June 20, 2023...Preview: York United vs. Halifax Wanderers - 2023 #43 (from canpl.ca)
PREVIEW: York United vs. Halifax Wanderers — 2023 Match #43
2023-06-20
by CHARLIE O’CONNOR-CLARKE, DIGITAL CONTENT EDITOR (@CHARLIEJCLARKE)
2023 CPL Regular Season — Match #43
York United vs. Halifax Wanderers
June 21, 2023 at 7 p.m. ET
York Lions Stadium in Toronto, Ontario
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Halifax Wanderers FC will land in Toronto this week for a hotly-anticipated Wednesday night clash with York United FC,
between two motivated sides with a history of tantalizing matchups.
Visiting York Lions Stadium for the second time this year (but the first time to play against York), the Wanderers
find themselves on a bit of a roll, having won their last two games — both of them at home. On Saturday, they hosted
Cavalry FC and pulled away in the second half of what had been a tight game, winning 3-1 with goals from Tiago Coimbra,
Aidan Daniels and Théo Collomb.
As it stands, the Wanderers are firmly in the middle of the pack in the league table right now, level with two
other teams on 12 points. Their 2-6-2 record has them just on the edge of the playoff places, as they’ve managed
to climb out of the bottom with these two recent wins.
York, meanwhile, come into this game as one of the most in-form sides in the league, despite a 1-0 loss at Pacific FC
on Sunday. Martin Nash’s team still ended the weekend in second place — level with Forge FC but ahead with
one more win — with 16 points and a 5-1-5 record.
Before they lost to Pacific, York had been on a five-game unbeaten streak which shot them up the tightly-congested
league table. Now, they’ll be looking to get back to winning ways with their return home.
Last time these clubs met was actually the beginning of York’s recent rise up the standings. The Nine Stripes went
into the Wanderers Grounds and won 3-0, scoring early and often in transition on what was a low point for Halifax
in the early days of the season.
Since then, both sides have been solid; the Wanderers won both their subsequent two home games and find themselves
in far better spirits than they were last time they saw York.
This will, of course, be Halifax’s second trip to York Lions Stadium this year, since they played Atlético Ottawa
there in a neutral-site Canadian Championship preliminary round tie in April. They lost that match,
so Patrice Gheisar and co. will be hoping to create some happier memories in this trip to the Greater Toronto Area.
All CPL matches are available to stream on OneSoccer, FuboTV, or on TELUS Optik TV Channel 980.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
Wanderers finding their shooting boots: Earlier in the season, the main concern in Halifax was that despite their
strong possession play, the ball wasn’t going in the net for them. Prior to their first home win two weeks ago,
the Wanderers had scored just six goals in eight games, which was costing them results. The last two games, though,
they’ve scored five, and perhaps most encouragingly was seeing strikers Tiago Coimbra and Théo Collomb both get
on the scoresheet against Cavalry. Those attackers in particular need to continue establishing themselves as reliable
scoring threats — particularly now they know that minutes may be harder to come by once Joao Morelli gets back
in training. “We’ve played four different no. nines and it seems like we’ve found who the two guys are that we’re
going to work with,” head coach Gheisar said Tuesday. “It takes a while for us to feel the comfort of the group,
and remember: When you play with someone else than the other guy, you may play better because of the connection,
so we’re also trying to find cohesiveness and chemistry.”
York managing brutal travel stretch: After playing out west on Vancouver Island on Sunday night, York United have had
to fly all the way home on a short turnaround to play this midweek game, following which they have to go back out
to Alberta for Saturday’s game at Cavalry FC. Sunday was an exhausting, competitive clash with Pacific too, so expect
some tired legs from the hosts this week. Thankfully for Martin Nash, his squad looks as deep as it has all season now
with players returning from injury. He was able to bring Osaze De Rosario, Oussama Alou, Kevin Dos Santos
and Michael Petrasso off the bench at Pacific, but at least one of them could get the start on Wednesday as Nash looks
to rotate and preserve some players to keep energy levels as high as he can.
Halifax close to clean bill of health: Like most CPL teams, the Wanderers have been hit hard by the injury bug at times
this year, including recently. For this game, it’s looking like Patrice Gheisar may have an almost-complete cast
of players to choose from, with fullback Ryan James back in full training now. One player to watch will be Lifumpa Mwandwe,
the dynamic winger who has come off the bench twice — including for 30 minutes at right-back on Saturday — but has yet
to start. He could be a major cog in the Wanderers attack if he can get back to starting. The only apparent major absence
for Gheisar right now is, of course, captain Andre Rampersad, who’s away with the Trinidad and Tobago national team
for the Gold Cup.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
York United: Giantsopoulos; Gee, Thompson, Mourdoukoutas, Faye; Soumaoro, Gagnon-Laparé; Bayiha, Babouli, Ricci; De Rosario
Halifax Wanderers: Fillion; Ferrazzo, Nimick, Campagna, James; Callegari, Omar, Watson; Daniels, Coimbra, Ferrin
ALL-TIME SERIES
York United wins: 4 || Halifax Wanderers wins: 4 || Draws: 8
Last meeting:
May 20, 2023 – Halifax Wanderers 0-3 York United
KEY QUOTES
“I’m not sure we’ll have a chance to look back and rehash the [Pacific] game much other than what’s said in the locker room.
We move on; we’ve been on a good run. A big unbeaten streak snapped now, we’ve got to try and start another one.”
— York United head coach Martin Nash
“[Last game vs. York] was an eye-opening experience for all of our boys that no matter how pretty the football is, no matter
what you think of yourself, nothing matters more than your hunger and passion for the game. Kudos to York, they came here
and absolutely kicked our butts; the statistics showed we had higher xG, more passes, more crosses, more key passes,
but as we know there’s only one stat that really matters when the final whistle is blown.” — Halifax Wanderers head coach
Patrice Gheisar
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