April 6, 2025...Match Analysis: Altobelli's instanat impact powers York United to 2-0 road win vs. Vancouver (from canpl.ca)

MATCH ANALYSIS: Altobelli’s instant impact powers York United to 2-0 road win vs. Vancouver
2025-04-06
by Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic, CanPL.ca Contributor (@AlexGangueRuzic)

Final Score: Vancouver FC 0-2 York United FC
Goalscorers: Altobelli 66', 84'
Game of the 2025 season: 4
CPL match: 600

Match in a minute or less

York capped off the opening matchday of the 2025 Canadian Premier League season with a memorable road victory, as they defeated Vancouver FC 2-0 at Willoughby Community Park on Sunday.

Having reached half time tied at 0-0 despite peppering Vancouver’s goal with chances in the first half, York finally found their breakthrough in the second half, as Julian Altobelli scored his first CPL goal on his first touch of the game in the 66th minute, before adding his brace in the 84th minute.

From there, despite having to deal with a late Vancouver push, York held on the rest of the way to secure their first victory of 2025.

Three Observations

Altobelli’s instant impact a sign of York’s growing depth:

It must’ve been even better than how York’s head coach Mauro Eustáquio had imagined it.

Feeling his team needed a jolt of energy as they started to fade out following a strong start to the game, Eustáquio turned to his bench, bringing in Julian Altobelli and Shola Jimoh in the 65th minute.

There, his instructions had to have been simple – go out, and bring energy, helping York get the goal they felt they deserved in the first half, having been stymied on several occasions by goalkeeper Callum Irving.

Nearly immediately, those two subs brought that energy and did so in a way that Eustáquio couldn’t have even drawn up – after a nice sequence down the right, Jimoh got the ball and fired it into the box, causing a bit of chaos to a Vancouver back line that had started to settle into the game nicely.

At that moment, it allowed Altobelli, who was also making his CPL debut after not appearing in a previous stint with the club, to get a chance he would’ve been visualizing on the bench. Sitting there, with the ball bouncing up in front of him, he took it, smashing it into the roof of the net with his first touch of the season, giving his team a lead they didn’t relinquish.

Of course, he then added to his tally with an even better goal later – between his dribble and curled finish into the top corner, it’s hard to pick out which part of his second goal was more impressive – but it’s worth noting that the first goal will mean more given that it stood as the winner.

For a York team that is deep across the board, it’s a sign of the competition they’ve built up in their roster, as players are hungry to make an impact.

That they were able to leave a striker like Altobelli on the bench, despite having scored 11 goals and added four assists last year for Toronto FC II in MLS Next Pro, is a sign of the competition that’s brewing in this squad.

In games like this, that can have a huge impact on the game, as York were able to light up a match that could’ve slipped away from them and become a defeat – instead, they were able to carve out a memorable win.

Now, they’ll look to harness that competition for spots in different ways – especially from the start of matches – but they’ll see this as a good sign of what that process can look like, as it’s never a bad thing to have difference-makers ready and available off the bench, either.

Home woes continue for Vancouver FC:

Heading into this game, a big story for Vancouver was their 2024 home form, as they finished the year with the league’s worst home record, and picked up just five points from their last nine home games.

In a league where travel can be tough, that ended up sinking them, as they were unable to pick up enough points on the road to overcome dropping so many at home, despite having a decent road record.

Unfortunately, however, they picked up where they left off in this game, as they were unable to impose themselves on the match as much as they would’ve hoped.

Often, teams who are dominant at home find ways to set the initiative on and off the ball, but Vancouver lacked the tempo required to do so, as they were quite rushed in possession early, as noted by head coach Afshin Ghotbi after the match. That’s reflected in the numbers, as they held only 47% of possession and completed just 74% of their passes in the first half.

It’s not to say that they need to hold onto the ball to be dominant – but it just didn’t seem to suit their style of play, as they ended up going for more of a direct approach despite having a front four who seemed to want the ball at their feet.

Yet, that’ll be a huge challenge for them going forward – their midfielders did a great job of getting on the ball, as Mehdi Essoussi completed 44 out of 52 passes, while Vasco Fry completed 46 out of 53 passes – but they didn’t get the ball from them up to their forwards as much. Given that their front two of Alejandro Díaz and Terran Campbell only finished with 24 and 14 touches, respectively, shows how much that was the case.

Otherwise, Vancouver can be pleased with other areas of their game, however. Defensively, they recovered from a chaotic start to put in a good performance, with both of York’s goals coming from moments of magic instead of any fundamental tactical breakdowns, which is a good sign.

Then, as the game wore on, they started to look a lot more dangerous on the ball, as they finished with 52.9% of possession in the second half, and finished the game with nearly as many touches in the box as York (23 to 24), along with seven shots in the box and four shots on target.

Therefore, while they’ll be specifically frustrated with the fact that most of their best moments on the ball came after they went down a goal, they can look at this game and see that they showed glimpses of what they can do when it all clicks.

Now, they just need to find a way to bring that energy from the start, especially in games where they’re at home, allowing them to control the initiative a bit more.

York’s fluid formation brings value on both sides of the ball:

Despite the arrival of new head coach Mauro Eustáquio, who was promoted from assistant to head coach, York didn’t look that different in terms of their set-up in this game, which was a big question many had heading into it.

Even if he was already on York’s staff, some coaches can be eager to switch things up when given the chance to lead the team, but Eustáquio felt that it would make sense to continue building on what worked for them in a 2024 season where they won their first-ever playoff game.

Having adopted a back five for a large part of 2024 under Benjamín Mora, they stuck with that in this opening match of 2025, deploying a 5-4-1 off the ball, and a 3-4-3 in possession.

There, the focus was simple – defensively, they tried to stay compact in midfield, limiting space for Vancouver, whereas offensively they tried to overwhelm Vancouver’s back line by using constant movement off the ball, with their attacking group playing quite fluidly.

In particular, that last point was key – by deploying a front three of Massimo Ferrin, Adonijah Reid and Gabriel Bitar, who are all flexible attackers who can play anywhere across the front three, that allowed York to significantly tweak their approach on the ball.

Even though they didn’t have a clear outlet in terms of a true target striker, they were able to be much more dangerous in the pockets, which allowed them to drag Vancouver’s defenders out of position.

From there, that opened up space for York’s wing backs, Max Ferrari and Riley Ferrazzo to fly forward, as they ran into the space that was vacated by Vancouver’s back line getting drawn into the central channels. Given the speed of those wing backs, that was quite beneficial for York, who were able to get into some dangerous positions on the ball in those wide channels, which was a key part of York’s offensive game.

Returning to their defensive set-up, however, they struck a similar balance. Having done a great job of controlling the tempo of the game on the ball, they were just as good when they didn’t have it, especially in the last 20 minutes, where they did a great job of staying together and in sync, limiting space for Vancouver to attack into, especially out wide.

Knowing that Vancouver was going to push hard for a goal, York started to sit back a bit more, but were still able to stay solid at the back, keeping them to 0.95 xG on just 12 shots.

That was key, as they were able to stifle Vancouver’s ability to whip in crosses, which kept them from providing service to Díaz and Campbell, who finished with just four combined touches in the box between them, a sign of the work York did to cut off their supply of chances.

What They Said

“It’s good. We were just talking about it as a staff – these are the good headaches to have. In the past with different squads that we’ve had here at York, we didn’t have that ability to (bring in those impact subs). So I’m thankful right now that everybody’s fit, everybody’s healthy, and everybody wants to play, now it’s up to them to go out there and show them me they’re good teammates, and today they stuck together, so I’m happy to now have those solutions off the bench.” — York United FC head coach Mauro Eustáquio

“I think as a forward, you’re just looking to put the ball in the back of the net. Goalkeepers are always going to pull off great saves, you just have to look up, find the corners and put the ball in them.” — York United FC forward Julian Altobelli

“I think the problem we had, especially in the first and early in the second half, is that when we had the ball, sometimes we were too eager to move it forward, and we lost it way too quickly, and then it created some dangerous transitional moments. I think we can show more composure.” — Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi

CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Julian Altobelli, York United FC
It was a dream debut for Altobelli, who hardly set a foot wrong on the pitch. Not only did he score a brace, but those goals came on his only two shots of the game, showing how efficient he was in front of goal in his short cameo.

What’s next?

Vancouver is back at Willoughby Community Park for a second straight game next weekend, as they get set to host Atlético Ottawa on Sunday, April 13th (3:00 p.m. PT/6:00 p.m. ET). Meanwhile, York United will host their first home match of the season earlier that Sunday against the Halifax Wanderers at York Lions Stadium (3:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. AT).

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