goals and has the fewest goals conceded with 23. Despite impressive numbers throughout the season, the club seems to be at a standstill, scoring just three goals in their last five games and winning just one.
Their next opponent is Edmonton FC, a team that sits at the bottom of the league. After they travel to Edmonton, they play their final three games against teams currently outside of the top four.
In what might turn out to be a saving grace, Forge has an extra game they have yet to play. This means Forge has an extra three points available.
Coach Bobby Smyrniotis will utilize his attacking threats Pacius and Campbell, along with playmaker Tristan Borges. Forge will also have defender Daniel Krutzen back from injury to try to return to the championship match for the fourth time in a row.
Valour FC:
Current form: WWWLT
Winnipeg-based Valour FC’s summer form has moved the team into playoff contention. The team currently sits in fourth place, three points behind Forge.
The team features goalscorer Moses Dyer and playmaker Sean Rea, who was the CPL’s player of the month for August and leads the league in assists.
Former Carleton University Raven and OUA East Rookie of the Year, Matteo de Brienne, has three goals for the team, including an impressive acrobatic finish against Forge.
“[Valour is a group of] hungry players, wanting to fight for each other every day,” de Brienne said.
Similarly to Atlético, Valour had an unimpressive season in 2021, finishing in fifth. In September of that year, the team sacked manager Rob Gale and replaced him with Phillip Dos Santos. Soon after Dos Santos’ appointment, the team brought in Edmonton assistant coach Jay Bhindi.
“[The team have] shown that they can beat anyone in this league on any day,” Bhindi said.
In their last five games, Valour has beaten third-place Forge FC twice and tied league leaders Atlético. They rank third in goals scored (33) and second in clean sheets (9).
Bhindi said the team has the “ability to make it very difficult for teams to play against” them and added he hopes to see that happen.
Valour has three games remaining and currently sits level with fifth-place Pacific FC, who has a game in hand.
Pacific FC:
Current form: LLLDD
Despite being outside of a playoff spot, Pacific FC is still very much in playoff contention. Pacific has seen a run of poor form, having failed to win a game since Aug. 13.
The Vancouver-based team features the leagues leading scorer Alejandro Díaz Liceága, who goes by Diaz, and playmaker Marco Bustos, who ranks second, league wide, in assists.
Díaz has 13 goals in the season, almost half of the team’s 32 goals. However, Pacific struggles on defence, consistently allowing goals. They rank second in lowest clean sheets in the league, and sit at third in most goals conceded.
Pacific’s goal differential sits at zero—the reason it sit outside of a playoff spot to Valour, which has a plus-seven goal differential.
An extra game will prove useful to Pacific players, who hope to get three points and climb above Valour on the league table. In order to qualify, the team will have to find a way out of their scoring slump, with three goals scored in their last five games.
A recent tie with third-place Forge makes things seem hopeful for Pacific, which plays the Hamilton team once more on Oct. 5, along with seventh-place Halifax Wanderers Sept. 25, last-place Edmonton FC Sept 30 and second-place Cavalry FC Oct. 8.
Featured image by Tim Austen/Freestyle Photography.
