Final Score: Valour FC 0-1 Halifax Wanderers
Goalscorers: Ferrin 54′
Game of the 2023 season: 109
CPL match: 476

Match in a minute or less

The Halifax Wanderers are up into third in the CPL table ahead of Saturday’s final day in the 2023 regular season, with a 1-0 victory over Valour in their regular season finale.

The lone goal of the match came courtesy of Massimo Ferrin, who scored his eighth of the season on a stunning strike from outside the box in the 54th minute.

Halifax cannot finish lower than fourth in the standings, but whether they remain in third, or potentially move even higher into second, depends on the results of Saturday’s matches featuring Pacific (currently fourth place) against Cavalry and Forge FC (currently second) hosting Atlético Ottawa.

Three Observations

Halifax put the pressure on Forge, Pacific as they take care of business in playoff seeding race

The Halifax Wanderers came into Friday knowing that only a victory could potentially improve their position in the table come the end of the season. Having accomplished that in Winnipeg, they now wait to see whether or not it will make a difference in an incredibly tight playoff seeding race.

“We wanted to approach this like a playoff game,” said Halifax head coach Patrice Gheisar. “You look at Valour, they’ve had some great results…we needed to tell our guys this felt like a playoff game, come in here and be prepared to win your matchups, to score more goals than the opponent, and I thought our guys really competed and I felt Valour really started the game well and I felt we got better as the game went on.”

After a bit of a slow start, the Wanderers picked up just their second away victory of the season, courtesy of another brilliant strike from talismanic attacker Massimo Ferrin. It was Ferrin’s fifth goal from outside the box this season, which is the most in the Canadian Premier League, and eighth overall.

Massimo Ferrin gives @HFXWanderersFC the lead with a perfectly-placed shot into the top right corner 🎯

Fourth game in a row with a goal for Ferrin 🔥#CanPL I 📺 @onesoccer pic.twitter.com/tBJ2B9IFs2

— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) October 7, 2023

The Wanderers now wait to see when and where they will open the 2023 playoffs. Pacific now need to win against CPL Regular Season winners Cavalry FC this Saturday at ATCO Field in order to leap Halifax in the standings. Forge, meanwhile, need to just not lose by multiple goals in order to stay in front of the Wanderers in the table despite being currently tied on points, as they currently hold the tiebreaker on second place on goal difference.

Safe to say the province of Nova Scotia will be heavily tuned in to Saturday’s matches to see if their Wanderers will open the playoffs on Wednesday, October 11 by hosting either York United in the 4th vs. 5th match, or on Saturday, October 14 should they finish third or miraculously move up into second.

Valour’s final match of the season a microcosm of a season of close but not quite good enough

Despite finishing at the bottom of the table in the CPL this season, Valour FC will look back at 2023 as a year that could have been a lot different.

Friday’s match was another such example. Valour easily could have had the lead in the 33rd minute when Juan Pablo Sanchez hit the post of a wide-open net. Instead, they were held scoreless for the 11th time this season, and fifth time at home in 2023, and allowed Halifax to leave IG Field with three points.

“This year was either offensively not taking chances, or not dealing well with plays that need to be dealt with and when it is like that you end up where you are that’s as simple as that,” said Valour FC head coach Phil Dos Santos. “Again guys fighting, guys wanting to compete, emotionally engaged and connected with the game, I don’t fault that, but it’s not going to be enough. This is something that needs to be out of our locker, and today was a good demonstration of what this season was all about for us.”

Valour finish 2023 having won a league-low six of their 28 matches. However, they also drew eight times, and lost an additional eight, including on Friday, by just a single goal. Just six times this season did Valour lose a match by more than a single goal, showing just how close they were to a better result in the vast majority of matches during the 2023 season.

Instead, Friday marks the start of a long offseason of self-reflection for Valour, who remain the only club other than first-year Vancouver FC to have never qualified for the CPL playoffs.

“When you get to the end of a season like this it was probably the one that emotionally took the biggest tole on me,” said Dos Santos. “Because you are flirting with success there, you feel that the team has so many good things but you realize earlier than you’d expect that it might not be enough. So now we have to look at what the next level needs to look like for this team.”

Teenager Camilo Vasconcelos makes his professional debut as Halifax hit required U-21 minutes

Halifax came into Friday night’s match knowing there was one number that they absolutely had to achieve: 195 minutes of domestic U-21 minutes in order to be officially eligible for the 2023 CPL Playoffs.

With this in mind, Gheisar started the three players who had made up the entirety of Halifax’s 1,805 U-21 minutes coming into this match, Tiago Coimbra, Tomas Giraldo and Armaan Wilson.

Unfortunately for Halifax, things didn’t exactly go to plan as Giraldo was injured midway through the half and was forced to be removed in the 30th minute. Not wanting to take any chances with the remaining minutes, Gheisar chose to replace Giraldo with 18-year-old Camilo Vasconcelos, who was making his professional debut.

Vasconcelos, who also spent time with York United on a development contract earlier this season before joining Halifax a month ago, was lively in his professional debut. In 44 minutes, Vasconcelos completed two of three dribbles and won five of seven duels.

“I thought he brought stability, he is super composed, he doesn’t feel pressure,” said Gheisar. “He has a natural ability to keep the ball and really principles and ideas we want to have. I was really happy with him, and I think as he grew in the game, I thought Mass came alive, and we started to have a balance from each side.”

With Vasconcelos playing 44 minutes, Giraldo 30, Wilson 62 and finally Coimbra going the full 90, Halifax had over 200 minutes. All of these players, with the exception of Wilson, will be eligible for U-21 minutes again next season, which will give Gheisar an exciting core of experienced young talent in 2024.

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Massimo Ferrin, Halifax Wanderers 

Ferrin ignited the second half of Friday’s match with some of the magic that has made him Halifax’s most dangerous player. He finished with the match’s only goal on four shot attempts, created a chance and won four fouls during a strong finish to what was an outstanding debut CPL regular season.

What’s next?

The Halifax Wanderers are headed to the postseason but could finish anywhere between second and fourth depending upon the results of Saturday’s matches. For Valour, meanwhile, this is the end of the road for the 2023 season, and they will now begin the rebuild for 2024.

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