First Round Obituaries

Have a read as we go over who were the best, the worst and the most surprising players for the four CPL teams that didn’t make it past the first round at the Island Games. Bonus - if you make it to the end there’s a couple betting tips for today’s games!

York 9 FC

Stud: Luca Gasparotto (CB)

Gasparotto’s been overlooked in a lot of coverage this season, but he was clearly the standout performer for York in Charlottetown. We covered most of the reasons in our last post where we named him in our team of the round (one of only two players from bottom 4 teams), but it bears repeating that he was at or near the top of most defensive stats for a team tied for fewest goals against in the round, including clearances and aerial duels won, where he was right at the top. He formed a solid partnership at the back with Roger Thompson that gave Jim Brennan’s club a good foundation to get results, and he continues to be the only CPL player to have played every single possible minute for his club. Get him a surrounding cast, and he’d be back in the Canadian national team discussion.

Dud: Ryan Telfer (FW)

It came as somewhat of a surprise when Telfer signed back with York after a brief stint in Cyprus cut short by the pandemic, but after a great debut season in 2019, there was a lot of talk about the league’s first-ever goalscorer putting York over the top. Needless to say, that didn’t happen. The much-ballyhooed wing pairing of Telfer and Michael Petrasso never materialized to much, due to a combination of injury, lack of a quality starting striker, and simple poor performance. In many games, it just looked like Telfer simply wasn’t interested. Maybe it was partly a case of him trying to do too much, especially after he realized he wasn’t getting much help from his fellow forwards (see - Gabriel Vasconcelos)? Either way, a pretty rough go for the league’s 2nd-best forward according to some.

Vasconcelos, Abzi(!) and Ingham were right there in the conversation as well - an indication of the subpar Island Games had by Yorkie’s squad.

Surprise:

The surprise that stood out to us (beside the lack of starts for Wataru Murofushi) was Japanese leftback, who impressed Jimmy Brennan enough to push last year’s star Diyaeddine Abzi up to left wing, just to be able to fit both in the same lineup. In the end, maybe this wasn’t the best strategy, but in any case Segawa was impressive in his 5 appearances - and one of York’s more impactful imports this year.

Atlético Ottawa

Stud: Malcolm Shaw (ST)

OK, we know - this should be Acuña, right? Yeah, but everyone else is talking about him so let’s shine the spotlight on some other deserving Ottawa players... We’ve been bigging up Shaw since before the season (and no, we’ll never let anyone forget that), after a solid year in the Swedish third tier, and he impressed throughout. Hell, he scored the goal of the year so far against out own Cavs! And if it wasn’t for Christian Oxner, he would have doubled his total in that last game. He ended the year with 2 goals and 1 assist, but as we noted in earlier posts, it was his movement off the ball that was especially impressive. This is what opened up space for Acuña to run in behind (the Edmonton game being a prime example). He’s a complete forward - surprisingly good in the air, pacy, and strong with both feet. He finished 4th in the league in shots, and 8th in aerial duels won (2nd for forwards behind *Marcus Haber*). Shaw spent good portions of most games isolated, but still put up one of the better stat lines for CPL strikers. In a full season on a more developed roster, he could push himself into the Golden Boot conversation.

Dud: Nacho Zabal (GK)

Ottawa let in the second-most goals in the first round behind Edmonton, and a good portion of that was down to suspensions in the backline, but Zabal also had his moments - and wasn’t exactly the experienced rock at the back that might have been expected. See Akeem Garcia’s goal in the last game which was a decider for who would move on, as an example of this. Most confusing for us is the fact that Ottawa had a more-than-capable Canadian keeper sitting on the bench in Ricky Gomes, that we were certain would see some game time. Gomes has professional experience (including a promotion as starting keeper), and deserved to at least see the field, especially when Zabal was letting shots squirm under him.

Surprise: Malyk Hamilton (RB)

As Cavs supporters, we’re not surprised at how well he performed, but surprised Hamilton wasn’t used further up the pitch on a bare-bones Ottawa roster. Also, we just wanted to highlight how strong a season he had. At rightback, Hamilton was right there with Kadin Chung and Chrisnovic N’Sa as the best in the league - good company! He was a consistently positive presence - helping his team build out from the back with smart passes and movement. This was best exemplified by his great through ball to Acuña for his second against Edmonton. Hamilton’s another player that’s going to go places.

Valour FC

Stud: Raphael Ohin (CM)

A lot was made of Valour’s two centrebacks and rightfully so, but we wanted to shine a light on an underrated presence in the Winnipeg side. Ohin took a step forward from last year and became more offensively-involved, as evidenced by his 87% passing success rate, rather than a strictly ball-winning midfielder. In fact, we were surprised by his low amount of tackles won - just when we were about to anoint him the Ghanaian Lee Cattermole (meant in the best way possible)! But Ohin was a model of consistency in an inconsistent Valour lineup in Charlottetown. It was clear to see he was the squad’s driving force, and at only 25 years old, we’re expecting him to take the next step with Rob Gale’s side next year.

Dud: Fraser Aird (RW)

We’ll be honest - we didn’t really know what to expect from Aird. In the last couple of years he’s gone from being a solid contributor with Dundee United, to an unproductive loan spell with Queen of the South, to ripping up the Scottish fourth tier, to Valour… I’m not certain Rob Gale knew what to expect either - at least that’s what I thought when I saw him line up at left wing against Cavs in the first game. In any case, we’re not faulting his effort, but Aird’s production in Charlottetown left a ton to be desired, and could have been the difference between making the second round or not. On the plus side, at least we can all be satisfied that the CPL is a higher level than the Scottish League Two!

Special mention for Solomon Antwi, whose story and performances reminded me a lot of my beloved Sunderland’s former (1 game) player, Milton Nunez.

Surprise: Moses Dyer (CM)

Dyer was a player we had our eye on leading into the season due to his interesting career path, and his recent successful season in Norway’s third tier, while also being a New Zealand international. He scored one goal in Valour’s last game against Forge, finished second on the club in shots, and third in duels won, despite only playing the equivalent of 3 full games. We’d also like to mention Dyer being the first Indigenous player (to our knowledge - please correct if wrong!) in the CPL, an important milestone for the league in our eyes, and a group that gets overlooked in the game in Canada. If Dyer builds on his play in Charlottetown and stays in Winnipeg, he could open some eyes next season.

FC Edmonton

Stud: Easton Ongaro (ST)

We’re not sure that anyone on this year’s Eddies roster is really deserving of the title after the performance in Charlottetown, but unsurprisingly Easton Ongaro was the best of the bunch, despite not living up to his own lofty standards from 2019. Ongaro managed to score 3 of the Eddies’ 5 goals at the Island Games, despite a glaring (and surprising) lack of service from the likes of Boakai and Alemán. Why Tomi Ameobi started any matches at all ahead of him, let alone the Cavs game, was one of the roster decisions we just couldn’t figure out… We expect Ongaro to be back in top form next season.

Dud: Keven Alemán (LW)

Where do we start?? Ameobi would have been an easy choice, but we didn’t expect much of him to begin with. Keven Alemán on the other hand was probably the Eddies highest-profile signing of the off-season. On PEI, though, the product just wasn’t there. He finished with one goal - the team’s first in the comeback against Ottawa - and no assists, not exactly what we’re looking for from a creative winger. He also had a tendency to show frustration with his teammates when things weren’t going the Eddies’ way (i.e., most of the time) - not ideal for a young team. It’ll be interesting if he’s back next season - we suspect not. But would that really be much of a loss?

Surprise: Antony Caceres (CM)

Caceres was a late addition to the Eddies roster from the Whitecaps Residency system, but he was one of few players on the squad to make an impact most times he saw the field. The 20-year old from Leduc started 2 games (the 2 following his impressive substitute impact against Ottawa) and subbed on in all others. He assisted Alemán’s goal against the capital club, and his dribbling skills caused a ton of problems. His skill on the ball and eye for a pass for apparent in his limited minutes, and with more consistency he could move into a starting role next year.

Bonus: Saturday game bet tips!

Bet365 is giving pretty solid odds for a Pacific win over Forge, and while we’re not *predicting* that result, we could see it happening enough for it to be our cheeky punt of the week. This’ll get you 3.5 odds on bet365, and if you combine it with more than 3 goals in the game, those odds are up to 9.5. Worth a punt in our opinion!

For Cavalry - Halifax, you can see the current odds below. We’re not in the habit of jinxing our team, so all we’ll say is if you’re thinking Halifax have a chance, at 1.8 odds to draw OR win, it might be worthwhile.

Happy betting, and let us know what you think about our bottom 4 obituaries!