Maypoles aren’t a big thing in these parts, but the Victoria Highlanders would certainly be dancing around something if May Day turns into their lucky day this year. May 1 at 7 p.m. at Starlight Stadium was the date and time announced Monday for the Highlanders’ derby against Pacific FC in the opening round of the 2024 Telus Canadian Championship. The tournament for the Voyageurs Cup is this country’s equivalent of the FA Cup in England and Copa del Rey in Spain.
The two Island clubs were drawn together in the draw held last month. It will be the first ever meeting between PFC of the professional Canadian Premier League and the Highlanders of the largely-amateur League1 B.C.
The annual tournament features the three Canadian teams in Major League Soccer — CF Montreal, Toronto FC and defending champion Vancouver Whitecaps — the eight CPL teams and the champions of League1 B.C., League1 Ontario and League1 Quebec. The 2024 Canadian Championship winner will earn a berth in the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup.
The Highlanders earned their berth by winning the 2023 League1 B.C. regular-season championship, setting up a game against PFC that Highlanders head coach Steven Simonson has described as “exciting on so many levels for Island fans.”
Giant-killing is a big part of Cup lore around the world. That was shown again last year when the TSS Rovers of Burnaby became the first League1 team to beat a CPL club when they upset Valour FC of Winnipeg in the first round of the 2023 Canadian Championship tournament before losing to PFC at Starlight Stadium in the quarter-finals. CPL teams PFC and Cavalry FC have defeated the Whitecaps of MLS in previous tournaments. The PFC victory over the ‘Caps in the 2021 quarter-finals at a pulsating and packed Starlight Stadium is considered one of the greatest moments in Tridents’ club history. PFC went on to give another MLS team, Toronto FC, all it could handle in a 2-1 semifinal loss at BMO Field.
“Punching above your weight is what Cup tournaments are all about,” says PFC managing-director Paul Beirne.
“Since we are the middle tier in this tournament, we are David when playing MLS teams, but Goliath when playing League1 clubs.”
That line of thought was echoed to the Times Colonist by Highlanders gaffer Simonson: “When you are the underdog, you don’t have much to lose. You have to be respectful but you can’t be afraid.”
If the Highlanders are underdogs against PFC, which is one level up, imagine the challenge facing the League1 Ontario champion Simcoe County Rovers, who will play two levels up against Toronto FC of MLS in their Voyageurs Cup opener April 24 at BMO Field.
The winner of the PFC-Highlanders game will advance to the quarter-finals to play the winner of an all-CPL first-round fixture May 1 between Valour FC and Atletico Ottawa.
The other first-round match-up on that side of the draw includes Cavalry FC of Calgary facing Vancouver FC on April 23 in an all-CPL game with the winner advancing to meet the Whitecaps of MLS, who have a first-round bye.
That other side of the draw features the Simcoe County-Toronto FC game, Forge FC of Hamilton against York United in an all-CPL game May 1 and the CPL’s HFX Wanderers of Halifax meeting League1 Quebec champion CS St-Laurent on May 2. CF Montreal of MLS has a first-round bye.
While the opening round is single-loss elimination, the quarter-final and semifinal rounds will be two-game home-and-away legs with the lower-ranking team hosting the first leg and the higher-ranking team the second leg.
The quarter-finals will be played in May or June, the semifinals in July or August and the championship final in September.
