Final Score: Valour FC 2-3 Pacific FC
Goalscorers: Hundal 45+1′, Swibel 63′; Young (pen.) 19′, Tîrcoveanu 33′ Hundal (o.g.) 75′
Game of the 2024 season: 36
CPL match: 520

Match in a minute or less

Pacific FC broke a five-match winless streak with their first road victory of the season, 3-2 over Valour FC in a wild match in Winnipeg on Friday night.

The Tridents stormed out to a 2-0 lead, with Sean Young converting a penalty in the 19th minute, and Andrei Tîrcoveanu adding a second in the 33rd. Valour, however, snuck a goal just before half-time through Shaan Hundal, and equalized in the 63rd minute with a stunning strike from Jordan Swibel. A Pacific free kick that deflected off Hundal in the 75th minute, however, stood as the winner capping off a frustrating evening for the hosts.

The win moves Pacific up into second place to start the weekend, while Valour have now dropped back-to-back matches at home.

Three Observations

Pacific FC show continued resilience for their first road win of the 2024 season

After a strong start to the 2024 season, going undefeated and not allowing a goal through the first five matches of the campaign (a league record), the past few weeks have offered a lot of adversity for Pacific FC.

During a five-match winless streak, they have been hit with a significant amount of key injuries, suspensions and absences.

Friday was another such match, with both of their regular goalkeepers unavailable through injury, Juan Quintana suspended, and Ayman Sellouf unavailable. But Pacific keep finding ways to pick up results, and on Friday they rode out a rollercoaster victory over Valour for their first road win of the season.

Despite the positive outcome, however, Pacific coach James Merriman was quick to point out that his side needed to do a better job of making games like this easier on themselves. In a dominant first half, the Tridents should have easily run away with Friday’s contest, but instead needed a 75th-minute Valour own-goal to pick up all three points at Princess Auto Stadium.

“It’s frustrating because I think the game should be finished in the first half, with all due respect, we were very good the way we started,” said Merriman. “We’re creating chances, and we’re still missing that ruthlessness and that decisiveness to finish the game when we should…we deserve the three points overall, but it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating letting them back into the game.”

Pacific’s stunning first 45 minutes saw them record 1.96 expected goals on nine attempted shots, four of which were on target. The chart below shows all of their chances from the first half (on the left), with the bigger circles indicating bigger chances by xG.

With that being said, the fact that even after they had blown their two-goal lead and let Valour back into the match, Pacific were still able to emerge with all three points from Friday’s contest has to be seen as a big momentum boost for the group. It was also the first time this year they have ‘scored’ three goals in a match, something they had not managed to do in their last five CPL matches combined.

“We grinded out a win. We found a way, and it’s three points on the road,” said Pacific midfielder Sean Young. “So, we’re happy. And we have another big road game coming up. So we keep moving forward.”

There isn’t much time for the Tridents to reflect on this match, as they quickly prepare for a trip to Ontario to face York United on Wednesday. But Pacific will travel into York Lions Stadium with belief as their resilient efforts continue to yield results.

Valour’s errors are their undoing despite strong comeback effort

From nearly the opening minute of Friday’s match, Valour FC put themselves behind the eight ball with a series of unfortunate events and errors.

The clock read just 1:07 when Jonathan Viscosi was judged to have picked up a back-pass from teammate Themi Antonoglou and gave away a rare indirect free kick in the box. While Pacific ultimately could not take advantage of the early opportunity, it was a sign of things to come.

Sixteen minutes later, Valour gave up a penalty kick as Pacific striker Reon Moore got in behind the backline and was brought down in the box by Viscosi. Young opened the scoring from the ensuing penalty.

In the 33rd minute, another defensive breakdown saw Pacific’s Steffen Yeates afforded plenty of space to whip in a cross that Andrei Tîrcoveanu brought down first, and found the space to turn and angle a shot past Viscosi.

Valour easily could have been down more thereafter, as Pacific had four big chances, and seven shot attempts inside the box, in the first half alone.

Take nothing away from the Valour response, as with a goal just before half-time from Shaan Hundal and one in the second half through Jordan Swibel they got themselves back into Friday’s match.

But just when it looked like they might have fought all the way back for a point, or more as they looked the more likely of the two sides to go on and win it late in the second half, came another unfortunate moment. Pacific substitute Adonijah Reid’s free-kick deflected off of the head of Hundal and into his own net.

“I think that until we understand and have the humility that we don’t play like that until we are down in the score, you could put yourself in the position that we put ourselves in today,” said Valour FC head coach Dos Santos. “Their goal came at a time when I really thought we were close to 3-2 for ourselves, then it’s an unfortunate goal, because it’s a ball we train a lot every week at training, and we’ve dealt well with these types of actions. It ends up being an own goal. It’s unfortunate, but again, I stress the fact that you can play 45 minutes or 50 in a game you have to play 90.”

Pacific’s Short-Term Replacement goalkeeper Zadravec steps up in net for pro debut victory

As the Pacific FC and Valour players walked onto the pitch on Friday night one player could be seen soaking in the moment. Pacific goalkeeper Daniel Zadravec, having just signed a Short-Term Replacement contract with the club, was making an unexpected professional debut at 24 years of age.

With Sean Melvin’s injury, and Emil Gazdov falling ill last week in Halifax, Pacific signed Zadravec and 20-year-0ld Callum Weir ahead of Friday’s match. Zadravec, a Victoria native who has spent the past five seasons with the UNBC Timberwolves in U SPORTS, had been training with the club this season. He has also been working with Pacific goalkeeper coach Trevor Stiles since he was 11, giving him critical familiarity with the group.

Zadravec was given the start on Friday and seized the opportunity with both hands. He made three stops, including a brilliant first-half denial of Jordi Swibel, and was calm in distribution completing 18 of his 25 attempted passes.

“He was great,” said Pacific FC midfielder Sean Young. “I thought he was confident back there for his first pro start. I know what it’s like in your first game, and he was probably nervous. And I think he was great and he deserved the win today.”

PERFORMANCE OF THE MATCH ⭐️
Presented by @Gatorade

Hear from @Pacificfccpl goalkeeper Daniel Zadravec, who shares his thoughts from his #CanPL debut, a 3-2 Pacific win over Valour pic.twitter.com/jQQQCmSf9s

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) June 15, 2024

On the Valour side of things, however, they feel they gave Zadravec too much of an opportunity to grow into the game by not testing him early or often enough. He did not face his first shot on target until the 28th minute, a harmless Swibel strike from distance, and didn’t make his first save of consequence until the 44th minute.

“Yeah, I mean the coach stressed it to us,” said Hundal. “So I for one, and I know the other players in the attacking line take it on ourselves, coach stressed that you know, a new young keeper, and I think debut, we were told to test him, and I don’t think, Phil mentioned it at half-time, we didn’t test him until 36 or 37 minutes.”

It will certainly be a night that the young goalkeeper will never forget, however, telling OneSoccer after the match that in getting his first pro victory: “I’ve achieved a dream that I set out to do, and that just feels amazing”.

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Thomas Meilleur-Giguère

In his 100th appearance with the Tridents, and with another new-look backline alongside him, it was yet another strong performance from the 26-year-old who is making a significant early case to be nominated for the league’s Defender of the Year in 2024. Meilleur-Giguère won four of five duels, made two interceptions and eight clearances on Friday night.

What’s next?

Both clubs now head to Ontario for their next match. Pacific have a quick turnaround as they face York United in a mid-week clash at York Lions Stadium on Wednesday, June 19 (4:00 p.m. PT/ 7:00 p.m. ET). Valour, meanwhile, head to Hamilton for the second time this season to take on Forge on Sunday, June 23 (3:00 p.m. CT / 4:00 p.m. ET).

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