It’s been a busy 18 days since the last update. With 15 July being right at the start of a weekend, I wanted to wait for it to be over and to include those results in today’s ELO rankings. There was a fair bit of moving and shaking among the Canadian teams in various leagues, and with the PCSL and PDL moving into play-offs, we’re going to see some numbers start to solidify. Let’s get into the roundup.

At the top of the table, we see the Canadian teams continue to slip. With big losses coming to both Toronto and Montreal, they’ve now slumped beneath the median. Montreal Impact’s losses have been so bad, they now drop to 3rd place, boosting the Whitecaps to 2nd. In the 2nd division, the gap between FC Edmonton and Ottawa Fury FC continues to widen. Much like their academy, who were destroyed in both of their PLSQ Cup matches, the Ottawa Fury FC just can’t seem to win (or even tie) anyone right now. Hopefully their new signings will start to turn the team around, or we can look forward to Dalglish being sacked in the not-to-distant future.

The USL continues to have teams in the same order as they have most of the season. Whitecaps FC 2 on top, FC Montreal on the bottom. Frighteningly, FC Montreal is so far on the bottom, they look like they would better fit in 4th division PDL, especially with K-W United’s ongoing streak of high-scoring wins. Thunder Bay Chill and Calgary Foothills FC are both right on the heels of a floundering FC Montreal.

In League 1 Ontario, the top 3 have swapped positions with L1O Cup contenders Woodbridge Strikers and Vaughan Azzurri sitting in a statistical tie for top. Durham United FA, although out of the Cup run, have been doing stellar in league play all season, and sit very closely in 3rd. The L1O Cup final has yet to be announced is July 30th, but depending on how things play out in the league, I think we can count on Durham and the winner of the L1O Cup to be fighting for L1O’s top ELO spot. The PLSQ has seen the first home-and-away rounds of their Cup race. It has not changed which clubs were their top-3, though it did push CS Mont-Royal Outremont to a statistical tie with AS Blainville. It has also sunk any hopes Ottawa Fury Academy had of being relevant, or showing much promise in their players. There’s a lot of work to be done in Ottawa.

On the West Coast, the PCSL has wrapped up their regular season play. The top 3 teams remain unchanged, but a surprise double-win by Kamloops Heat over basement-dwelling Penticton has pushed them into the fourth play-off position. With a short, 3-match play-off, we will know the final position of these clubs in time for the next update. When I say final, I mean it. Given the mickey-mouse style of league play & organization, I will not be tracking them next year unless BC Soccer goes insane and certifies them at the level as L1O & PLSQ. When a league takes days to post scores, changes matches on-the-fly, and has absolutely no games streamed or broadcast, it’s really hard to accurately follow & evaluate them. Hopefully we’ll see a proper league sprout up in BC in near-future to fill the West Coast gap.

That’s how things fell from July 1st – July 18th. We’ll be back on or around the beginning of August with our next ELO Ranking update, which will include the next round of US Open Cup play, and possibly some estimated ELO starting points for the 2017 season. The L1O final is July 30th and the next round of home-and-away matched in the PLSQ cup will be underway. Even with a somewhat shorter gap, there’s still plenty going on with Canadian soccer. See you in August!

Update 12:16pm Pacific: Edited to add the date of the L1O Cup final. Thanks to Chris for the comment update!