I took the week off. I needed a mini mid-season break of my own and now I feel…tired. I still feel tired. 

But that’s okay! The CPL is going strong and if you’ve been finding yourself distracted by the Olympics and not seeing many games, you’ve missed some stuff!

Firstly, take a look at the table right now. 

https://canpl.ca/standings/

At this stage of the season, only 13 points separate the entire league, nobody has a goal differential higher or lower than 9, and this last weekend has again proved anyone can beat anyone.

Atletico, VFC and Pacific are all struggling, Valour & Halifax are still pushing for the playoffs, Forge is staying par for the course and York are the hottest team in the league right now.

But one team has caught my eye this past weekend and a lot of that is due to the return of one of the league’s biggest stars. 

Cavalry are slowly working their way up the table and it’s been in large part thanks to their defending this season. Led by 2023’s Player of the Year, Daan Klomp, the Calgarians have conceded a league best 15 goals and have only lost 3 games all season which also tops the league. 

Despite the Cavs impressive defensive play , it’s the club’s inability to score and pick up wins that’s had them sitting out of the playoffs for much of the year.  They’re 7th in the league in goals for, and a whopping 9 draws in 17 matches, including a string of 6 in 7. 

The club had not scored more than one goal in their last 10 matches coming into last Saturday’s match against top of the table Atletico.

Enter a returning Ali Musse.

After missing the last 12 matches with a knee injury, Musse came in as a sub with less than half an hour to go and proceeded to make an immediate impact. He scored his first of the year after just 10 minutes and then after Ottawa tied it, he only needed two minutes to unleash Magic Musse.

https://x.com/onesoccer/status/1819927680961204356

With this one goal, last year’s Player’s Player of the Year managed to do three things for the Cavs: score  two goals in a match for the first time since May, score  a late winner for the first time this season, and win back-to-back games for the first time this year.

If Musse and Warschewski can turn into the dual scoring threat we had hoped to see at the beginning of the year, I can see the Calgarians peak at the right time and become a problem.

They were my preseason pick to win the North Star Cup this year. As Disco Stu said, “if these trends continue…ayy!”