June 21, 2023...Match Analysis: York United, Halifax trade quality goals in scintillating draw (from canpl.ca)

MATCH ANALYSIS: York United, Halifax trade quality goals in scintillating draw
2023-06-21
byCHARLIE O’CONNOR-CLARKE, DIGITAL CONTENT EDITOR (@CHARLIEJCLARKE)

Final Score: York United 2-2 Halifax Wanderers
Goalscorers: Babouli 14', Santos 56'; Coimbra 35', Daniels 86'
Game of the 2023 season: 43
CPL match: 410

Match in a minute or less
York United and Halifax Wanderers played to a hard-fought 2-2 draw at York Lions Stadium on Wednesday night, in a close-fought contest between two teams in a good run of form.

Mo Babouli opened the scoring for York just under a quarter of an hour in, but Halifax responded via Tiago Coimbra 20 minutes later. Similarly, in the second half, York regained the lead as Kevin Dos Santos scored a likely goal of the year candidate with from outside the box — but Aidan Daniels was the final hero for Halifax, scoring a deflected shot from distance with just five minutes to spare before the 90.

So, the Wanderers remain in the thick of the playoff race, while York will enter the weekend in sole possession of second place in the CPL table

Three Observations

Attacking tug-of-war puts quality on display at both ends

Earlier in the season, goals were not easy to come by for either of these teams. The positive signs and the chances had been there, but the ball wasn’t going in.

On Wednesday, both York United and Halifax were justly rewarded for their football. With 13 shots apiece, each side had its fair share of attacking moments, and a mixture of fluid team play and individual quality shone through.

York’s first goal — though, ultimately, not a pretty one with the odd bounce that ultimately came to Babouli — nonetheless had lots to like, with Kevin Dos Santos’ dribble inside and Michael Petrasso’s cross back into a dangerous area. Later, of course, it was Dos Santos’ individual talent that provided the second goal, as he brought the ball down, won it back off a defender and scored a glorious screamer.

Halifax, likewise: their first goal was a wonderful team move, but every moment of it featured individual quality. Lorenzo Callegari split lines with his ball to Tomas Giraldo, who flicked it deftly to Aidan Daniels. Daniels did incredibly well to make space for himself and whip in his cross, and Tiago Coimbra made the perfect back-post run and finish.

Daniels, again, received another incisive Callegari pass ahead of the second goal and stepped around the first defender to open a lane and shoot for his late equalizer.

“It’s a game I’ll never be able to explain, but you get those once a season,” Wanderers coach Patrice Gheisar said. “We were able to send necessary jabs in order to find out what we can open up for our pockets. … I thought it was very entertaining, and I was really proud of our guys. I don’t know how often in this league you go down twice and come back.”

Hectic game yields goals, on-the-fly tactical changes and adjustments
The start of this match didn’t really go to plan for either manager.

York, hoping to manage some tired players’ minutes — and in doing so collect some much-needed U-21 minutes as well — made five changes to the team that played at Pacific FC on Sunday. Martin Nash put backup ‘keeper Eleias Himaras between the sticks for the first time this year, and gave Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy a start at left wing.

Not even 10 minutes into the game, though, Voytsekhovskyy took the brunt of a challenge and had to be helped off the field by York trainers. That meant Nash had to put Michael Petrasso — himself still returning from injury and not quite 90-minutes fit — out on the left for far longer than he’d intended him to play. Tactically, as well, Petrasso — a creative, patient player — is a much different attacking outlet from the quicker, more direct Voytsekhovskyy, which meant an adjustment to the game plan (as much as that’s possible from the touchline).

Of course, York scored about five minutes later, in a goal that Petrasso helped set up with a dangerous cross. They certainly took the early change in stride.

By the end of this game, York United did not have a single member of their back four playing in his natural position. To start the game, Martin Nash had gone with Lassana Faye, Tass Mourdoukoutas, Paris Gee and Max Ferrari, from left to right — Faye and Mourdoukoutas, at least, being natural left- and centre-backs. The setup at the end of the match? From left to right: Ferrari, Faye, Gee and Clément Bayiha — Ferrari having swapped sides, Faye stepping into the middle as Mourdoukoutas (and his initial replacement Brem Soumaoro) had to come out.

“It shakes up the rhythm a bit,” Nash explained postmatch about having to change so many times. “We were possessing it well and then when those changes had to be made, guys in unfamiliar positions aren’t possessing the ball as well, we’re getting a bit more hectic. The game becomes scrambly, and both goals were the same thing. We were trying to fix it before the first one, we thought we’d fix it at halftime and it happened again unfortunately — but I think partially because of all the changes we made.”

So, too, did the Wanderers adjust quickly when they were forced into a substitution. Ryan James — a left-back that had only recently returned to full fitness — took on an injury, which meant the right-footed natural centre-back Cristian Campagna had to slot in on the left.

Much like York, though, the visitors were unfazed, and less than a minute after the change they’d scored an outrageous team goal, courtesy of Tiago Coimbra finishing Aidan Daniels’ cross.

Wanderers’ ball movement creates dangerous space

All three of Aidan Daniels’ shots in this game came from the top of the box, as did three of his key passes. That didn’t seem accidental; the Wanderers under Patrice Gheisar have been extremely deliberate in their ball movement and how they look for spaces.

This is a team that progresses the ball very well and tries to split lines to find players in half-spaces who can turn and play wide. Lorenzo Callegari is in many ways the facilitator; he made an astounding 18 passes into the final third — most of them to Daniels, to whom he passed 11 times in total.

Daniels himself was the catalyst to the attack, being the main outlet to receive between lines at the top of the box. When York’s defenders backed off and gave him room to take a touch, he usually hit it at goal or sought a quick slip pass to a runner in behind; when York stepped to press him, he was often able to find a man (Zachary Fernandez most often) overlapping to the edges of the box.

“The brand of football we play is to get numbers in and around the box,” Daniels said postmatch.

He added: “We have to stay patient and resilient, and I think that’s happening now. We’re getting in the right areas, we’re getting numbers in the box, and we’re being more clinical with our chances.”

The Wanderers deserve a lot of credit for sticking to their attacking identity throughout this season so far. They’ve spent the whole year moving the ball quite well and committing to their build-up play.

“When we talk about this infatuation of our philosophy, what it does is that the focal point of everything is the ball,” Gheisar said postmatch. “But what we need to remember is the focal point is also the goal. All of a sudden you were finding in the first five, six games you had seven, eight guys near the ball and the back four of the opposition is just standing, waving at us saying, ‘You guys want to come play with us?’ So I think we started to figure it out.”`

Now, they’re well in the thick of a playoff race; things continue to improve for the Wanderers under Patrice Gheisar, who now seems to understand his players’ particular strengths and weaknesses very well. He’s leaning more and more on certain players in key positions — Callegari’s been that from the beginning, but now increasingly Daniels, Tiago Coimbra and a handful of others have become reliable.

If this club continues to evolve in this way, the future is bright in Halifax. CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Aidan Daniels, Halifax Wanderers A goal, an assist, five chances created. For the second game in a row, Daniels was outstanding on the ball and almost every Halifax chance came through him somehow.

What’s next?
There’s no time to rest for York United, who head back across the country now to take on Cavalry FC this Saturday, June 24 (3 p.m. MT/5 p.m. ET). The Wanderers, meanwhile, get a bit of a reprieve, with their next contest not coming until Friday, June 30 when they host Forge FC in Halifax (7 p.m. AT/6 p.m. ET).

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