8 CPL Thoughts: the rise of York, united

As soon as York United defender Brem Soumaoro hit the ball in the 92nd minute in Wednesday's 905 Derby, his coach had no doubts about the end result.

"It was just one of those strikes," said York coach Martin Nash in his post-match presser. "As soon as (Soumaoro) hit that, I knew it was going in."

The wondergoal has been making the rounds on social media and rightly so.

Soumaoro's goal was the cherry on top of an exciting mid-week derby between two Ontario clubs with a growing rivalry. With the late winner, York United now sits second in the table behind Forge FC and has won three matches in a row.

Derby's are the sort of thing the CPL is actively cultivating, bit by bit, and made easier by the geographic proximity. The arrival of Vancouver FC has set the table for a first derby with Pacific on Friday, the opening stanza for the battle of B.C. Previously, FC Edmonton and Cavalry fought for the rights to Alberta.

One Soccer's Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic had a great piece chronicling the evolution of derby culture in Canada.

But all of this makes me extremely jealous as an East Coaster sitting in Nova Scotia.

Obviously, the league is actively working on expansion with various sites in mind but I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of clubs in Québec, where CF Montréal have demonstrated the market for football, and somewhere else in Atlantic Canada.

Geography matters and the CPL has the momentous task of facilitating a league spanning 5,514 kilometers from east to west.  But the creation of football pockets, clustering a couple clubs together like midfielders creating passing lanes, does so much for engaging fans locally and growing that sense of story and history.

I can't help but imagine a derby day in the future where Wanderers fans travel between Halifax and say Saint John (which has a historical rivalry with Halifax) or maybe Moncton. You could travel by bus or car in an afternoon and you just know the Wanderers faithful would make that trip in a heartbeat.

The way I see it, what the league is cultivating with the B.C. and Ontario clubs is the building blocks to a greater league and sows interest in places like Québec City or Windsor or Moncton.

And all of this is to say Soumaoro's goal was a moment of brilliance which highlighted everything the CPL has to offer and made me imagine everything it could become.

But enough about me and my derby dreams. Let's get some thoughts around the league, eh?

8 CPL Thoughts:

1. York United stands, well, united. Between the ownership sale which broke late April and their humiliating loss to Pacific FC on May 14, things looked bleak for a York club trying to find itself on and off the pitch. But head coach Martin Nash pulled out all the coaching cards and challenged the mettle of his players and they've rallied around him. Fast forward to today and York have won three matches in a row (the first time in the club's history) and are happily ending other clubs' unbeaten streaks. The past three weeks have been a statement from Nash's squad to the rest of the country: we're not going anywhere. "We did some soul searching with who we are, where we're going and what we want to be and we turned around quite quick in that week in Halifax. The guys have been phenomenal," said Nash of his club's momentum. With the return of star Mo Babouli, I expect York to continue to surge.
2. It had to happen sometime but Bobby Smyrniotis' squad suffered their first defeat of the campaign on Wednesday. The good news is Forge still sit atop the table with four wins and three draws but their record doesn't tell the whole tale. In my opinion, Forge has had some good luck so far this season and might not be as formidable as years past. A big part of their success this year has been thanks to goalkeeper Triston Henry. Henry stood on his head and earned a career-high eight saves against a feisty Atlético Ottawa last weekend and was in great form against York. However, Forge will need to start converting on the cornucopia of chances they create if they are going to keep pace. The bottom line is they've been outplayed at points this year, more than we're used to seeing. Smyrniotis spoke for barely a minute for his post-match presser. I expect we'll see his squad come out more motivated this weekend.
3. I get the sense the pressure is starting to get to Atlético Ottawa. Expectations were high starting the year but they are shrinking under them, so much so that star midfielder Ollie Bassett took to Twitter and owned their recent loss to Forge. "If I didn't switch off in the dying minutes and leave my man unmarked then we take at least a point and move onto the next. There is no excuse," he Tweeted. He continued to say the level of play has not been up to Ottawa's standards. Now, I give full credit to Bassett for speaking out and owning some of the blame. That's the sign of a leader and I have a great deal of respect for anyone who walks into the limelight and owns up to mistakes. But at what point does the club look at their recruitment this offseason and wonder if they made some mistakes? Northern Tribune published a piece this week highlighting Sam Salter's move to Ottawa and noted it was Ottawa who approached the Wanderers to instigate the league's first intra-squad sale. Would Ottawa have been better suited to fill their strike-hole from somewhere else? Things to think about.
4. The Wanderers are the only club in the league without a win. It's a strange fact given I think Halifax have looked like a much improved club under head coach Patrice Gheisar and have the talent to challenge for a playoff spot. I've written about it before but their metrics, their ethos and their players are all good so why haven't they won? I think it comes down to the mental side of the game. The narrative often and early was that Halifax couldn't keep a lead and at some point, it seemed like the players believed it, too. The Wanderers have played a much better brand of football so far but even when they deserve to win, Lady Luck seems to have other ideas (see the Cavalry match). All of this came to a head at home against York where the Wanderers were humiliated in front of their fanbase. But Gheisar has persevered, coaching his squad to a draw against Pacific. The interesting thing is I've interviewed a half-dozen of the players now and this is a group that believes. I think the club only needs to get that first win to get out of their own heads.
5. Speaking of Cavalry, head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. vocalized something last week a lot of coaches have felt this season: the officiating has been bad. "It's hard because it's happening every single week with some contentious calls," said Wheeldon. "And it's tough for me to keep talking to these young men about just believing in yourself and believing in the system we're trying to play and that the calls will eventually go our way when it keeps happening." Now, Wheeldon hasn't been fined as of yet but there's truth to his words as there have been several contentious calls (or non-calls) every week and they are impacting the game. Cavalry should have won against York; weeks earlier, the Wanderers should have beat Cavalry if not for a phantom penalty call. One Soccer's Adam Jenkins delved into the topic this week and the bottom line is the officiating needs to get better for the sake of the product on the pitch.
6. Conventional wisdom around the league seems to be get your U-21 minutes in early. Well, Valour have done just that but out of necessity more than anything else. They currently sit atop the U-21 minutes chart with a total of 1,366 domestic minutes played of the 2,000 minute minimum. For context, York have 162 minutes. Given all of the injuries to Valour's backline (Chandler, Pianelli, etc.), they've been forced to shuffle their squad around and very much adopted a "next man up" mentality. Players like de Brienne, who is a natural midfielder, find themselves at leftback; veteran Samake has bounced all around. What'll be interesting to see is what Valour looks like once everyone is settled into their proper place.
7. Today is derby day for Pacific and Vancouver. Now, Pacific won the first ever match between the two clubs so look for Vancouver to come out swinging. The game also means a lot to this fledgling Vancouver club for a number of reasons. First, this derby will be in front of their home fans and the players are eager to make their mark. “I think this game means more to me than any other game so far,” said Vancouver defender Ibrahim Bakare. “Because in our first-ever game against Pacific, as soon as they scored, they went over to our home fans and they shushed them, and I wasn’t too happy about that.” Second, they need a good result from this game to change the narrative around the club. The club has gone through their firsts (first match, first goal, first win), meaning they need to give their fans something else to cheer about and that means scoring goals. Well, goal scoring isn't something Vancouver has done much of this season, potting only four to date. Let's hope they score a few to make for an exciting derby and a memorable night for their fans.
8. Pacific are also heading into Willoughby Community Park looking change the narrative. The club was knocked out of the Canadian Championship last week and then proceeded to let Halifax back into the game and salvaged a draw on the weekend. Look for Pacific to make a statement tonight against their rivals: this is still the most offensively dangerous squad in the CPL for my money. In fact, Pacific have 12 goals so far in league play and have several weapons up front. They'll be eager to return to their goal scoring ways and remind everyone that they're early favourites this year to win more than one trophy. Either way, I think we're all in for a treat in the shape of the first ever B.C. derby and I can't wait to watch it.

Cover Photo Credit: David Chant / York United FC