Soccer

Around the NSL: Silano’s spectacular strike; Rapid treading water; Post-season posturing

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read 6:24 PM CDT

And just like that, the Northern Super League playoffs are nearly set with only fourth place — and home-field advantage, of course — up for grabs.

AFC Toronto is on a tear, and the Wild continue to terrorize the post-season race. Week 23 was a wild ride — pun intended.

With three weeks of the regular-season schedule remaining, the crystal ball of who has the best chance of taking the Diana B. Matheson Cup has never been cloudier.

And with a pivotal Friday night matchup, here’s an early edition of View from Row Z.

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Friendlies more of a juggle for Team Canada bench boss than homecoming

Jerrad Peters 5 minute read Preview

Friendlies more of a juggle for Team Canada bench boss than homecoming

Jerrad Peters 5 minute read Friday, Sep. 25, 2026

Ahead of the roster announcement for Canada’s upcoming friendlies, it might have been tempting to want a glimpse of the younger and fringier players who might just be the future of the national men’s program. An experimental squad, in other words.

Well, that is not what head coach Jesse Marsch has assembled in the run-up to matches against Chile, Peru and the United States. Yes, a number of prospects will see action, but their minutes have been necessitated more by injuries and absences than a generational shift.

After all, the purpose of this international window isn’t to anticipate coming accomplishments, but rather to honour past ones.

It’s right there in the branding for Saturday’s tussle with Chile in Toronto (6 p.m., TSN 4) and next weekend’s appointment with Peru in Montreal (Oct. 3, 1 p.m., TSN 4 & 5).

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Friday, Sep. 25, 2026

NSL Photo
AFC Toronto celebrates Victoria Pickett’s bending corner in the opening minute of play last Saturday. The marker for the visiting side was credited to Halifax Tides goalkeeper Anika Tóth.

Around the NSL: A corner to remember; De Filippo’s boot; a highlight-reel brace

Grace Anne Paizen 4 minute read Preview

Around the NSL: A corner to remember; De Filippo’s boot; a highlight-reel brace

Grace Anne Paizen 4 minute read Friday, Sep. 25, 2026

You better believe the race to the finish line is on and this weekend’s action proved just that.

The standings picture didn’t get any clearer — aside from the Roses securing their playoff ticket in a 2-2 road draw against the Rise last Saturday — with five of the league’s six club’s still very much in the post-season race.

Words of advice? Embrace the chaos of the final four weeks. But first, here’s the highlights and storylines out of an eventful Week 22.

Highlight of the week

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Friday, Sep. 25, 2026

Soccer

Decorated business vet Spiring announced as NSL Winnipeg president

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read Preview

Decorated business vet Spiring announced as NSL Winnipeg president

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026

Manitoba’s own Dayna Spiring is no stranger to the sports world, but her latest venture into the world of football — this time of the kick-about variety — is a whole new ball game.

“I’m getting up to speed on that as quickly as I can,” Spiring told the Free Press Tuesday, shortly after the accomplished business leader was announced as Northern Super League Winnipeg’s president.

Spiring joins an already stacked roster on the first women’s professional sports team in the Keystone province alongside the likes of NSL Winnipeg’s decorated co-founders Desiree Scott and Rob Gale.

And her own stats sheet is just as historic. Spiring was one of the first women to serve on the CFL’s Board of Governors and was the first woman to serve as chair of the Winnipeg Football Club’s board of directors. She is also the first woman to have her name engraved on the Grey Cup when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers captured back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2021.

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Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026

Soccer

Leah Hennel / NSL
Calgary Wild goalkeeper Sarah Keilty-Dilling dying minutes heroics prevented the Halifax Tides from capitalizing on a late rally and two late corners.

Around the NSL: Keilty-Dilling’s hot hands; Rise rumble standings; Tides in must-win territory

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read Preview

Around the NSL: Keilty-Dilling’s hot hands; Rise rumble standings; Tides in must-win territory

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read Friday, Sep. 18, 2026

Let’s start off this week’s edition with the Week 21 matchup between the Montreal Roses and AFC Toronto that had already taken place before last week’s column was written.

It was, arguably, the heavyweight matchup of that week, with the Roses attempting to place a three-game buffer between itself and the surging Mighty Maroons while Toronto was trying to gain some breathing room between itself and the Ottawa Rapid.

Instead? A 2-2 draw thwarted any progress from either team.

Making way for the Rapid to leapfrog back into second place over Toronto… right? Well, buckle up for the riveting answer to that question and the jostling for fourth place in this column’s latest edition.

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Friday, Sep. 18, 2026

Opinion

ANDREW MEDICHINI / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Defender Leonardo Balerdi (right) has been superb in his just 129 minutes in a Roma shirt, drawing applause from teammates and being compared by his manager to AC Milan legend Franco Baresi.

AS Roma’s perfect start unexpected storyline of Serie A

Jerrad Peters 4 minute read Preview

AS Roma’s perfect start unexpected storyline of Serie A

Jerrad Peters 4 minute read Friday, Sep. 18, 2026

Be honest — who had AS Roma first place in Serie A, and with a 100 per cent record through four rounds, on their calcio bingo card?

Or how about Donyell Malen? Anyone have the Dutchman scoring six goals in three weeks, including a trio of game-winners?

Leonardo Balerdi, maybe? Any chips on the defender, on loan from Marseille, being compared to the late, great Franco Baresi by his Giallorossi manager?

There’s a Jennifer Lawrence GIF for all those with their hands raised.

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Friday, Sep. 18, 2026

Soccer

NSL PHOTO
The Montreal Roses game on Aug. 29 at Stade Saputo broke the Northern Super League’s attendance record. The BMO Field attendance record of 15,500 held since April 2025 was smashed with 17,077 in attendance to watch the home side take on the Halifax Tides.

Around the NSL: Record broken; standings rocked; Calgary a wild watch

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read Preview

Around the NSL: Record broken; standings rocked; Calgary a wild watch

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read Friday, Sep. 11, 2026

Records were broken, the standings were rocked and the Calgary hasn’t lost a match since Week 15.

The last two weeks of the Northern Super League have been electric.

With six weeks left in the regular season, here’s a rapid-fire breakdown of where each club stands.

Montreal Roses (11-4-5, 38 points)

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Friday, Sep. 11, 2026

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Opinion

Alastair Grant / ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES
Despite the departure of Manchester City’s storied manager Pep Guardiola at the end of May, how the Sky Blues perform in Sunday’s Manchester Derby is just one of the storylines the former bench boss is impacting.

All about Pep

Jerrad Peters 5 minute read Preview

All about Pep

Jerrad Peters 5 minute read Friday, Sep. 11, 2026

He won’t be involved, but Sunday’s Manchester Derby (10:30 a.m., FuboTV) will be all about Pep Guardiola.

It was 10 years ago that the ex-Bayern Munich and Barcelona manager, hired that summer by Manchester City, oversaw his first local clash against Manchester United. Then, like now, the match came early — on Matchday Four. And then, like now, it was played on the enemy patch at Old Trafford.

United is hoping the comparisons end there, because City prevailed 2-1 back in September 2016 and Guardiola went on to win 16 derbies to the Red Devils’ nine. He also shifted the balance of power away from a club that was only three years removed from Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement and still expecting a quick return to glory.

In Guardiola’s glittering decade in English football he guided the Sky Blues to six Premier League titles and, in 2023, the league, FA Cup and Champions League treble — a feat theretofore achieved only by United.

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Friday, Sep. 11, 2026

Soccer

NSL PHOTO
Calgary Wild goalkeeper Katelin Talbert backstopped her team to the club’s first regulation win of the season last Saturday.

Around the NSL: Quarterfinal upset; Wild win; Rapid still human

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read Preview

Around the NSL: Quarterfinal upset; Wild win; Rapid still human

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read Friday, Aug. 14, 2026

Oh, the drama in the week that was.

The quarterfinals of the inaugural W Canadian Championship have been a wild ride since the Calgary Wild shut out CS Mont-Royal Outremont 4-0 on Aug. 5. The development this week? The NSL’s second-best team dropped a 1-0 decision to semi-pro Simcoe County Rovers FC on Wednesday in front of a hometown crowd at Stade Boréale.

Club backlash over the loss has been swift as the Montreal Roses promptly fired manager Robert Rositoui on Thursday. First assistant coach Maryse Bard-Martel has been placed as the interim bench boss until a new head coach is hired.

Rositoui was the club’s inaugural head coach, who led the Roses to a semifinal berth in Montreal’s inaugural season. It’s a shock that after a loss in a knockout tournament would amount to his firing — but the club claims a “new spark” is needed.

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Friday, Aug. 14, 2026

Soccer

Luca Bruno / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES
Real Madrid has turned to José Mourinho for a second time. The last time Mourinho coached the club was 13 years ago.

Mourinho’s return to Real Madrid a classic rebound

Jerrad Peters 6 minute read Preview

Mourinho’s return to Real Madrid a classic rebound

Jerrad Peters 6 minute read Friday, Aug. 14, 2026

Not quite a month ago, nearly two million people lined the streets of Madrid to see the World Cup paraded by the Spanish national team. It might as well have been another lifetime.

By the time the Plaza de Cibeles was swept up and sprayed down, the country’s attention had shifted to the only thing — or person — it seemed anyone wanted to be talking about: José Mourinho.

And they haven’t stopped talking about him. He hasn’t let them.

On June 11, the same day the World Cup kicked off in Mexico City, Mourinho was appointed head coach of Real Madrid for a second time. In his initial stint at the sport’s biggest club, which had ended 13 years prior, he’d won the Copa del Rey his first season, La Liga in his second and nothing in his third.

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Friday, Aug. 14, 2026

Soccer

NSL PHOTO
Halifax Tides forward Jordyn Rhodes (left) and AFC Toronto’s Kaylee Hunter earned braces to cap off Week 15 of game action in the Northern Super League.

Around the NSL: A brace of braces; Rapid rule; Jostling in the standings

Grace Anne Paizen 4 minute read Preview

Around the NSL: A brace of braces; Rapid rule; Jostling in the standings

Grace Anne Paizen 4 minute read Friday, Aug. 7, 2026

WHAT a long weekend in the Northern Super League. If fans thought the eight goal tally between the first two games of Week 15 was wild, how about the final two games this past weekend?

A total of 11 goals were scored by AFC Toronto, the Halifax Tides and the Ottawa Rapid — that’s a whopping 19 in just one week of footy.

How did we get here? Let’s dive into the storylines.

Braces of the week

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Friday, Aug. 7, 2026

Soccer

NSL PHOTO
The Ottawa Rapid came away with a 2-1 win over the Halifax Tides in Week 13. Halifax gets its chance to avenge the loss at home on Monday.

Around the NSL: Roaring Rapid; Mighty Maroons motoring; Wild still looking for first win

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read Preview

Around the NSL: Roaring Rapid; Mighty Maroons motoring; Wild still looking for first win

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

WELCOME back to the View from Row Z!

What a fortnight of footy in the Northern Super League. With two Week 15 games already in the books, this edition of the View will look a little different, capping off all the action from Week 13 and 14.

Let’s start with questions going into the two games left in Week 15.

Can the Rapid be stopped?

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Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

Soccer

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
NSL Winnipeg co-founders Rob Gale and Desiree Scott announced the league’s first expansion franchise at the Forks on Tuesday.

Around the NSL: Welcome to footypeg; Rapid on top; Canadian Champ to be crowned

Grace Anne Paizen 4 minute read Preview

Around the NSL: Welcome to footypeg; Rapid on top; Canadian Champ to be crowned

Grace Anne Paizen 4 minute read Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

Welcome to footypeg, Northern Super League superfans! It will soon no longer be a view from Row Z.

It was a long — too long — time coming, but Winnipeg will finally have its very own professional women’s league team. And what better sport than the beautiful game.

Decorated Olympian and hometown hero Desiree Scott made the announcement of the league’s expansion into the Prairies on Tuesday. The Winnipegger nicknamed the Destroyer during her playing days co-founded the seventh franchise in Canada’s women’s pro footy league with renowned former coach Rob Gale. She will serve as vice-president of community and player experience and Gale will serve as chief sporting officer.

The club’s first season will kick off in 2027 and the league has announced it hopes to expand again in 2028.

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Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

Opinion

STEW MILNE / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES
Spain is captained by Rodri, who won the Ballon d’Or two years ago. The reigning European champions enter Sunday’s World Cup final without a defeat over 90 minutes in 37 matches.

Poise versus passion for historic World Cup final

Jerrad Peters 5 minute read Preview

Poise versus passion for historic World Cup final

Jerrad Peters 5 minute read Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

All things considered, and despite the howls of partisan rivals and conspiracy theorists, Sunday’s World Cup final is probably the right World Cup final, and for all the right reasons.

Never before have the reigning champions of Europe and South America gone head-to-head for global football supremacy. Never, that is, until Sunday. Only twice before has each finalist featured a previous Ballon d’Or winner. Sunday will be the third.

Spain, the European champion captained by Rodri, who won the Ballon d’Or two years ago, enters the final without a defeat over 90 minutes in 37 matches. Argentina, the South American champion captained by Lionel Messi — who boasts of a record eight Ballons d’Or — enters the final with 14 straight wins.

We could go on, but pretty much any way we’d slice it would leave us with Spain and Argentina. They are the best teams in the world in this moment, the most worthy World Cup combatants.

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Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

Soccer

Vitor Munhoz / Northern Super League
Evelyn Badu leaps into the arms of her teammate at Stade Boréale. Badu had a hat trick last Saturday against the Vancouver Rise.

Around the NSL: Wild’s new bench boss; Badu hat trick; Maroons still mighty

Grace Anne Paizen 4 minute read Preview

Around the NSL: Wild’s new bench boss; Badu hat trick; Maroons still mighty

Grace Anne Paizen 4 minute read Friday, Jul. 10, 2026

It was inevitable the Calgary Wild were going to replace Sinead McSharry. The club announced the hiring of Aussie Leah Blayney as head coach the day after dropping Sunday’s game 3-1 to Ottawa, with McSharry returning to her original role of assistant coach with the club.

In fairness to the Wild here, though, to only lose 3-1 to the Rapid — which has launched itself into team-to-beat status this season — in enemy territory isn’t that bad. Yes, a loss is a loss, but this time it wasn’t for lack of effort. Calgary came out of halftime with energy and Meggie Dougherty Howard cut Ottawa’s lead in half in the 65th minute. And the Rapid’s cushion was only padded two minutes into stoppage time by Jazmine Wilkinson.

It’s understandable something had to change, but with the regular season nearing its halfway mark, is this bench-boss changeup too little, too late?

Northern Super League superfans should find out Saturday when the club hosts the Vancouver Rise (6 p.m. CT, TSN+). But before we get to Week 12, here’s other storylines from Week 11.

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Friday, Jul. 10, 2026

Soccer

FERNANDO LLANO / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
England’s Jude Bellingham has transformed into a dominating box-to-box presence for his country.

Almost impossible not to look ahead to World Cup semifinals

Jerrad Peters 6 minute read Preview

Almost impossible not to look ahead to World Cup semifinals

Jerrad Peters 6 minute read Friday, Jul. 10, 2026

It is oh-so-very tempting to look ahead to next week Wednesday and the semifinal showdown everyone wants to see. Everyone, that is, except the Norwegians and the Swiss, whose national teams could also square off in Atlanta on July 15.

If that happened, the World Cup would be guaranteed a debut finalist — something that’s happened just four times in 60 years — and FIFA president Gianni Infantino would be outraged. So maybe Norway-Switzerland is the match-up most of us should want. You know, for the plot.

But then we’d be deprived of the tantalizing prospect of England-Argentina.

Yes, we’re getting ahead of ourselves, but it’s almost impossible not to.

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Friday, Jul. 10, 2026

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