August 1, 2024...Preview: Pacific FC vs. York United FC - 2-24 Match #63 (from canpl.ca)

PREVIEW: Pacific FC vs. York United FC — 2024 Match #63
2024-08-01
by Mitchell Tierney, Digital Content Producer (@mitchelltierney)

2024 CPL Regular Season — Match #63
Pacific FC vs. York United
August 2, 2024 at 7 p.m. PT/10:00 p.m. ET
Starlight Stadium in Langford, British Columbia

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For the first time since September of 2022, Pacific FC find themselves below the Canadian Premier League playoff line, as following a 3-0 loss to Valour FC this past Sunday they slipped to sixth place in the league.

Prior to this week, Pacific FC have spent just two of the past 98 match weeks in the CPL regular season below the playoff line. They have made the postseason each year since the league’s inaugural season, winning the CPL Final in 2021.

“It’s a heavy result and performance, you know, obviously losing that way at home, in front of our fans, we owe it to them to show a big reaction,” said Pacific FC head coach James Merriman. “And we definitely saw that in our work, you know, we saw that in our training [this week].”

The side they host at Starlight Stadium on Friday night, York United, meanwhile, are flying high after beating top of the table Atlético Ottawa for the second time this season already, 4-1 at home, narrowing their gap from the top spot to just a pair of points. It was a club-record sixth victory at home in a single CPL season.

Goals, and wins, however, haven’t come quite as easy on the road this season with just eight goals across eight road matches, and two victories for the Nine Stripes.

The Tridents, meanwhile, are in the midst of an unprecedented run of poor form at home. They have failed to win in five consecutive matches at Starlight Stadium, the longest they have ever gone without doing so in club history.

Langford has been a difficult road trip for York United of late, as they have lost on their last four trips to Starlight Stadium, scoring just once. That included a 2-0 loss to the Tridents back on May 4, with Reon Moore and a Max Ferrari own goal the difference on that day.

The Nine Stripes have only lost twice in 12 matches since then, however, including defeating Pacific 2-0 themselves at York Lions Stadium, despite a 38th-minute red card to Austin Ricci. Bright Wright and Mo Babouli found the back of the net in that one.

That goal was just Babouli’s second of the season at the time, as he returned from five matches missed through injury. However, he now has four goals and one assist in York’s past six matches and has been one of the league’s most dangerous attackers in recent weeks.

That is more goals scored than the entire Pacific FC team in that time frame, as they have managed to find the back of the net just three times in their past five matches. Only one of those goals, meanwhile, was from open play — which has been a real issue for the Tridents this season, with only six open play goals scored so far.

As a number of their attackers continue to work their way back to full fitness, whether or not the Tridents can find more product in the final third will be a big key to their success over the second half of the 2024 campaign.

The Tridents announced a new signing earlier this week as they brought in 28-year-old defender Kevin Ceceri. While he is technically available for Friday’s match, since he only just arrived on the Island he is more likely to make his debut next weekend when Pacific face Vancouver FC. Adonijah Reid, meanwhile, picked up a minor injury setback against Valour and is considered day-to-day.

York United, meanwhile, will be without Kadin Martin-Pereux for this match as he picked up a minor injury.

3 THINGS TO WATCH

York United get goals from different places during strong July: The Nine Stripes are coming into this match on the back of their best month of the 2024 season, going undefeated in July with three wins and a draw. A big reason for this success is the fact that they have been able to find goals from different sources of late. Six different Nine Stripes have found the back of the net in their past four matches during the month: Golden Boot co-leader Brian Wright, Mo Babouli, Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy, Shola Jimoh, Juan Córdova and Elijah Adekugbe. Being able to consistently find goals from different areas is a big part of the system that new head coach Benjamín Mora is implementing, so he has been thrilled with this progress. “We don’t rely on one specific player,” said Mora. “We don’t rely on one specific talented guy that can help us win games. We rely on teamwork. We rely on players getting into the second line to the box, trying to be a surprise and helping the team to have more options up front.”

Jorge Guzmán adding another weapon to the York United attack: This past Friday against Atlético Ottawa, York United debuted a new weapon in their attack, having acquired 20-year-old Jorge Guzmán on loan from Atlas. Despite having barely trained with the group, the young Mexican forward stepped onto the pitch and instantly made an impact, picking up a pair of assists in their 4-1 win. He also won three fouls, and attempted four dribbles, quickly showing the type of quality that led to York adding him to their already dangerous attacking line. “Guzmán is a good weapon for us in this model,” said Mora. “He’s very fast, and he has a lot of qualities that are going to help us.”

Crucial August begins for Pacific FC: The month of August will be the most intense of Pacific FC’s season so far, as they play five league matches, plus a trip to BC Place in the Canadian Championship semifinal second leg — a game just under every five days. Including Friday’s clash with York United, just two of those matches are at home, as they travel to the BC mainland, Calgary and Hamilton during the month. How they perform during this stretch will have a significant effect on their campaign as a whole, both in the cup and in the regular season. As luck would have it, those five matches come against the five teams currently ahead of them in the CPL table, starting with second-place York United on Friday. So there is a big chance for the Tridents to make a significant move back up the Canadian Premier League table.

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Pacific FC: Gazdov; Dada-Luke, Quintana, Meilleur-Giguère, Lajeunesse; Young, Dominguez, Yeates; Heard, Sellouf, Moore

York United: Vincensini; Abatneh, Sturing, León; Ferrari, Córdova, Adekugbe, Babouli, Botello; Guzmán, Wright

ALL-TIME SERIES
Pacific FC wins: 8 || York United wins: 7 || Draws: 6

Last meeting:
June 19, 2024 — York United 2-0 Pacific FC

KEY QUOTES

“We cannot fear anybody coming into our place, our home. We need to focus on ourselves, our performance, our mentality, our attitude. We need to be at our best, of course, and we need to put in a big, big performance for ourselves and for our fans.” — Pacific FC head coach James Merriman

“I don’t think we have won anything. Still, every game is more difficult yet, because they know our game, because they study us even more , because players are tired of giving 100 per cent every game and every training. I demand a lot in training sessions. So of course, I need to work on the mind, on the stability of emotions, and of course on the regularity on the pitch.” — York United head coach Benjamín Mora

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