2023 CPL Playoffs — Quarter-Final
Halifax Wanderers FC vs. Pacific FC
October 14, 2023 at 3 p.m. AT/2 p.m. ET
Wanderers Grounds in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here
A sold-out crowd is expected in the Maritimes this weekend as Halifax Wanderers FC host Pacific FC in the first ever home playoff match in club history.
The Wanderers, the CPL’s third seed in this postseason, take on their west coast foes in a quarter-final match that would take either side one step closer to playing in the CPL Final.
For Halifax, the preceding week has been one of rest and preparation, having previously seen the field last Friday night in their 1-0 win over Valour FC in Winnipeg. Since then, and Saturday’s results that confirmed the Wanderers would finish third in the table, they’ve been laser-focused on this weekend’s clash, despite not knowing their opponent until Wednesday.
This season was Patrice Gheisar’s first as head coach of the Wanderers, and so far it’s been a roaring success; the club made the playoffs for the first time over a full season, and they’ll have home advantage in this opening round thanks to a late surge that saw them leap ahead of Pacific. They ended up with 11 wins and 42 points in 2023, both of which are club records for Halifax.
RELATED: 2023 CPL Playoff Preview: Halifax Wanderers FC || 2023 CPL Playoff Preview: Pacific FC
Pacific, meanwhile, had a bit of a bumpy road to the postseason but that may be fully behind them now after they returned to winning form on Wednesday. They hosted York United in the first game of these playoffs, triumphing in the brand-new fourth-versus-fifth play-in match that kicks things off in this new format. That game was a nervy one for 90 minutes, but in the dying stages with extra time looming, Kekuta Manneh’s cross found Adonijah Reid to give the Tridents a 1-0 victory and move them into this quarter-final.
Since then, it’s been quite the adventure across the country for Pacific, who arrive in Nova Scotia on Friday afternoon after a brief stop in Toronto. This being one of the longest domestic road trips in football in the entire world, it’s an unforgiving turnaround for Pacific who will kick off in Halifax just 62 hours after fulltime in Langford on Wednesday.
James Merriman’s Tridents have something of a chip on their shoulder at the moment, knowing the rest of their road to the North Star Cup will be on the road. They weren’t expected to fall to fourth place and have to play that midweek game, but having come through it they now look to prove they belong in the championship conversation.
Pacific finished the year with the same number of wins (11) and just two fewer points (40) than the Wanderers, but nonetheless find themselves at a disadvantage in this match. That’s due to how their regular season ended, with three consecutive losses that put the higher places out of reach.
RELATED: ‘Pressure is a privilege’: Gheisar, Merriman speak ahead of Halifax Wanderers vs. Pacific FC
These two coastal foes have always produced entertaining battles, ever since they met in the second game in CPL history on April 28, 2019 (a 1-0 Pacific win on Van Isle). This year, the season series has been perfectly split: a win for each side at the Wanderers Grounds, plus two 1-1 draws at Starlight Stadium. Most recently, a heavily-rotated Halifax team managed a 1-1 result out on the west coast in mid-September, when Armaan Wilson scored his first pro goal before halftime before Ayman Sellouf equalized from the spot.
Saturday’s match will be the first knockout fixture ever between these teams, although they’ve met in a postseason kind of situation once before. That would be at the Island Games tournament in Prince Edward Island back in 2020, when they squared off in the final match of the group stage. At that point, Halifax had already clinched their spot in the CPL Final and eliminated Pacific, but the Tridents nonetheless battered them with a 5-0 decision.
This time around is likely to be a much closer affair, with both sides extremely motivated for a chance to move one step closer to the North Star Cup. This may yet be the greatest Kitchen Party we’ve seen at the Wanderers Grounds, with the stands packed on a blustery day in Nova Scotia. Will home field advantage prove fruitful for Halifax? Or will Pacific be able to spoil the festivities?
All CPL matches are available to stream on OneSoccer, FuboTV, or on TELUS Optik TV Channel 980.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
- Home sweet home for Halifax vs. Pacific road warriors: The Wanderers Grounds have always been a daunting place for visiting sides to play in, especially in 2023. It’s loud, the weather changes from moment to moment, and the grass pitch is unlike any other surface in the CPL. This season, Halifax finished second in the league with 28 points at home and an outstanding nine wins. They won their two most recent games at home, over Atlético Ottawa and Forge FC, and they’ve proven repeatedly this season that they cannot be counted until the final whistle blows at the Grounds, no matter what — at least a handful of times they’ve scored late to win it at home. Pacific, however, have been pretty good on the road this year, picking up more away points (21) than they did at home (19). They beat the Wanderers in their last east coast trip, a 2-1 win thanks to a pair of quick goals after halftime. There’s pressure on both sides here, but Halifax will be hoping to harness the energy of a jam-packed stadium to give them the extra boost they need.
- Attacking difference-makers needed for Pacific: It took Pacific until the 91st minute to finally put a goal past York United on Wednesday, despite 11 shots prior to Adonijah Reid’s game-winning finish. Frustrations in attack have been a bit of a theme for the Tridents lately, with many of their main weapons up front going quiet and struggling to finish off dangerous build-up play. Ayman Sellouf, who leads the team in both goals (7) and assists (8), started on Wednesday but did not look up to his usual standard with a litany of giveaways and poor decisions; it’s possible that in this game James Merriman chooses to reserve Sellouf to the super-sub role in which he’s been so effective this year. If so, might Kekuta Manneh get the start at left wing? He made an instant impact off the bench against York and assisted Reid’s goal. No matter what, Pacific likely can’t afford to let this game go on for 70 or 80 minutes without scoring. The later it gets, the more tired they’ll be from the midweek game and travel, and the more energized Halifax might feel.
- Toughest test yet for young Wanderers defence: Halifax’s backline has been superb for much of this season, conceding just 32 goals (joint-second fewest in the league). What’s most impressive is that it’s made up primarily of newcomers to the team, with Zach Fernandez and Jake Ruby the only defenders who were with the club in 2022. The average age of Halifax’s likely back four of Zach Fernandez, Dan Nimick, Cale Loughrey and Riley Ferrazzo is 22.75, but they’ve nonetheless done an excellent job. In fact, the Wanderers have not won a single game this year in which Nimick and Loughrey did not start together at centre-back. The playoffs are a new high-pressure environment for these young players, and they’ll be going up against an experienced Pacific side that has played much more knockout football, including last year’s Concacaf League and playoffs and this season’s Canadian Championship — not to mention those like Josh Heard and Manny Aparicio, who have already won a championship in the CPL playoffs back in 2021. It’ll be the hardest test these Wanderers have had to face yet, but if they prove they’re up to the job then they’ll feel confident they can go all the way to the Final.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Halifax Wanderers (4-2-3-1): Fillion; Fernandez, Nimick, Loughrey, Ferrazzo; Callegari, Omar; Coimbra, Daniels, Ferrin; Perruzza
Pacific FC (4-3-3): Gazdov; Dada-Luke, Didic, Meilleur-Giguère, Mukumbilwa; Young, Toussaint, Aparicio; Heard, Daniels, Manneh
ALL-TIME SERIES
Halifax Wanderers wins: 5 || Pacific FC wins: 7 || Draws: 6
Last meeting:
September 9, 2023 –Pacific FC 1-1 Halifax Wanderers
PLAYOFF HISTORY
2020 CPL Island Games – Group Stage — Halifax Wanderers 0-5 Pacific FC
KEY QUOTES
“You go into this game trying to think, who’s the favourite? Who’s the underdog? There’s all those feelings, and all I’m trying to tell our guys is dismiss all that. It’s not our first playoff game because we’ve been in playoff positions the past five, six games. The Ottawa game at home was a must-win. The Forge game at home was a must-win. I’ve said this before, we painted the picture that the playoffs started for us four or five weeks ago, so nothing changes. … It’s okay to be anxious, just use that and channel it to bring excitement into it. Like they say, pressure is a privilege.” — Halifax Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar
“We’re going to need our depth. We need to accept the challenge; we did it last year with Concacaf matches, we had some very tough trips and tough travel, and the players in the locker room understand that. We just need to get ourselves there, get ourselves mentally prepared, physically recovered the best we can. We’re going to need players to step up for us, we’re going to need to lean on that depth. I believe in the focus in the group, the leadership group; they’re experienced enough, we’ve dealt with these moment.” — Pacific FC head coach James Merriman