Canadian Premier League — Match #55
FC Edmonton vs. Pacific FC
August 10, 2019 — Clarke Field (6 p.m. ET/4 p.m. MT)
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca

This weekend’s serving of CPL games finishes with a tantalizing fixture between two sides with something to prove. FC Edmonton will take the pitch on Saturday for their fourth straight home game, a battle with Pacific FC.

The Eddies have made some noise in the Fall competition so far, with a 2-1-2 record that’s good for fourth in the table (but only two points back of the hotly-contested top spot). Their last test was a convincing 2-0 win against HFX Wanderers FC, which broke a three-game winless slide. Jeff Paulus will be hoping his squad’s attack can thrive against a Pacific side that conceded three to FC Edmonton last time they met.

We haven’t seen much of Pacific lately, with just one game played in the last 20 days (a wild 2-2 draw with Valour FC). They’ve only got one win in the Fall season, a 3-1 triumph over HFX Wanderers, to go with three losses and a draw. So, they sit one point ahead of Valour for last-place in the table. Still, their 10 goals is tied for best in the Fall competition, so their attack is something for FC Edmonton to worry about.

Both sides are back at it next weekend. The Eddies have an Al Classico tilt with their Alberta neighbours Cavalry FC at Spruce Meadows on Friday, August 16 (9:00 p.m. ET, 7:00 p.m. MT, on OneSoccer), and Pacific will head to the GTA for a game with York9 FC on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, on OneSoccer).

KEYS TO THE MATCH

• Set-pieces: FC Edmonton is one of the most dangerous teams in the air, with towering attackers like Tomi Ameobi and now Easton Ongaro well able to knock in goals with their heads. Pacific can’t afford to give up too many corners or free kicks, because the Eddies are becoming better and better at making opponents pay with goals from dead-ball crosses.
• Keep your leads: Pacific has no trouble scoring right now, with Terran Campbell and Victor Blasco both red-hot in the Fall competition, but they’ve had a bit of an issue with coughing up leads after scoring. They allowed HFX to tie things up just minutes after taking an early lead a few weeks ago (although PFC did ultimately pull out the win), and last time out they conceded a late penalty to Valour to drop points in a game they mostly led. If Pacific does take a lead here, they need to stay laser-focused and see out the entirety of the 90 minutes to secure a win.
• Find the ball: The Eddies aren’t a team that tends to suffocate their opponent with possession, nor do they rely on a quick counter-attack for their goals. They’re somewhere in between. However, they could definitely stand to see more of the ball, which would help them build up attacks and feed more crosses into the box. It may suit their interests to have an attacking player drop a little deeper occasionally, looking to pick up the ball and mount a fully-fledged attack, because FCE really needs to find more stable possession in the attacking half.

 PROJECTED LINEUPS

FC Edmonton: Connor James; Allan Zebie, Mele Temguia, Amer Didic, Jeannot Esua; Kareem Moses, Ramon Soria; Bruno Zebie, Easton Ongaro, Marcus Velado-Tsegaye; Tomi Ameobi

Pacific FC: Nolan Wirth; Blake Smith, Lukas MacNaughton, Hendrik Starostzik, Kadin Chung; Alexander Gonzalez, Noah Verhoeven, Matthew Baldisimo, Ben Fisk; Terran Campbell, Victor Blasco

HEAD TO HEAD

May 12 – FC Edmonton 0-0 Pacific FC
June 23 – Pacific FC 1-3 FC Edmonton

STATS LEADERS

Terran Campbell – 7 goals (Pacific FC)
Oumar Diouck – 4 goals (FC Edmonton)

INJURIES

Son Yong-Chan (FC Edmonton) – Questionable
James Marcelin (FC Edmonton) – Questionable
Marcel De Jong (Pacific FC) – Out
Marcus Haber (Pacific FC) – Out

INTERNATIONAL DUTY

None

SUSPENSIONS

None

ACCUMULATION
(Players are suspended for one match 14 days after accumulating a 4th Yellow Card)

None

REFEREES

Referee: Matt Souare
ARs: Erina Cho & Jasmain Parr
4th Official: Michael Mund

FANTASY PREDICTOR
Download the Centre Circle app to play predictor ahead of each match. 

1. Which team will make more tackles?

A: Of the teams playing this weekend, the top team for each matchup in terms of average tackles per match are: HFX (14.3), York9 (12.4) and Pacific (13.6)

2. Will the team with more possession win?

A: Besides the fact that the more possession a team has in a match the more likely they are to dictate play, the three current top teams in the CanPL Fall Competition are also currently the top three teams in terms of average possession.

3. Will an outfield player have over 70 touches?

A: In last week’s lone matchup, only one player managed to get over 70 touches. Is this an outlier or are players unlikely to posses that much of the ball in a CanPL match?