Welcome to As It Stands. At the start of each week through the end of the season, we’ll bring you this easy-to-digest wrap-up of everything you need to know from the weekend that was in the Canadian Premier League, and keep tabs on how each team is progressing in its hunt for silverware.

The playoffs are approaching, and two Canadian Premier League teams have already booked their ticket to the postseason after Forge FC and Atlético Ottawa both did so in Matchweek 24.

We saw a little bit of movement in the table over the past week — a five-game slate including last Wednesday’s Halifax-Pacific contest — and now that nobody has any games in hand, things are getting a little clearer.

As mentioned, the week officially began with a 2-2 draw in Halifax, where the Wanderers were on 10 men for most of the affair but still took the lead twice. Pacific struck back both times, though, including a Thomas Meilleur-Giguère equalizer in the 97th minute to snag them a point.

Friday night saw Cavalry FC head to York Lions Stadium and dominate en route to a 2-0 win over York United. Sergio Camargo scored a chip from 40 yards out as the Cavs jumped ahead of the Nine Stripes and into third place.

Our Saturday doubleheader began in Winnipeg, where Zach Fernandez saved a point for the Wanderers in the 89th minute against Valour FC. Later that evening, Forge FC ran all over Vancouver FC in a 3-1 triumph in Langley to keep themselves on top.

Finally, Atlético Ottawa and Pacific FC held each other to a 1-1 draw at TD Place on Sunday, as Moses Dyer scored in a fourth consecutive game for Pacific to bag another point for the Tridents.

Here’s how the table looks with four games left to play:

The most significant changes this week are Cavalry vaulting into third — and only one point back of second — as well as Pacific pushing back into the playoff picture. The Tridents overtook Vancouver with a point on Wednesday, then added to their cushion with another draw on Sunday; Pacific therefore will control their own destiny from here out, which didn’t look very likely a few weeks ago.

Both Forge and Ottawa have officially clinched their playoff spots, and Cavalry need just one point against Vancouver next weekend to do the same. York United could also punch their ticket with a win at Forge on Saturday, or even with a draw or loss if a few other results go the right way for them.

These races — both for the regular season title (and top-four playoff positioning) and for the final playoff spot — remain very close, and could come down to the final day of the season. That’s why it’ll be so fascinating to watch all eight teams in action simultaneously on Saturday, Oct. 19. in The Outcome presented by TonyBet.

Elsewhere in the Canadian soccer world, a couple of former CPLers had big weekends: Kwasi Poku is continuing to thrive in Belgium with RWD Molenbeek, scoring twice in a game against Jong Genk on Saturday. Also worth a shoutout is former Cavalry striker Aribim Pepple, who had two goals and an assist for English National League side Southend United against Solihull Moors.

 Monday Reading

If the playoffs started today…

Currently, things are set up for a reversed rematch of last year’s fourth-versus-fifth game. In 2023, Pacific opened the playoffs with a last-gasp win over York United at Starlight Stadium. If it stays like this, York would instead host the Tridents in that opener on Wednesday, Oct. 23.

Cavalry have moved up to third, but they’d much rather climb again into second and give themselves a chance of hosting the CPL Final.

Awards Watch

Is it completely insane to start wondering where Moses Dyer fits into all this? Eight goals total this season (joint-third in the league), but four of them in six games for Pacific — scored in four consecutive matches. He has fundamentally turned the season around for the Tridents, who went from by far the league’s lowest-scoring team to a side that’s scored nine in four games. Dyer probably won’t be winning any awards, but he could get a sneaky nod for Player of the Year… especially if he can somehow add a few more goals and win the Golden Boot.

Meanwhile, a handful of Forge players might be in with a shout for that Player of the Year trophy, but who is most deserving? Béni Badibanga? What about Alessandro Hojabrpour, who isn’t flashy but hasn’t really put a foot wrong all year?

Speaking of Forge, this could be the year Bobby Smyrniotis finally gets his Coach of the Year award if they hold on to win the regular season title.

Breaking down the run-in

This is much neater now that Halifax and Pacific have made up their game in hand, and each team has just four games left.

All but two teams have an even split of two at home and two away; Valour still have three more home games, but they’ll be tricky ones against Pacific, Forge and Cavalry. Meanwhile, it’ll be tough sledding for Vancouver as they still travel to Calgary, Halifax and Ottawa with one home date against Valour in between.

Pacific’s last three games remain tough, with dates against three of the top four sides, but two of them being at home might soften the blow.

Home matches are listed in bold, and away matches are listed in italics.

Halifax Wanderers	Vancouver FC	York United	Atlético Ottawa
York United	Pacific FC	Valour FC	Vancouver FC
Forge FC	Halifax Wanderers	Atlético Ottawa	Cavalry FC
Vancouver FC	Valour FC	Pacific FC	York United

Valour FC	Pacific FC	Cavalry FC	Forge FC
Cavalry FC	Forge FC	Halifax Wanderers	Atlético Ottawa
York United	Vancouver FC	Valour FC	Pacific FC
Forge FC	Cavalry FC	Atlético Ottawa	Halifax Wanderers

U-21 Minutes Update

Vancouver FC have moved up into second place in the U-21 minutes table, thanks in part to starts by Elage Bah, Matteo Campagna and Grady McDonnell on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Forge are very close to crossing the 2,000-minute mark; they got 74 minutes from Amadou Koné on the weekend which was a sizeable chunk.

Halifax still have some work to do but shouldn’t have much trouble getting over the line; Jefferson Alphonse has been playing a lot of minutes at centre-back, and Tiago Coimbra has been a good option off the bench. Aiden Rushenas also got his third start in goal on Saturday; could he get another shot before the year is over?

Coming up next…

Saturday, Sept. 28

Forge FC vs. York United FC (4 p.m. ET)
Cavalry FC vs. Vancouver FC (5 p.m. MT/4 p.m. PT)

Sunday, Sept. 29

Atlético Ottawa vs. Halifax Wanderers FC (2 p.m. ET/3 p.m. AT)

Monday, Sept. 30

Valour FC vs. Pacific FC (7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT)

(Watch all games live on OneSoccer)

Photo of the Week

The pure emotion of scoring a 97th-minute equalizer on the road against a direct rival for the last playoff spot… This was a huge moment for Thomas Meilleur-Giguère and Pacific.