Canadian Championship Preliminary Round, MLS, USL Jägermeister Cup & CONCACAF Champions Cup Semi-Finals round-up, April 30-May 2

The preliminary rounds of the Canadian Championship were completed this week, with three games on Wednesday and the final game last night. Both of Wednesday's games came from Ontario, and it was a party night in the national's capital as Atletico Ottawa put 7 (seven) goals past a sorry Valour FC outfit who have now lost their first four matches of 2024. Effervescent midfielder Ollie Bassett opened the scoring a quarter of an hour in with a penalty given for what was practically an assault by visiting defender Abdou Samake, and it as 3-0 fifteen minutes later, thanks to goals from Spaniards Alberto Zapater and Ruben del Campo. Zapater scored his second to make it 4-0 in the 37th minute and the visitors from Winnipeg went into the break looking broken. Still, they managed to hold out for eighteen minutes of the second-half before Ballou Tabla scored Atletico's fifth, Bassett adding his second two minutes later for 6-0, and del Campo finishing the scoring - thankfully for any Valour fans among the 2,492 crowd at TD Place - with 21 minutes still to play. Sure, two of the goals probably should have been ruled out for offside but there's no doubt that Valour have serious work to do if they're going to avoid the wooden spoon again in 2024.

The game at Tim Horton's Field in Hamilton between Forge FC and York United was closer than the 3-1 scoreline suggests, especially as that loan goal for United was very much a consolation with minutes left to play. A crowd of just under 2,500 came out to see the Hammers take the lead in the eighth minute when a Tristan Borges ball found Jordan Hamilton in the York box, the former Toronto FC and Columbus Crew man heading home past visiting 'keeper Thomas Vincensini. Vincensini saved from Borges minutes later but could do nothing to prevent David Choiniere firing in off the bar in the seventeenth minute, doubling the home side's lead. It was three just before the half, outlining Forge's total control of that period, when Hamilton grabbed a second, tapping in after Beni Badibanga's shot came off the post. If the first-half was all about Forge, York had much the better of the second, despite the home side having a goal ruled out for offside, and finally grabbed that consolation through Edgar Huerta three minutes from time. Forge, though, remain unblemished in domestic competition in 2024 and will now play CF Montreal of MLS in the two-legged quarterfinal.

League 1 British Columbia side TSS Rovers caused an upset in the 2023 preliminary rounds when they eliminated Valour FC to become the first semi-professional side to win a game in the new era of the Canadian Championship and, but for referee Alain Ruch's generous application of time added on at the end of their visit to Pacific FC on Wednesday, they would have been the second! There were few chances for either side in the first-half but Pacific started to control the game in the second, with Romanian striker Andrei Tîrcoveanu having three good chances to give the home side the lead. To the shock of the majority of the 2,161 in attendance, though, it was Rovers who took the lead, Michael Hennessy latching onto the end of a breakaway ball from Devin O'Hea to slot past Pacific 'keeper Sean Melvin. That was the first goal the Tridents had conceded in four domestic games in 2024 and it opened the game, with chances at both ends, the best of which falling to Pacific's Reon Moore on the six-yard box, the Trinidadian rashly firing over. Rovers' Kyle Jones also had a good chance to put his side 2-0 up, something that proved costly when Moore made up for his earlier error and scored from point-blank range in the eighth of six added minutes. That sent the tie to penalties, with four of the first six missed, and it was substitute Ivan Mejia who had to carry the can, his spot-kick saved by Pacific's Emil Gazdov - brought on especially for the shootout - to give the home side the win and a quarterfinal tie with Atletico Ottawa.

The final preliminary round game came on Thursday night in Halfiax, Nova Scotia, where the CPL's HFX Wanderers took on Ligue 1 Quebec winners CS Saint-Laurent. It was the visitors' first tilt at the cup since stepping up as a semi-professional club in 2022 from their youth club roots and they showed that they are more than ready for this stage by taking the game to Wanderers early on. Despite that, it was the home side that took the lead when captain Daniel Nimick stepped up to slot home a penalty kick just before the half-hour, given for a foul on Jeremy Gagnon-Lapere. Four minutes later, Saint-Laurent were awarded a spot-kick of their own when home 'keeper Yann Fillion brought down former Vancouver FC man Mamadou Kane, and Kane cooly fired home to equalise. That's how things stayed until twenty minutes into the second-half when a clever corner routine - and a deflection - saw former Canadian futsal international Loic Kwemi's shot put the visitors ahead. Both sides had chances after that but Halfiax managed to find an equaliser of their own seven minutes from time, Ryan Telfer capping a busy game with the goal. That sent the game to penalties and after the first seven had been successfully converted, Saint-Laurent 'keeper Kosta Maniatis saved Christian Volesky's effort, leaving Kane with the job of winning the game for the part-timers, a job he completed to silence the home crowd. CS Saint-Laurent's reward for their giantkilling is a two-legged tie with MLS side Toronto FC in the quarterfinals, which begin next week.

It's impossible to know how the game between Philadelphia Union and Seattle Sounders at Subaru Park on March 9 would have played out if it had gone beyond the six minute mark before the players were taken off the field due to inclement weather. At that point, Union were still unbeaten and Sounders hadn't quite embarked on a terrible run that saw win just one of their first nine games this season. What we do know is that they resumed the game on Tuesday night at 0-0 and the home side were forced into three substitutions before the game, with Sounders having just one player unavailable from that original game. It was the visitors who settled first, a through ball causing confusion in the high Union defence allowing Raul Ruidiaz to chip 'keeper Oliver Semmle from fully forty years, and they added a second soon after, teenage star Obed Vargas curling in from the edge of the area to leave Union shellshocked. It got worse eight minutes from time, when Vargas was fouled in the box by Olivier Mbaizo, Ruidiaz braving a Panenka to put Sounders 3-0 up before Union even had a shot at goal. Daniel Gazdag and Julian Carranza did at least force Andrew Thomas in the Seattle goal into making saves in first-half stoppage time but it was Sounders who again started better in the second-half, Ruidiaz and Jordan Morris going close to extending the visitors surprise lead. Union finally hit back in the 55th minute when Jack McGlynn echoed Vargas's curler from earlier with one of his own, and it was 3-2 just two minutes later after Gazdag headed in from close range. The Hungarian even thought he'd found an equalliser midway through the second-half, only to have the linesman lift his flag. The game opened up again and both sides had good chances to score but Sounders managed to hold on for a vital win that meant two home losses in four days for Philadelphia.

The final match in the first round of the 2024 USL Jägermeister Cup took place on Wednesday night at Werner Park in Omaha, where a crowd of 2,135 saw a win for Union Omaha on penalties after the game with Northern Colorado Hailstorm finished 2-2 after ninety minutes. It was the visitors who struck first, Bruno Rendon completing a quick break with a shot past Wallis Lapsley in the Union goal, and it looked like they'd be taking that lead into the break, only for youngster Missael Rodriguez - on loan from Chicago Fire - to score twice, in the 44th and 46th minutes, giving Omaha a surprise 2-1 half-time advantage. Ethan Hoard, who'd played Rendon through for Hailstorm's first, grabbed an equaliser just past the hour, his shot rebounding back off Lapsley and then back off him into the goal, and it looked like Hailstorm might be the ones to find a winner, at least until lightning forced the players off with six minutes left to play. The game petered out after the restart and penalties were called upon, and with Union 3-2 up with one round to go, Rodriguez had the chance to win the game with his spot-kick, only for Edward Delgado to palm it onto the bar and over. Fortunately for Omaha, Jake Keegan's final penalty for Hailstorm was saved by Lapsley and two points go to the home side, a point to the visitors.

After CF Pachuca beat Club America 2-1 at Estadio Hidalgo on Tuesday night, Columbus Crew knew that they would be facing them in Pachuca in the CONCACAF Champions Cup final if they could get a positive result in Nuevo Leon on Wednesday night. Things got off to a nervy start when CF Monterrey opened the scoring, Yehven Cheberko unable to prevent the ball crossing the line after Maximiliano Meza's chip came down off the bar eleven minutes in, but a terrific finish by Aidan Morris, capitalising on a poor throw-out by Monterrey 'keeper Esebtan Andrada, levelled things in first-half stoppage time, restoring Crew's aggregate advantage. With momentum fully swung back in favour of the visitors, Diego Rossi was put through by Alexandru Matan to give Crew a 2-1 lead on the night four minutes into the second-half, and that was the cue for Monterrey to start playing again, going close through German Berterame, Brandon Vazquez. and Gerardo Arteaga. Jordi Cortizo had a shot blocked two minutes from time and Crew raced right up the other end to put the game beyond doubt, Jacen Russell-Rowe finishing off another through ball by Matan. Meza received his marching orders after the final whistle but there was no doubt it was a fantastic performance by the visitors, who will now look to become only the fourth US side to win the trophy and are only the eighth finalists in its 62-year history.