By The Numbers: The path to the 2020 Canadian Championship Final narrows

TORONTO, Canada—When the path to the 2020 Voyageurs Cup was announced by the CSA in the Summer, it was a fairly reasonable proposition in a year that was, really, anything but.

The Final would be contested, for the first time, between the winners of the 2020 Canadian Premier League “Island Games” (the defacto 2020 sophomore season for the young league) and the MLS team that accumulated the most points in the Canada Only MLS Regular Season Extravaganza (I’m gonna call it Phase 3 of the MLS Season).

Eleven teams in total would compete for those two coveted spots in the Championship Final.

On the CPL side, the eight teams played each other to narrow down to a Group of Four. That quartet reintroduced themselves once more, and on Tuesday will wrap up Round 2, thus selecting the two clubs that will compete for 2020 CPL Championship, a berth in the 2021 CONCACAF League competition, and a berth in the 2020 Voyageurs Cup Final which could earn them a berth in the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League Tournament. (*takes a breath*)

What do we know before Tuesday’s final Group Stage matches?

We know that Pacific FC are out. And we know that HFX Wanderers FC are probably in. Probably. A lot will be decided in the first game of the day: a battle between 2019 Finalists —and the only 2 CPL teams to ever lift anything above their heads—Forge FC and Cavalry FC.

Pretty straight forward. If Forge gain a point, it’s settled business. If Cavlary win, then they’re in and will be joined by HFX, unless the Wanderers make a meal of it against an already eliminated Pacific FC.

If both Forge AND HFX lose, then we’ll need to look at the tiebreakers, which could involve Goals Scored, Goal Differential, or even Under-21 minutes.

Here’s a handy outlook for Tuesday night, if Forge drop the matinee.

On the MLS side of the ledger, things have become a bit more clear (after a wild night in Vancouver).

Montreal entered last night needing 2 things. Two victories this week, and by a proper margin.

There was feint hope for Toronto FC fans last night when Vancouver opened the scoring! But Montreal broke back with FOUR, taking the match 4-2. To make matters worse, Vancouver’s top-scoring threat (Designated Player Lucas Cavallini) took himself out of this match (and the next one) with multiple rash and violent outbursts. It all went Pete Tong from Reds watching on.

Wednesday night will settle the MLS side of the Voyageurs Cup Battle, but any hope that our Reds will fill that spot basically comes down to this...