Just as it was a week ago, the Canadian Premier League table is no closer to resolution after Week 19.

With Atlético Ottawa surging past Valour, Vancouver FC slaying their derby dragon vs. Pacific, Halifax taking a point on the road at Forge, and Cavalry seeing off York United, the title race continues to get closer and it’s impossible to tell which five teams will end up extending their season past Oct. 7.

To start, a look at the table as it stands after matchweek 19, with each team on either 20 or 21 games played:

As always, a reminder: the first tiebreaker in the CPL standings is total wins, followed by goal differential then goals for.

Cavalry sit up top, just one point ahead of Pacific, who are one point ahead of Atlético Ottawa, who are tied on points with Forge, who are two ahead of Halifax, who are three up on York. Wild, eh?

At one point on Saturday, when the Wanderers were leading Forge, the order would’ve been: 1. Pacific, 2. Atlético Ottawa, 3. Halifax, 4. Cavalry, 5. Forge. But then, Béni Badibanga scored a crazy goal and Cavalry went on to beat York, landing us where we are now.

Speaking of the title race, let’s not forget that the regular season winner gets a spot in the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup. Some CPL fans may, therefore, have been watching Saturday night’s Leagues Cup final with interest; Inter Miami’s win on penalties does mean that they’ll go straight to the round of 16, with Nashville SC entering the first-round draw with the CPL sides — although who’s to say a CPL team can’t win a round and book a date with Lionel Messi and friends?

(Congrats to Kamal Miller, by the way — and also a shout-out to former CPL champion Lukas MacNaughton and fellow Canadian in Nashville Jacob Shaffelburg. All three nailed their penalties in the shootout).

CPL NEWSROOM PRES. BY VOLKSWAGEN: Vancouver FC claim B.C. Derby, Cavalry go top of the table

If the playoffs started today…

Disparity in games played notwithstanding, we can start looking at who might play where in the playoffs this season.

Right now, the postseason would kick off in Hamilton, with Forge FC hosting Halifax Wanderers in the 4 vs. 5 midweek play-in game (perhaps Saturday’s draw at Tim Hortons Field was an early preview).

Pacific FC would be headed for Spruce Meadows to take on Cavalry FC in the 1 vs. 2 game on the weekend, with the winner going straight to the final and the losing returning to the bracket. Funnily enough, Pacific also go to Calgary this coming weekend…

Third-place Atlético Ottawa would await the winner of Forge and Halifax and host one of those two, with the winner of that matchup going to either Calgary or Vancouver Island for a shot at getting into the Final.

For more on this year’s playoff format, and some thoughts from CPL coaches around the league, check out this story from last week.

Breaking down the run-in

Technically all eight teams are still alive in the playoff race — Vancouver FC’s win over Pacific has them now 12 points from fifth with eight games left. By now, though, it’s looking likely that the race has come down to six teams, with York United hanging in there and just three points — one win — behind Halifax (although the Nine Stripes have a game in hand).

Speaking of games in hand, Forge also have one — they and York have been a game ahead of the rest for a while now. That’ll get cleared up soon though, with the other six teams all scheduled to play a midweek match in September.

Here’s a quick look at the final seven or eight games for each of the current top six. Which side has the easiest run? Who has the hardest?

Cavalry, for instance, play the four teams behind them from second to fifth — in their current order — over the next four weeks, but they’ve got three of their last four at home. York have a home-heavy schedule to finish the year, while Pacific… don’t.

Patrice Gheisar pointed out on Saturday that his team has the most home games left on the schedule, and the Wanderers have the most points per game at home this year (2.11, just edging Cavalry’s 2.10).

Note: games listed in bold are at home; games in italics are away.

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

Awards Watch

The Golden Boot race is getting interesting, as Ollie Bassett scored another brace to move up to 10 goals on the season — tied with Forge’s Terran Campbell. Myer Bevan sits two back with eight, but now that he’s back from suspension and finding his form again he’ll hope to make it a three-horse race.

Two possible candidates for Defender of the Year — Halifax’s Dan Nimick and Cavalry’s Daan Klomp — were named in the Gatorade Team of the Week on Monday, and both got Performance of the Match honours for their work on the weekend. Amer Didić, meanwhile, has recovered from injury and was back starting for Pacific in Langley.

On the U-21 Canadian front, Matteo De Brienne finally returned to Valour’s squad and came off the bench after a four-game absence. With Goteh Ntignee missing the past couple games with a knock of his own, might De Brienne stake his claim to this award? Alternatively, a case could be made for a few of Vancouver’s youngsters — James Cameron, Anthony White, TJ Tahid, Tyler Crawford… There’s no runaway winner right now, but plenty of time left.

Coming up next…

Friday, Aug. 25

York United vs. Vancouver FC (7:30 p.m. ET)

Saturday, Aug. 26

Halifax Wanderers vs. Valour FC (4 p.m. AT/3 p.m. ET)
Atlético Ottawa vs. Forge FC (7 p.m. ET)

Sunday, Aug. 27

Cavalry FC vs. Pacific FC (3 p.m. MT/5 p.m. ET) (tonybet Match of the Week)

(Watch all four games live on OneSoccer)

Photo of the Week

What a day it was Saturday in Langley. Congrats to Vancouver FC on their first derby win; check out how much it means to the club’s players and fans alike. Honourable mention, of course, to that snap of Akio’s flip…