The ComeOn! Match of the Week is the marque match for the week on the streaming service One Soccer. The match of the week is unique compared to the other matches, as it gets an in-studio pre-game show, a play-by-play announcer, a colour commentator, an in-studio half-time show, and an in-studio post-game show. Compared to other matches which get no pre-game, no half-time, no post-game shows, and only one commentator during the game. The Match of the Week is much more professionally done, compared to the other matches that are played that week which often lack production value. 

In total there are 25 ComeOn! Match of the Week games according to the CPL schedule, with one game produced in the OneSoccer studio per week. One would assume that this would be fairly evenly split between the eight teams in the league, but it is not. With Forge leading the way with nine ComeOn! Match of the Week games, followed by Pacific with eight. At the bottom end of the table, Atletico Ottawa comes in last with four, followed by York United with five. The other four teams in the league each get six games.

While at first, this may look like the standings last season, but, that’s actually not the case. FC Edmonton finished seventh last season, yet is tied with three other teams with six ComeOn! Match of the Week games. York United finished fourth last season, yet is second last with only five games. Pacific finished third last season, while having the second most games with eight this year. The only part of the standings last season that matches the amount of Match of the Week games allocated per team is Forge FC, finishing first last season and having the most, and Atletico Ottawa finishing last and having the least.

Looking at which teams get home field advantage during the ComeOn! Match of the Week brings up an even starker difference in how these games were allocated. HFX Wanders have the most home games with five, Forge and Pacific each are tied in second with four home games each, while on the other side of the table, Atletico Ottawa is last with only 1 game at home, and York United is in second last with two home games. The remanding teams all have three Match of the Week home games. 

S. 2 Ep. 21: Canada Doing What Canada Does – FC13 Podcast

Good day Ball Boys and Girls, we are back with some international action, because it is Concacaf Season, specifically the Concacaf Nations League. And with that comes all the usual twists and turns that this competition brings like, Canada surprising everyone by winning away to Jamaica for the first time in three decades. And Canada then losing at home for the first time in a decade… You know, Concacaf things. Also Mexico got to taste the sting of playing Honduras at home. So get ready and buckle up for your source of everything Canadian. ———————————————————— Thanks so much to todays sponsor SeatGeek! When you need tickets, but can't seem to find them, head on over to the #1 trusted name in the ticket resale business, and use our code FC13Pod to get $20 off your first order. ————————————————————- Be sure to follow us on Twitter @FC13Podcast, and our parent account, @13thManSports for all of your sports needs!

The away side for ComeOn! Match of the Week is more evenly split with five teams tied with three away games apiece. HFX Wanders have the least amount of away games with only one, while Forge has the most away games with five, followed by Pacific with four away games. 

The ComeOn! Match of the Week is the marquee match of the week for the CPL which means one would assume the most entertaining, and therefore the highest scoring, game of that week. At the time of writing, 19 Match of the Week games have been played. Out of the 19 played so far, it has been the highest scoring match of that week eight times, while being the lowest scoring match of that week two times. 

The bias seems to be against Atletico Ottawa due to that team having the least amount of ComeOn! Match of the Week games. While on the other hand, Forge and Pacific seem to be the league favourites with nine and eight Match of the Week games respectively. While this doesn’t actually mean much in the grand scheme of the league and of the season, it does matter a little. 

The ComeOn! Match of the Week is most likely the most viewed match of each week on One Soccer. This could lead to more fans for the teams that do play in the Match of the Week more often, which hurts teams that are not showcased as often on the platform.

One way to fix this perceived bias would be to more evenly and fairly split the ComeOn! Match of the Week games between the entire league. While it is quite possible this was just a weird schedule error, or even that the games were picked at random. It should not have been possible for Forge to be featured five more times than Atletico Ottawa was. Or that York United only got two home games featured on Match of the Week while Halifax Wanders had five home games showcased this season.

Subscribe to 13th Man Sports to get email notifications when we post!

• CPL
• Soccer