‘Too little, too late’: Pacific FC’s Merriman, Meilleur-Giguère react to semifinal loss

2023-10-21

Charlie O’Connor-Clarke, Digital Content Editor (@charliejclarke)

Pacific FC’s 2023 season came to an end on Saturday with a 2-1 loss in the CPL semifinal to Cavalry FC. After the game, head coach James Merriman and defender Thomas Meilleur-Giguère spoke to reporters to reflect on the defeat and their year as a whole.

Here’s some of what they had to say.

James Merriman

On starting the game slow:

“It’s difficult for the players to be on the road that long, to not get to go home and check in; it’s a lot of time in the hotel and it’s difficult. It’s a big, big match, and we have a young group, it’s a lot of pressure. We started slow for sure, the second half we were there. Toward the end of the second half of course we grew into the game, we pressed and we pushed and showed who we are, but it was too little too late which ends up costing us too much.

“I don’t think we started the first half well, but at the same time they weren’t creating a lot in open play. But we know Cavalry’s always dangerous on set-pieces. We give away some cheap corners, we give away a cheap foul — I don’t know if it’s a foul or not. But we put ourselves in that situation and we need to deal with it. This is something they’re very strong at and it put us on the back foot. That can happen when you don’t start right as well.”

On Kekuta Manneh’s impact:

“I think we see Kekuta’s experience come towards the end of the season. He’s had some big injuries, he’s not been able to play consistent football for the last couple of years. He came into our group, brought his experience, got himself fit and found his form at the right time in the season. You see his quality towards the end here in the last few matches with assists, goals, changing games, making an impact. That’s the type of player he is; we’re lucky to have him at the organization and in our team. What he brings in terms of his personality as well to the team, and his experience, that’s what the league needs as well. So I’m happy for him to get the goal for himself to reward the work that he’s put in.”

On switching to a back five without Kunle Dada-Luke:

“Kunle Dada-Luke, the way he plays and his athleticism to get up and down, he provides our width on the right side but he’s also able to get down and defend. Losing him has been difficult and also we’ve had trouble here with Cavalry and their rotations, so we went to a back five. I thought it was quite good, I don’t think that was our issue.

“I thought the back five did well. Zak [Bahous] is not a natural fullback but he stepped in, he found his way. It was the situation we were in and we had to deal with it.”

On the 2023 season and where Pacific go from here:

“We need to improve, we need to learn, we need to grow. We were top two in this league for 24 of 28 weeks. It’s fine margins; we took the long route in the playoffs but we showed our spirit to deal with some adversity in the first two matches. Cavalry’s had an excellent season, they’ve been the most consistent team especially towards the end. They have good confidence, they have a great fanbase here. It’s not an easy place to come and play.

“It’s been difficult for us this season, but I think overall we can take a lot of positives. Of course we need to look at the things we need to do better in the second half of the season when we start to drop. We need to look at that and why, but this is part of the process. Now in the off-season we’re not going to waste time. We’ll take a small break and get back to work, continue to learn, continue to improve, continue to grow and come back and fight for more next season.”

Thomas Meilleur-Giguère

On what went wrong for Pacific:

“In the first half we didn’t bring enough energy for the occasion. In a semifinal like this, you play the occasion; you play a big game. Maybe it doesn’t look like it but there’s a lot of pressure. We have a really young team, some guys had to step in and did very well. But I think the pressure went a bit too high for what we were ready to match. When we concede the first set-piece, that’s always like this. Big games are always like this, you need to be ready on every occasion and good set-pieces, a good run; we can’t leave a player unmarked.

“That’s going to come with experience and what the club is trying to bring. We trust the youth, we trust the young guys. I think set-pieces killed us, and maybe a lack of energy in the first half. We saw in the second half, maybe the last 30 minutes, we saw we could play. We were ready to battle, we we were first to everything. That’s how we should’ve started. It’s not a two-legged game, it’s one leg and now we lose a semifinal again this year. That hurts.”

On the outlook for Pacific’s future:

“This team has a lot of young guys, I think except Vancouver FC we were the youngest team. A lot of quality; we have injuries, we have suspensions, we bring other players in and they do great. I think now it all comes to bringing experience and a couple pieces that maybe we can bring to the team to maybe get more experienced and after that, in terms of quality the team is always going to be great. We have a great staff working with us, I have to say thank you to the staff, thank you to everyone because they allowed us to be ready every game. We know tactically we’re solid, they always bring good players to play with us.

“We’re not going to be in the final this year but next year it’s for sure going to be our objective again to win the league and win the final in playoffs because we want to be in Concacaf. It’s not going to be next year, so let’s hope for 2025. I think this team is just going to continue to grow, and that’s what I hope for the future because we deserve it. Even the fans, they came here to Calgary to watch us play a semifinal. It was cold, weather was not great, but they were there for us. So thank you to the fans, too.”