CPL's Canada Day Week - All The Action

The second round of fixtures in the Canadian Premier League started on Canada Day, beginning an eventful long weekend of football, still coming from IG Field in Winnipeg.

Valour FC remain perfect at their home ground - twenty minutes in against the HFX Wanderers, Andrew Jean-Baptiste directed a corner kick directly into goal for an early Valour lead. Alex Marshall tried to respond immediately and HFX appealed his attempt had in fact crossed the line, which the officials denied, but the instant replay indicated otherwise.

The Wanderers kept coming close but were unable to get the ball past Jonathan Sirois. Valour sealed the deal when a late cross by Jared Ulloa found William Akio right in front of the HFX goal, the centre-forward converting to make it a 2-0 win for the Manitoban team.

There were more goals in the next match between Atletico Ottawa and Cavalry FC. A mistake by Dylon Powley saw him give the ball away to Ahinga Selemani, who had a clear shot at goal to get Cavalry off the mark early on.

Ottawa's equaliser came when Malcolm Shaw picked out Miguel Acosta right in front of the leaders' goal, Acosta quick to act on the scoring chance. Selemani was on hand to give Cavalry the half-time lead with a turnaround strike, which blindsided Powley for the Cavalry lead.

Their third goal came out of nowhere: a long pass by Joseph Di Chiara reached Victor Loturi in the Atletico box, who only had the keeper to beat and did. Not long after Anthony Novak carried the ball to the edge of the box and handed it off to Elliot Simmons, who hammered home what would be the last goal of the game.

More drama followed in a scrappy first half between York United and Pacific FC, where half an hour in a Max Ferrari cross found Diyaeddine Abzi unmarked for the opening goal. Pacific got their equaliser early in the second half, when Josh Heard gained possession in a crowded box and struck the ball into the back of the United goal.

Pacific then benefitted from a mistake after the hour mark, when Chrisnovic N'Sa attempted to deflect a pass, only for it to go into his own team's goal. They were redeemed by substitute Jordan Wilson, who headed home a corner kick on the eighty-second minute. With no other chances on target, the game ended in the first draw of 2021, two goals apiece.

It was quiet between FC Edmonton and Forge, though the former were creating more chances on goal, albeit few of them on target. That was until the eighty-seventh minute, when Edmonton swarmed the Forge box and Ramon Soria was the one who got the ball into the back of the net. Deep into stoppage time, a wild, long-range shot from Jeannot Esua turned out good, shocking the defending champions and sealing the 2-0 victory for FCE, their first since October 2019.

A goal attempt by HFX's Akeem Garcia drifted just wide of the target was the closest his team or their challengers Cavalry got to scoring, the latter had more opportunities but the match still ended in the first goalless draw of 2021. The next day, an attempt from long distance out by FC Edmonton's Fraser Aird was equalised by Michael Petrasso for York United after a Maradona-style run through the FCE defence. Easton Ongaro had a final chance to win the game for Edmonton with a late penalty, but hit the post, resulting in the third draw of the week, 1-1 between FCE and York.

Atletico Ottawa's early disappointment - a goal by Keesean Ferdinand disallowed for offside - became despair just before half time, as Raphael Ohin found the narrow gap between goalkeeper and goal post for Valour's first goal of the match. This was added to in the closing seconds, when Masta Kacher was pushed over in the Atletico box and Moses Dyer converted the awarded penalty kick to seal the third-straight win for Valour in what has so far been their home season, final score 2-0.

Finally, Forge went on a rampage against Pacific, who worked hard to fend off the frequent attacks on their goal until the seventieth minute. There, a right-footed strike by Mo Babouli at a tight angle was what finally broke the deadlock for Forge.

Callum Irving thought he had stopped a second goal attempt by Kosi Nwafornso, only for the deflected goal attempt to find Chris Nanco for the second Forge goal. Five minutes later Pacific conceded a penalty after a handball in the box by Jordan Haynes, Tristan Borges converted for the 3-0 Forge victory, the first of 2021 for the defending champions.