Canadian league can hold its own

If it's the little moments that feed the hunger of the average sports fan, then Canadian soccer fans were well fed this week.

- JAMES SHARMAN

Perhaps it was Toronto FC's Deandre Kerr netting his club-record fourth goal in a single match. Or maybe it was SC Saint-Laurent's Rickson Aristilde making history of his own by scoring the first goal by a semi-pro team against an MLS side in the Canadian Championship's history, albeit it in a record 8-1 defeat at the hands of TFC.

On the west coast, it may have been all for nothing with the Vancouver Whitecaps advancing on away goals, but Ranko Veselinovic's own goal was quite the moment and proved the winner as Calgary's Cavalry, a Canadian Premier League club, beat the home side.

These are great moments, and we should not be too surprised. CPL teams have beaten their MLS brethren three times before. And as CPL commissioner Mark Noonan reminded us all via social media this week, both CPL and MLS are considered D1 leagues by FIFA. Still, a great week for the CPL.

It's the big picture that is really important, though. As the CPL's executive vice-president of football Costa Smyrniotis explains, this week demonstrated the significant growth the league has shown since its inception in 2019.