May 12, 2023...Preview: Pacific FC vs. York United - 2023 Match #20 (from canpl.ca)
PREVIEW: Pacific FC vs. York United — 2023 Match #20
2023-05-12
by ALEXANDRE GANGUÉ-RUZIC, CANPL.CA CONTRIBUTOR (@ALEXGANGUERUZIC)
CANPL MATCH PREVIEW
2023 CPL Regular Season — Match #20
Pacific FC vs. York United
May 14, 2023 at 3:00 pm PT/6:00 pm ET
Starlight Stadium in Langford, British Columbia
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 //
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Pacific FC are looking to cap off a strong week with another win, as they get set to host York United at Starlight Stadium
in Canadian Premier League action on Sunday.
Having beaten Atlético Ottawa 4-1 on the road last weekend, before dispatching the TSS Rovers 2-0 in the Canadian
Championship quarter-finals in midweek, Pacific are flying right now, doing well to get back on track after a mixed
three-game homestand to begin the season.
Now, they’ll look to keep the good times rolling against York, a team that has typically given them trouble over the years.
Sitting second in the table through four games, Pacific are looking to push up the standings with a win, as they try
to become the second team to win consecutive league matches this season after Forge did it last week.
To do that, however, they’ll need to keep building on what they showed in their last two games. There, they were solid
defensively, clinical in the attack and dominant in midfield, all while using their vast array of depth along the way,
giving a glimpse of what they can be at their best.
“Being at home and finding our rhythm in our daily environment has been so important and crucial to building our base
for the season,” Pacific’s head coach, James Merriman, said ahead of the match. “And we have good depth in our squad,
and training is incredibly competitive right now every single day.”
“Everyone’s fit, everyone’s healthy and everybody wants to play so yeah, we’re in a good way, and you can feel it.”
As for York, they’ll use this game as a chance to hit the reset button after a bit of a tough week. Buzzing after their
win over Atlético Ottawa in matchday #3, they followed that up with a 905 derby loss to Forge last weekend, before
falling 4-1 to the Vancouver Whitecaps in their Canadian Championship quarter-final tie in midweek.
Safe to say, York is eager to get back to what they showed against Ottawa, in which they looked a lot closer to the team
that they can be on paper.
Unfortunately, injuries and early growing pains have limited that, but the glimpses have been there in games.
Now, the big goal is to put that together over the course of 90 minutes, and no better team to do that against than
Pacific, a team that they’ve done well to frustrate over the years.
They’ll look to keep that going in this game, getting back on track to where they want to be at this stage of the season.
“It’s a tough game against a team that’s very tough to beat at home,” York head coach Martin Nash, said ahead of this game.
“They’ve got a lot of talent and they’re organized, so we’ll have to be at our best on Sunday.”
All CPL matches are available to stream on OneSoccer, FuboTV, or on TELUS Optik TV Channel 980.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
Pacific’s defence quietly becoming big asset: Through the start of the season, a lot has been made of Pacific’s attack, and
understandably so. A deep and talented unit, their early struggles were a storyline for negative reasons, while the recent
outburst led to positive chatter. As a result, that’s taken away from a storyline that’s quickly starting to become evident
– Pacific’s quietly been dominant defensively. The overall numbers might not reflect that, as they’ve conceded a modest three
goals in four games, but don’t be fooled by that. Given that all three of those goals came off errors, it can be argued that
Pacific are unlucky to have given up a goal this season. Just look at their advanced numbers, for example. There, they’ve
conceded a league-low 2.53 Expected Goals (xG) per WyScout, a full 1.5 xG below the next-best team, Forge. Those are elite
numbers, yet is a credit to the play of centre backs Amer Ðidic and Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, full backs Kunle Dada-Luke,
Georges Mukumbilwa and Bradley Vliet, and defensive midfielder Cédric Toussaint, who have all done well no matter who they’ve
been deployed with. Safe to say, that’s a story worth keeping an eye on, because if they can maintain those sorts of defensive
numbers, they should pick up a lot of wins as the season goes along, especially if their offence plays to its full potential.
Can midweek Ricci goal kickstart York’s offence? Heading into the start of this year, there was a lot to be excited about with
York’s attack. Headlined by Osaze De Rosario, who was second in league scoring with 12 goals in 2022, and Mo Babouli, who played
at an MVP level after arriving late in that season, and a strong supporting cast around them, there was a lot to like with how
their group was trending heading into this 2023 campaign. Therefore, it is a bit surprising to see York sit with just two goals
in four games so far, none of them coming from De Rosario, who has struggled. Along with some injury woes for Babouli, it’s made
things tough for York’s attack, who would love for nothing more than their dynamic duo to find some form together again.
At the same time, however, there are still plenty of other threats in this team, so it’s not as if they need them to score goals.
They got a reminder of that in midweek, as Austin Ricci scored a nice goal against the Whitecaps in their loss. It didn’t mean
much in the end, as they fell 4-1, but given that the Whitecaps have been one of the best defences in MLS this season, and started
a pretty first-choice backline, Ricci’s goal is pretty impressive. Therefore, look for York to use that as a springboard,
as it feels like their offence is better than the numbers are showing, which considering they’ve got 5.01 xG despite their two
goals this season, isn’t a wild statement, whatsoever. “It was great to see him score, it was a quality strike,” Nash said.
“And hopefully that lifts the team and gives us some confidence, because yeah, we should have a few more goals than we have
this season.”
Can York’s midfield keep up with dominant Pacific crew? A huge reason for Pacific’s success this year? Their midfield, as they’ve
done well to find some good balance in their usual starting trio of Cédric Toussaint, Sean Young and Manny Aparicio, while
Steffen Yeates has filled in nicely when called upon. “I think our midfield is exciting, and can for sure be the most dynamic
midfield group in the league, and I’ve challenged them to push for that,” Merriman noted. Meanwhile, York’s struggled in that
area to begin the season, as they’ve struggled to keep players healthy there. At the same time, they’ve taken a big step forward
in that regard, as Elijah Adekugbe and Matthew Baldisimo are healthy again, allowing them to shift someone like Oussama Alou
higher up the pitch after using the attacking midfielder as an emergency option in their double-pivot. Plus, with
Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé still on the mend after an injury, things will only get better when he returns. Now, however, they must
find a way to keep Pacific quiet in that area in this game, which given the diverse skillsets that they can offer, is going
to be no easy task, as teams who have faced them can attest to. “It’s a tough midfield to come up against,” Nash admitted.
“I think if we can limit their time in space, it’d make things easier for us, but that’s easier said than done.”
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Pacific FC: Baskett; Dada-Luke, Ðidic, Meilleur-Giguère, Mukumbilwa; Aparicio, Toussaint, Young; Heard, Daniels, Sellouf (4-3-3)
York United: Giantsopoulos; Gee, Mourdoukoutas, Soumaoro, Faye; Adekugbe, Baldisimo; Bayiha, Alou, Ricci; Wright (4-2-3-1)
ALL-TIME SERIES
York United wins: 6 || Pacific wins: 3 || Draws: 5
Previous match:
September 3rd, 2022 — Pacific FC 1-3 York United
KEY QUOTES
“Yeah, our group is in a way right now where they want to play matches, we want to play these games. We have players that want
opportunities to fight to be in the starting lineup, so I think we welcome another game. It’s nice that we’ve been able to stay
here for our Canadian championship match, and then stay here this weekend as well, as we get an extra day of recovery, and we need
to take advantage of that.” – Pacific FC head coach James Merriman
“They’re a quality side, so I don’t know if there’s ever a good time to play them, to be honest, and they’re at home… They’ve got
some guys that are really good at pressing from the front, and it’s gonna be difficult to keep possession against them, but we’ll
look at ways that we can possess the ball through their press, but yeah, there’s no easy time to play them. They’re a quality team,
and it’s a tough place to go on the West Coast and get a result, but we’ve done it before, so there’s no reason why we can’t
do it again.” – York United head coach Martin Nash
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