Welcome to the August update. If you aren’t one of our Patreons, there’s been quite a bit of movement over the course of the past two months. We skipped the July update because I got behind due to the World Cup and a number of other matters. By the time I was caught up, it was over half-way through the month. Instead of stretching out one update and shortening another, I felt it best just to move ahead. In this update, we have the wrap-up of the PCSL and PDL seasons for the year. The PCSL has rolled out its playoffs, while PDL has a final match set for this weekend with Calgary Foothills FC facing Reading United AC.
In the 2018-only ranking, Toronto FC continues to reign supreme. Although Montreal and Vancouver had switched spots after the first leg of the Canadian Championship, the Whitecaps have retaken 2nd place following the 2nd-leg. Ottawa remains resolute in 4th, despite dropping a pair of matches in the Canadian Championship to the Reds. Toronto FC II managed to pull a surprise victory, just in time to keep their 5th-place spot ahead of Calgary Foothills FC, who have now advanced to the PDL Final. Thunder Bay Chill fared well this past season, allowing them to take 6th place over TSS FC Rovers and Victoria Highlanders FC. Rounding out the top-10, we have the top-club from the PLSQ: AS Blainville. Despite being knocked out of the Canadian Championship by Ottawa, Blainville have trounced the rest of their division, earning their position in the top-10.
TFC III and Sigma FC are nearly tied at the top of League1 Ontario, while the PCSL’s top-club was Khalsa Sporting Club, thanks to their playoff victories.
Not all teams have fared well. WSA Winnipeg of the PDL continued their slide throughout the whole season, going 0-14-0, and have dipped to a distant 16th place. Equally unsettling, the Oakville Blue Devils, who participated in the Canadian Championship this year, sit near the bottom of League1 Ontario after having lost their way out of the League1 Cup, and continuing a dismal performance in league action. Oakville has managed to remain above bottom-of-PLSQ FC Lanaudiere, who are within spitting distance of the PCSL Champions.
The season isn’t completely over for the Blue Devils, as League1 Ontario has regular season matches through the end of September, but they have a lot of work to do if they would like a repeat visit to the Canadian Championship. The team sits in 5th in the standings, which would see them enter the playoffs, but they’re going to need to tighten up and win some matches in order to do it.
In the cumulative ratings, TFC continues to reign supreme, with Vancouver and Montreal holding onto 2nd & 3rd place. Much like the 2018-only ratings, Ottawa is solid in 4th place. Calgary Foothills FC leapfrogged TFC II, and Thunder Bay Chill are only a couple more losses by the Young Reds from taking 6th. Thunder Bay had a stellar year in 2017, and they continued to build throughout 2018, despite not qualifying for the playoffs.
Below 7th, we have PLSQ’s AS Blainville, followed by L1O’s Vaughan Azzurri. The top-10 is rounded out with TSS FC Rovers of the PDL. Both Blainville and Vaughan have built upon good performances in 2017 to continue to push their clubs higher in the cumulative rankings. Although Vaughan has yet to quite reach the 1000+ club, AS Blainville’s position has begun to lead to some interesting results, with away-draws now causing them to lose points against lower rated teams in their league. This suggests that Blainville may be nearing the top realistic boundary for a PLSQ club.
As mentioned in the first half of this article, WSA Winnipeg has now had two consecutive seasons at the bottom, and their cumulative ratings reflect it. Most PLSQ and L1O sides are ranked higher than the club, but without actually having PDL sides compete against L1O & PLSQ teams (like, say, in an early round of the Canadian Championship), there’s no real way to know how they would match up. WSA has dropped from 18th place at the beginning of June, to 25th.
Oakville sits middle of the pack, thanks to an impressive 2017 being balanced by a mediocre 2018. There’s still time for them to boost their position, but at the moment, they do not look like the powerhouse we expected.
As we mentioned on twitter, we’re already prepping these ratings for 2019. With (at least) 7 new teams in the CPL, 1 new PLSQ side, 2 new PCSL sides, TFC II moving to USL D3, and TFC III leaving the ratings (as we don’t see any good reason to track USSDA), there’s plenty of moving parts. In general, things will continue to operate as they have this season, with teams moving divisions reset to the division’s average and new teams entering similarly. There will be modifications to how I set the Champions League starting points, and I’ll have to get into the CPL & USL D3 setups. But that is something I’ll get to more thoroughly in the post-season, after I’ve tested out some possibilities.
There is a lot of soccer coming in August, including both the PDL and League1 Ontario Cup finals this weekend. If you want to keep on top of the elo rankings throughout the month, a $1/month donation through Patreon will give you Friday updates. All proceeds go toward keeping the site running.
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