Final Score: York United 2-4 Pacific FC
Goalscorers: Kratt 1′, De Rosario 49′; Díaz 42′ (Pen.), 63′, 70′, Dos Santos 87′
Game of the 2022 season: 57
CPL match: 307
Match in a minute or less
Pacific FC came back from a goal down twice at York Lions Stadium, as they topped York United 4-2 for their second consecutive victory. Though York took the lead just a minute in thanks to Ronan Kratt’s first professional goal, Alejandro Díaz equalized from the penalty spot just before halftime.
After the break, the game turned considerably more chaotic; Osaze De Rosario put York briefly back in front, but Díaz went on to score twice more to complete his hat-trick, and Gianni Dos Santos added a fourth for Pacific as the Tridents went on to bag all three points and leapfrog Atlético Ottawa — at least temporarily — into second place in the league table.
Three Observations
Díaz’s striker’s instinct leads to second career hat-trick
Alejandro Díaz is now the owner of half of the hat-tricks in Canadian Premier League history, having scored two of the four in the league since 2019 — an exclusive club consisting of himself, ex-York forward Rodrigo Gattas, and Forge’s Tristan Borges.
With three more on the season, Díaz has taken a stranglehold on the golden boot race, now up to 10. That makes him the fastest player to reach double-digits from the start of the season as well, as he continues to consistently fill the net for Pacific.
Díaz looked sharp in this match from very early on; it was his header just minutes into the contest that came inches from equalizing after Kratt’s first-minute goal. From there, his ruthless movement in the box continued; the Mexican striker constantly managed to find pockets of space for himself, evading centre-backs with clever runs off their shoulders — or halted runs to put them in front of them — that created space for him and put him in excellent positions for easy finishes.
Ultimately, it wasn’t the final acts of his goals that made him impressive — though it’s no easy feat to put shots away at the professional level, especially with such consistency. Rather, it’s the fact Díaz always seemed to make himself available just at the top of the six-yard box. Below is a map of his five shots in the match, all of which came from similar places within 12 yards or so of the goal.
In some other matches this season, Díaz has struggled for service; for instance, in Pacific’s 3-0 loss at Forge, he had to drop so deep in search of touches that he left a considerable void at the front that made the side ultimately less threatening. This time, though he still had just 31 touches — second-fewest among Pacific’s starters — he was much more patient and trusted his teammates to find him in the box.
“We have more players in the box, so that’s good,” Diaz said of his side’s attack on Friday. “I think we have to improve a little bit on the defensive side, we’re conceding goals the same way. So I think we have to improve that, but attacking we’re doing a pretty good job and that’s what we were missing before.”
In this new 4-4-2 formation Pacific have used the last three games, it’s been easier for them to get men into the box. In this case, it was Gianni Dos Santos on the left and Marco Bustos on the right wing helping create chances (Bustos himself created a team-high four), as Díaz and Djenairo Daniels alternately stepped back to help create or pressed the backline to find space.
“They’re all very dynamic, they’re all very different types of attacking players,” James Merriman said of his front four. “Daniels, his work ethic as well as his size and speed; Dos Santos is in a good way as well, he’s hungry. We know Díaz is clever with his movements. They’re complementing each other well, they’re finding form, they’re finding chemistry up top together, working off each other. What is that, 10 goals in three games? Yeah, I’m really happy for them.”
New-look York attack proves more balanced, but 90-minute performance ‘not good enough’
In the Forge match last Friday, York struggled somewhat with a left side composed of two attacking players — Max Ferrari and Ronan Kratt, the former playing out of his natural position as a fullback and the latter making his CPL debut. Forge played a heavy majority of their attacks down that flank as a result, and came out with a decisive victory.
This time, coach Martin Nash changed this up significantly. Kratt moved over to play on the right wing, as Ferrari played as a left wingback in what functioned as a 3-4-3 in possession. Ferrari was able to join the attack and get higher up the pitch as Tass Mourdoukoutas gave him cover on the left of a back three, which proved beneficial to York as they could make better use of Ferrari’s forward workrate and clever play in the final third.
Kratt, too, looked far more comfortable on the right, playing in front of right fullback Chrisnovic N’sa. As a player who’s more inclined to get in behind and combine with overlapping fullbacks, he was able to get more involved in this contest. The 18-year-old had two shots in this contest — one of which was a well-taken goal, the second one hitting the post — and he looked more dangerous on the ball, moving it onward more quickly rather than holding onto it and surrendering possession.
Meanwhile, Nash threw another interesting wrinkle into the attack with the role of Isaiah Johnston, who seemed to take on a free role in front of York’s central midfielders but just behind Kratt and Osaze De Rosario. Johnston continuously popped up in good spots in the opposing half, making a team-high 24 passes in the final third and creating three chances — two of which were assists, including his incredible midfield run to set up De Rosario’s goal.
Johnston himself explained that the directive from his coaches was to do as much as he could to make an impact in attack, which he certainly did.
“Today I got the license to be really positive, everything on the half-turn, everything going forward, trying to create, and it worked,” Johnston said postmatch. “I got two assists out of it, and I think we looked good in that formation. I was told to just stay deep and pick my moments, find pockets, so I think that’s what I did.”
Still, the Nine Stripes will once again leave their home pitch with a sour taste in their mouths, especially having let two leads slip. Yes, they scored two goals — twice as many as they’d scored in the previous nine games — but Johnston and Nash remain wholly unsatisfied for not collecting anything from this game.
“I think we had lots of chances to put this game away,” Johnston said. “We could have went up three, four to one at times and we don’t score, we give them a lifeline and they’re back in it. Against a team like Pacific, even though they’re not at their best right now, you give them an inch and they’ll take a mile. We’ve been a lot better than recent weeks, but still not good enough. Nowhere good enough.”
Nash added that he’s frustrated to concede, once again, on the second phase of a corner — as they did on Pacific’s second goal. He added that, although he saw plenty of positive signs in the new attacking setup, it’s frustrating to see a defence that was previously so solid now become stretched and broken more easily.
“I liked the chances we created; the one thing I didn’t like is we got stretched,” Nash offered. “We’re trying to get better at going forward, finding ways to create more chances, we’re working on that definitely, and we’re still working on it on the defensive side to keep it tight but we’ve conceded just as many goals the last four games as we did the first 11. That’s frustrating from a team that really had a solid defensive identity, we’ve lost our way a little bit and we’ve got to find a way to get it back without losing the chances we create.”
That’s now 12 goals York have conceded in the past four matches in losses to FC Edmonton, Valour, Forge, and now Pacific — the latter three all coming at home.
With York sitting seventh in the table, just a point ahead of Edmonton after Friday night, they remain desperate for results to turn in their favour soon. Thankfully (or perhaps not), they’ll have a chance to right the ship almost immediately — though it’s no easy feat on a short turnaround, as they head to Calgary on Tuesday to do battle with first-place Cavalry FC.
Pacific’s confidence, quality shine through in comeback
There’s no denying that York started both halves much better than the visitors; Kratt stunned them with his goal just a minute in, and coming out of halftime De Rosario scored five minutes in, prompting about 10 minutes of feverish attacking play from his side where they came just inches from scoring another goal or two.
In both halves, though, Pacific found a way back into the game. Though the first 45 were more even — perhaps slightly tilted in York’s favour actually, with the visitors scoring from a penalty right at the end — the last half-hour of the match was almost all Pacific.
Head coach James Merriman commended his side’s resiliency after the game; things haven’t always come easily to his side this year, especially in the past few months, but knowing how important this game could be, they stepped up.
“I’m happy with the resiliency, and to stay in it and not lose ourselves or get too low. Conceding first minute of the match and then conceding straight away in the second half is not easy in terms of momentum and believing, but we didn’t stop. We kept going, so we’re really happy with that.”
Pacific’s win on Friday was just the second time in 2022 that a team has come back from 2-1 down to win a game (the first being Forge’s win at Edmonton). That, in itself, is a testament to how difficult it is to come from behind to win in this league.
The Tridents have long been a team that operates best when its players are confident. This match will have done wonders in that regard, though Díaz has not lacked for confidence this season.
They certainly trusted their individual quality in this match, well out-stripping York in successful dribbles and making better use of their chances. Perhaps the intangible quality that separates a confident team like Pacific from a struggling side like York is that goals just seem to come more easily to Pacific at the moment (though they didn’t for a stretch in May and June).
The Tridents found an advantage along the right flank on Friday and continued to use it, and they had a far easier time getting into the dangerous areas and scoring with fairly straightforward finishes — that’s not something that could be said of York in recent contests, who only seem able to score via moments of immense individual quality, like Johnston’s run through midfield or Roger Thompson’s ball over the top.
That’s why Merriman and co. will return to Vancouver Island with far more confidence than York.
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Alejandro Díaz, Pacific FC
A hat-trick grants this honour almost by default, but Díaz was extremely dangerous all night, getting into the right places for his teammates to find him and finishing his chances as only an expert striker could.
What’s next?
York United must move on quickly from this one, as they travel to Calgary to take on Cavalry FC this Tuesday, July 19 at ATCO Field (7:30 p.m. MT/9:30 p.m ET). Pacific, meanwhile, will also take on Cavalry next, but they’ll do so at home next Friday, July 22 at Starlight Stadium (7:00 p.m. PT/10:00 p.m. ET).
Watch all matches live on OneSoccer. In addition to its website and app, OneSoccer is now available on TELUS channel 980 and on Fubo TV. Call your local cable provider to ask for OneSoccer today.