Scott Arfield and Christine Sinclair have been named Canada
\u200bSoccer’s Players of the Month for October 2020. The two Canadians featured
\u200bprominently for their professional clubs, notably with Arfield helping Rangers
\u200bFC open a seven-point lead in the Scottish Premiership and Sinclair captaining
\u200bPortland Thorns FC to the National Women’s Soccer League Fall Series title.
Among those players who receive special mention in October,
\u200bCanada Soccer applauds Milan Borjan’s stand against cyberbullying from a rival
\u200bclub director in the Serbian SuperLiga. Captain Borjan and his club Red Star
\u200bBelgrade (FK Crvena Zvezda) are currently in first place in the Serbian
\u200bSuperLiga and have so far collected three points in the group phase of 2020-21
\u200bUEFA Europa League.
Arfield and Borjan are two of the five Canadians currently
\u200btaking part in 2020-21 UEFA men’s club competitions, with Arfield, Borjan and
\u200bJonathan David in UEFA Europa League and both Alphonso Davies and Manjrekar
\u200bJames in UEFA Champions League. The 2020-21 UEFA Women’s Champions League
\u200bseason starts in November with qualifying followed by the Round of 32 in
\u200bDecember.
In Scotland, Arfield has helped Glasgow Rangers FC open a six-point lead on rivals Glasgow Celtic FC, not counting yet another Rangers victory on 1 November. Celtic have won the league for nine consecutive seasons, with the Rangers last Championship-winning season back in 2010-11. All time, Rangers have won the league 54 times while Celtic have won 51 times.
In October, Arfield and Rangers won their three league
\u200bmatches in Scotland (including a 2:0 away victory over Celtic) and their three
\u200bwins in Europe. Arfield scored for the Rangers in their UEFA Europa League
\u200bQualifying match back on 1 October and has since kept the club as joint-leaders
\u200bin Group D with perfect six points from two matches.
Sinclair helped Portland Thorns FC win the NWSL Fall Series Verizon Community Shield with an unbeaten record of three wins and one draw. Captain Sinclair was pivotal in both October matches, scoring the tying goal against Utah Royals on 3 October and then both goals in a 2:1 victory that sealed the title on 10 October. It was Sinclair’s fourth title in eight years with Portland Thorns FC, having previously won the regular season’s NWSL Shield in 2016 as well as the NWSL Championship in both 2013 and 2017.
With six goals across four matches, Sinclair was the
\u200bleague’s top scorer in the NWSL Fall Series. Since 2013 when the league was
\u200binaugurated as an important legacy to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™
\u200bthrough a joint effort with the Mexican Football Federation and US Soccer,
\u200bSinclair has been the league’s joint second-best scorer across all competitions
\u200bwith 58 goals in 147 matches.
Also in North America during the month of October, Toronto
\u200bFC have kept near the top of the Major League Soccer standings while Forge FC
\u200bHamilton have reached the Round of 16 in Concacaf League. Both teams will face
\u200beach other in the 2020 Canadian Championship Final, with the date and location
\u200byet to be announced.
In MLS action, young Tajon Buchanan of New England
\u200bRevolution remains the only Canadian player to feature in every match this
\u200bseason, while Samuel Piette recently made his 100thappearance for
\u200bthe Impact de Montréal. James Pantemis (Montréal), Ralph Priso and Jahkeele
\u200bMarshall-Rutty (both Toronto) all made their MLS debuts in October, with
\u200bMarshall-Rutty in fact the youngest player in club history. Out west, Lucas
\u200bCavallini scored three times for Vancouver Whitecaps FC while goalkeeper Dayne
\u200bSt. Clair posted three clean sheets for Minnesota United FC.
In women’s leagues in Europe, both Latifah Abdu and Paige
\u200bCulver recently made their pro debuts in France (Championnat de France D1).
\u200bÉvelyne Viens scored four goals for Paris FC (including a hat trick) while
\u200bJordyn Huitema scored her first goal of the season with Paris Saint-Germain,
\u200bwho along with Ashley Lawrence have their team in second place in the league
\u200bstandings. Centre back Kadeisha Buchanan, who scored twice in October, has
\u200bhelped unbeaten FCF Olympique Lyonnais to remain at the top of the league
\u200bstandings in France.
Canada Soccer Players of the Month
\u200bJanuary 2020 – Liam Fraser & Christine Sinclair
\u200bFebruary 2020 – Kadeisha Buchanan, Jonathan David, Alphonso Davies
\u200bJuly 2020 – Alphonso Davies & Sophie Schmidt
\u200bAugust 2020 – Kadeisha Buchanan & Alphonso Davies
\u200bSeptember 2020 – Richie Laryea & Christine Sinclair
\u200bOctober 2020 – Scott Arfield & Christine Sinclair