Final Score: Halifax Wanderers FC 3-2 Vancouver FC
Goalscorers: Coimbra 20′, Rampersad 55′, Nimick 63′ (pen.); Cantave 4′, Diaz 90+7′
Game of the 2024 season: 66
CPL match: 550
Match in a minute or less
The Halifax Wanderers picked up a huge victory on Monday, beating Vancouver FC 3-2 at home in a match that got them closer to being in the playoff picture. Miki Cantave got the scoring started early for the visitors, after his shot came back off Yann Fillion before striking his own face and ending up in the goal. Tiago Coimbra responded for the Wanderers in the 20th minute with a thumping header from a corner kick routine, and the two sides entered the break tied at one. The Wanderers pulled away in the second half, with Andre Rampersad beating Callum Irving in the 55th minute with a volley from close range after another corner routine, before Dan Nimick put the game to bed from the penalty spot eight minutes later. Alejandro Diaz pulled one back for the Eagles in the seventh minute of stoppage time, but it was on the last kick of the game and nothing but a consolation goal. The result creates a logjam in the CPL standings, with the Wanderers remaining in eighth place but now sitting just four points back of Vancouver for the fifth and final playoff spot.
Three Observations
Wanderers take step in the right direction toward crowded playoff race
There’s a lot of work to be done before the Halifax Wanderers go from CPL basement dwellers to legitimate playoff team, but they took another step in the right direction on Monday, beating a Vancouver FC side that currently occupies the playoff spot they want. VFC and sixth-place Pacific FC both sit on 20 points, seventh-place Valour has 17, and Wanderers are now up to 16, as an already-tight playoff race shapes into another all-out sprint to the finish. Halifax also has a game in hand over Pacific and two over Vancouver and Valour, adding another wrinkle into competition that Patrice Gheisar says reminds him of how last year ended up finishing. “It was the same last year I think,” said the Wanderers boss. “On a weekly level we were going from sixth to third to fourth to second, but this year, in my opinion, the league has improved, the teams are all more tactically advanced, all the players have improved. There’s really good new additions for every team, so I think it’s been fantastic, I just can’t believe how tight it is. “I think for me, it’s one of the best watches there is for a fan because at any given week, anything can happen.” This Halifax group isn’t at full strength yet either. Cale Loughrey missed out on this match through illness (with young Jefferson Alphonse excellent in his place), while Ryan Telfer, Clement Bayiha, and Christian Volesky missed out with injuries. Tiago Coimbra returned from injury in this match, and scored the all-important equalizing goal in the first half with a thumping header, and Sean Rea impressed in his debut for the club. If the Wanderers can get everyone in that group fit and firing on all cylinders alongside the rest of their team, they could be in fantastic shape down the stretch, but that’s a big if. As they inch toward a playoff spot, which seemed to be the minimum expectation for the team coming into the season after their successes in 2023, they look to leave a poor start in the rear view mirror. The Wanderers have a squad that on paper could challenge anyone on their day, and if they’re going to make a move it has to come now, as they visit perennial contenders Cavalry FC and Forge FC in their next two matches.
Vancouver’s poor form continues ahead of crucial derby next week
Coming into Monday’s match in Halifax, Vancouver FC had won just one of their previous nine matches since a red-hot start to the season. That number is now one of ten since the start of June, with the lone win coming at home against fellow British Columbian side Pacific FC. This match was an opportunity for Vancouver to right the ship away from home — defender Kadin Chung and head coach Afshin Ghotbi both said ahead of the match that being away from home presents the team with a opportunity to get closer as a group off the pitch. It’s a long trip from Vancouver to Halifax, and dropping all three points, especially after taking such an early lead, is a frustrating result for the Eagles. Ghotbi turned heads pregame when he said in an interview with OneSoccer’s Gareth Wheeler that the team needed to “mend relationships” between members of the squad, and doubled down postgame, saying that the poor run of form has left them frustrated. If this group is going to start climbing up the table again, and make a run at the first playoff appearance in club history, whatever friction is troubling the squad needs to be addressed and dealt with so they can get back on track. A win would also do them a world of good in that regard, to boost the morale and confidence of a group that on paper has a lot of attacking firepower and believe they have what it takes to challenge for trophies. It is up to the veteran players in the group in particular, who Ghotbi has shown a lot of faith in, to figure this out. “I think we’ve got great leaders, everybody tries to do the best they can to help out the side,” said Miki Cantave after the match. “It’s a new team, so we’re just focused on being the best that we can be individually and also helping the guy beside us. We just focus on what we can control and we keep moving.”
Perhaps fittingly, it’s a match against the Tridents next on the schedule for Vancouver, as they host their provincial rivals on Sunday at Willoughby Community Park. The importance of that match is not lost on Ghotbi, for a number of reasons, as both sides look to find a win for the first time in over a month. “I think derbies are special regardless of where both teams are on the table, regardless what results have happened in the past and derbies feel like a final,” he said. “We love Pacific as a club, we as a club with Pacific are rivals and we’ve had a great history together, and every time we play, it’s a theater, it’s very dramatic, and we’ve been fortunate enough to win the last four. “We hope to get results not only because it’s a derby, but also we need it for our own sanity and our own kind of psyche.”
Rea makes immediate impact on Wanderers debut off the bench
The Halifax Wanderers made an incredibly exciting signing last week, adding former Valour FC star Sean Rea on a contract through the end of the 2025 Canadian Premier League season. The flashy Canadian attacker checked into Monday’s match ten minutes after halftime for his club debut, to a loud reception from the Wanderers faithful. He quickly won them over with a second half performance in which he played in a new position, as a false nine at the top of the Wanderers attack, speeding around to create chances for him and his teammates. Rea tied for most successful dribbles of any player in the match with three, fired in a couple of crosses, had five touches in Vancouver’s box, and took two shots. He was a handful for the Vancouver defenders, showing flashes of his brilliant 2022 campaign with Valour FC, where he won the CPL’s Best U-21 Canadian Player of the Year award and was a nominee for Player of the Year. If he can grow into his role in new surroundings and recapture that form in the second half of the Wanderers’ season, the club could have a chance to climb up the table and compete in a tightly contested playoff race. “Fantastic, I really thought he was gonna get a goal, I think he would have loved it,” head coach Patrice Gheisar said after the match. “We played him in a position that’s unfamiliar as a false nine, given the lack of nines that we have right now. He took it on with a full commitment and desire to do well. “I thought he ran in behind, he was creating, he was confident, and he built a lot of good things that I look forward to seeing grow.”
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Andre Rampersad, Halifax Wanderers FC
It’s not often that the Wanderers skipper finds the back of the net, but Andre Rampersad scored a crucial goal on Monday during a standout performance in the middle of the park.
What’s next?
Halifax hit the road next weekend, visiting Cavalry FC at ATCO Field on Saturday (2 pm MT/5 pm AT). Vancouver return home for a BC Derby against Pacific FC on Sunday (2 pm PT). Watch all CPL and Canadian Championship 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.