April 11, 2025...Preview: York United FC vs. Halifax Wanderers FC - CPL Match #6 (from canpl.ca)
PREVIEW: York United FC vs. Halifax Wanderers FC — CPL Match #6
2025-04-11
by Charlie O’Connor-Clarke, Digital Content Editor (@charliejclarke)
2025 CPL Regular Season — Match #6
York United FC vs. Halifax Wanderers FC
April 13 at 3 p.m. ET/4 p.m. AT
York Lions Stadium in Toronto, Ontario
The Canadian Premier League returns to York Lions Stadium this weekend, as the 2025 campaign continues with
York United taking on the Halifax Wanderers.
The Nine Stripes head into their home opener feeling good, having soundly beaten Vancouver FC the week before
to begin the season. In that match, a first-half onslaught saw York stymied by some excellent goalkeeping,
but super-sub Julian Altobelli came off the bench to score twice in the second half to seal a 2-0 win.
So, York technically finished the CPL’s opening weekend in first place, sitting ahead of Pacific FC on the
away goal differential tiebreaker — not that the league table means much at this time of year, but the win
in Vancouver was still a perfect start to the campaign and to Mauro Eustáquio’s first year as the club’s
head coach.
Meanwhile, Halifax’s trip through Ontario continues, after they had to settle for a draw with Atlético Ottawa
last week. The Wanderers were entertaining on the day, and they jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second
half, but some quick work from the hosts meant the game ended 2-2.
The Wanderers were frustrated not to come away with all three points in the capital, but coach Patrice Gheisar
was nonetheless encouraged by his team’s attacking spark.
Historically, there’s been little to separate these two sides. Last season, each team won their two games
at home against the other, and across their six shared years of history each team has seven wins, with nine
draws between them.
Both of these sides look significantly different to last year though, with some former Wanderers stars
in Massimo Ferrin and Riley Ferrazzo set to lace up against Halifax for the first time.
Few significant changes to either lineup are expected for this game; York were without a few players last week,
particularly Mexican goalkeeper Diego Urtiaga who recently arrived in Toronto but may not yet be fully ready
to play. Meanwhile, Halifax didn’t have Nassim Mekideche or Tiago Coimbra available last week; Gheisar said
Friday that his full squad is available on Sunday, but it’s unlikely they’ll rotate much.
Sunday’s game will be the Wanderers’ only visit to York Lions Stadium in this regular season, since their other
away match against York will be the CPL On Tour match in Québec City in late May. This is a ground they’ve done
well at before, though, and they’ll have their eyes on a first win of the year.
All CPL matches will be broadcast live on OneSoccer, available as a linear channel on Telus’ Optik TV (Channel 980)
as well as online at OneSoccer.ca, through the OneSoccer app and on the fuboTV Canada platform.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
Familiar faces look to strike at Gheisar’s Wanderers: Massimo Ferrin and Riley Ferrazzo both played the last
two seasons in Halifax, after joining the club from Vaughan Azzurri to follow their head coach Gheisar
to the pro level. Both players have now returned to their hometown Toronto to play for York this season,
and they’ll be eager to put in a good showing against their former club; Ferrin in particular was a star in Halifax
as arguably their most effective attacker in his time there. Meanwhile, the likes of Steffen Yeates,
Julian Altobelli and Luke Singh also have history with Gheisar from his Vaughan days, so much of York’s lineup
will present familiar challenges to the Wadnerers staff. Despite plenty of connections between these sides,
expect a fiercely competitive matchup.
Time to start Altobelli? While no coach is likely to draw firm conclusions from the first game of the season,
Julian Altobelli’s CPL debut definitely gave Mauro Eustáquio something to think about this week. Altobelli came
off the bench and scored twice, including with his first touch of the ball. Surely, a performance like that would
prompt consideration for him to start the following match; Altobelli could slot in at the front of York’s lineup
in place of Adonijah Reid, who was limited to just 26 touches in York’s opener. That’s not to say Altobelli
is guaranteed to be York’s first-choice striker after a big performance, but he has definitely shown he has
the quality to be a difference-maker in the CPL.
Halifax’s press creating attacking opportunities: One of the most impressive aspects of the Wanderers’ performance
in Ottawa was how effectively they were able to recoup possession in the attacking half. With a fluid front line
including Sean Rea, Giorgio Probo, Ryan Telfer and Jason Bahamboula, they consistently put Ottawa’s back three
under pressure and forced rushed passes into the middle which Lorenzo Callegari and Isaiah Johnston picked off easily.
“Our best form of defending is having the ball,” Gheisar said Friday. “Our players are able to express themselves
and manage the game differently with the ball. How do we do that? We need to say to ourselves, we want to be the
protagonist as much as possible. … And when we lose the ball, can we counter-press? And when it becomes set defending,
we want to be able to set traps, and we want to try to bring fear to our opponents that if they try to play through
us and we catch you, we’re going to punish you.”
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
York United: Pavela; Singh, Higgins, León; Ferrari, Adekugbe, Yeates, Ferrazzo; Bitar, Altobelli, Ferrin
Halifax Wanderers: Yesli; Pearlman, Meilleur-Giguère, Sow, Timoteo; Bahamboula, Callegari, Johnston, Rea; Probo, Telfer
ALL-TIME SERIES
York wins: 7 || Halifax wins: 7 || Draws: 9
Last meeting:
Oct. 19, 2024 — Halifax Wanderers 2-1 York United
KEY QUOTES
“The players were committed to what we’ve been trying to build. I talk a lot about us being a unit, not only on the field
but off the field. It’s good to look into training for them to understand the ideas and be able to execute them.
I’m a big believer that during the week we have to mould them, we have to prep them, we have to make sure they understand
what’s asked, and then when it’s game time, it’s game time, and I want to give the players that freedom. I want them
to feel good in those situations, in their own shoes, and then they have to make the decisions.” — York United head coach
Mauro Eustáquio
“If you’re looking at the progression the team’s made and some of the new tweaks we made to the team [in Week 1], you could
clearly see how our identity will continue to grow. The focus is to be at our best in maybe mid-July; if I’m going to tell
you we should have been perfect last game, maybe that’s not a realistic ambition. I think we could have managed moments
a little bit better, but I’m sure Ottawa and their staff would say the same, so I was quite happy with the progress
and commitment I saw from my team.” — Halifax Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar
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