February 2, 2023...Rocket Robin's thoughts on 2023 Canadian Championship draw

February 2nd, 2023

A lot was written on the draw for the 2023 Canadian Championship within minutes of the bingo balls being scooped out of the fish bowls on the OneSoccer broadcast. Even I was taken by surprise about some of the 'pre-selections' of home and away venues before the draw and the early start and finish to the tourney.

The tournament kicks off its Preliminary Round for those teams playing April 18th to 20th and ends with the Final sometime between June 6th to 8th. Each round is only one game. Last year had its start between May 10th to 12th and the Final on July 26th. Why the change? Well there's the Gold Cup this year from June 24th to July 16th at the national team level and before that the finish of the Nations League with the four Group winners in League A playing down to a final. (Canada has two more games to play on March 25th and 28th in hopes of winning their group). These national team level tourneys should really only effect club team rosters at the MLS level however all MLS teams have joined to compete against Mexican club teams in the newly minted 'Leagues Cup' which starts July 21st. Still taking place is the CONCACAF Champions League which has last year's Canadian Championship winner, Vancouver Whitecaps, playing home and away with Real Espana of Honduras March 7th to 16th with hopes of moving on to home and aways in the Quarter and Semi-Finals for most of April and the final at the end of May or start of June.

First announced by the CSA January 24th was HFX Wanderers FC, Valour FC, Cavalry FC, Vancouver FC (the new CPL team) would not be hosting because of “stadium availability and weather conditions” but their announcement a few hours before the draw also ruled out Atletico Ottawa, Vaughan SC, and FC Laval.

There is so much involved that I'll just concentrate on the three GTA teams meaning MLS's Toronto FC, the CPL's York United FC, and League1 Ontario's Vaughan SC.

1. Toronto FC...They were granted a bye through the Preliminary Round for the fact of being one of the finalists from last year's tournament. There are 14 teams in the tourney. For those fans who complain I would point to another league that has 14 teams make its playoffs and gives a bye to its top two teams....the NFL that's who! Its Quarterfinal team opponents will be the winner of the CF Montreal and Vaughan SC game. TFC are drawn at home. No problem filling the stadium for an expected battle against Montreal. Semifinal would also be at home against the winner of Forge FC, FC Laval, HFX Wanderers FC, and Atletico Ottawa. I don't expect this will be in the ticket package so I'd expect another sparce crowd of 3000 like 2021 hosting York United FC then Pacific FC. If they make the Final they will take their act on the road.

So three games maximum. That's less than the old days when there were only four or five teams in the competition but they were home and away games. Two games against NASL then two against MLS for years.

2. York United FC...First action of the night is they were shuffled to the 'Western' side of the draw. They were granted a home game as one of the few teams that would be able to hold one in April. Their Preliminary round opponent is the new CPL team, Vancouver FC. Both teams might as well stay in town as they have a regular league game a few days later on Saturday. If they advance to the Quarterfinal they will host Vancouver Whitecaps who are the other team given a bye through the Preliminary Round for winning last year's Canadian Championship. If York win their Semi-Final they will travel out west to play the survivor of TSS Rovers FC, Valour FC, Pacific FC, and Cavalry FC. If somehow they make the Final, they will host.

Last year the (un)-luck of the draw had them play the three rounds they got to all on the road. Atletico Ottawa, then Pacific FC, then Vancouver Whitecaps. They beat both Ottawa and Pacific in Penalty kicks and a lost a close one against Whitecaps 2-1. Their roster got chewed up with injuries and they were down to twelve players and filled the rest of the bench with emergency players for league games as they went into a long scoring drought.

Great to see that the field-turf at York Lions Stadium ensured their first tourney game at home since 2021's Preliminary rounder against League1 Ontario Masters FA. With all these other North American tourneys for clubs and country, I can expect this tournament to always have an early start from now on so their new field at the Woodbine Racetrack should have that all-season field turf installed although at the insistance of the international teams using those grounds in preparation for the 2026 World Cup, it wouldn't surprise me if they insisted on real grass.

3. Vaughan SC...I let out a shout while watching their bingo ball get dumped into the away pot before the draw. I knew they were separated along with FC Laval so they wouldn't get drawn over to the Western pot and maybe get chosen to start on the road and have a high travel bill. I hadn't had a chance to read the CSA's second post revising the teams willing to host games before the draw a few hours later. OK preliminary round...away to CF Montreal, Quarterfinal away to Toronto FC, Semifinal away to winner of Forge FC, FC Laval, HFX Wanderers, and Atletico Ottawa. Final away (well why not?) to the winner of the western side draw. Yeah four road games.

I was able to attend eleven Vaughan SC games last season. I know that they wouldn't be able to host at North Maple Regional Park because the stands at each parallel field can only hold around 200 people. I expected they'd switch to the Ontario Soccer Centre which is also in Vaughan and is the default host each year for the League1 Ontario Final. I was able to phone the club office the next day and I give great thanks for club president Tony Bertalomeo and treasurer Nick Raimondo for getting back to me for a conference call before the day was over! I have this romantic vision of the Ontario Soccer Centre having 2000 seats but from my more recent pictures they've restructured the seating that now--although it stretches the entire length of the field on the west side (no space for seats in the endzones nor east side)--the stand is no longer constructed from wood and aluminum and is not 20 rows deep anymore. They estimate the size as 1300 nowadays. They hosted HFX Wanderers back in 2019 the first year of the CPL in a home and away series. My old photos show it was the smaller configuration. The old stands were dismantled after the Toronto FC II USL team moved to their own training ground and dropped to the less stadium stringent standards USL League 1 level.

The two Vaughan execs said they needed a longer runway to organize more seating etc and didn't want to have the club look bad if they wouldn't been able to prepare in time. With the draw being against an MLS team, I don't think they would have had enough seats. York Lions Stadium would have been great (I remember they played a L1O game their last summer turning the York United FC vs Cavalry FC game into a doubleheader and had a lot of CPL fans stay for that game). A midweek game with all the hoops that the university would insist open, I couldn't see that happening. As it is York United is hosting during that window anyway.

I also expect turning down the home game leaves them more time to concentrate on finding a new head coach for both their L1O Men's and Women's team. Patrice Gheisar (head coach for the Men) and Jorden Feliciano (head coach for the Women) plus their best forward Massimo Ferrin and best defender Riley Ferrazzo were all lured to HFX Wanderers so there are some important vacancies to fill.

The early start to the tourney would hurt some other L1O teams more with them doing without their university players with school still in session. One tidbit by those two is the rumour that L1O will start its 2023 season the second week of April (yes that's earlier than last season) with some grounds able to host and some starting their first few games on the road if they depend on Parks and Recreation departments permission from the towns and cities in the region.

“Two CPL teams made the Canadian Championship semi-finals this year” may be the only upbeat tourney headline this year for the CPL.

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