2023 CPL Regular Season — Match #75
Halifax Wanderers vs. Vancouver FC
August 12, 2023 at 12 p.m. PT/4 p.m. AT
Wanderers Grounds in Halifax, Nova Scotia
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With the end of the CPL season rapidly approaching, the stakes are increasing with each passing game, as the race towards the finish line heats up.

That is certainly the case in Halifax this weekend, as the Halifax Wanderers get set to host Vancouver FC at Wanderers Grounds on Saturday.

A crucial clash, both teams enter this match needing a win, too, having both dropped points at home this past weekend, with Vancouver drawing Valour 0-0, while Halifax lost 2-1 to Pacific.

Despite that, both teams have different reasons to chase a win in this clash.

For Halifax, they want to get back to the good times at home, as they had won five straight home games before their defeat to Pacific. Because of that, avenging that defeat is at the top of their minds, as they look to keep Wanderers Grounds as a fortress, something that another victory will certainly help do.

Plus, having dropped to sixth place off the back of that Pacific loss, they’ll want to avoid losing any more ground in an extremely congested playoff race, where just seven points separate them and first-place Pacific.

Because of that, teams cannot afford to two or more games in a row, or they can sink down the table fast, so Halifax knows how important it is to get back to winning ways as they maintain their playoff push.

As for Vancouver, they’re just looking to keep themselves alive in their race, as their hopes have slowly dwindled away as of late.

Winless in four straight, they know that they need a win, quickly, if they’re to close the 11 point gap that sits between them and the playoffs.

The good news? The last team they beat was this Halifax side, which they did back in July, so they’ll perhaps feel that this matchup can be exactly what they need to get back in the winning column once again.

Having put together some strong performances as of late, they’ve been doing everything but win games, really. Considering they’re an expansion team, that’s not a bad thing at all as they set the foundation for the future, but they’ll feel that they still have more to give as they dive into the final 10 games of their maiden CPL season.

All CPL matches are available to stream on OneSoccer, or on TELUS Optik TV Channel 980. 

3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Can Vancouver frustrate Halifax once again? For Halifax, it’s been a pretty good first year under new head coach Patrice Gheisar – they’ve become a dominant team at home, they play exciting soccer, and they’ve continued to tick off important milestones along the way, such as a first road win, and more. As a result, they sit very much in the playoff race with 10 games to go, a big improvement from years prior, where at this stage of the campaign it was usually about survival as much as anything else. Other teams are feeling the effect of that, too – heading into this match Halifax has already beaten six out of the other seven teams in the league at least once, doing well to go toe-to-toe with everyone in the CPL. Yet, that one team that’s eluded them so far? Vancouver, who through two meetings, has one win and one draw against the Wanderers, leaving them as the lone team to still be undefeated against them. Because of that, Halifax is eager to change that, as the last thing they’ll want to do is drop points to a team below them, especially in a playoff race as tight as this one. On the flip side, however, with Vancouver looking to push back into that race, they also need to start stringing together some wins, as the last thing they’ll want to do is widen the gap between them and those in front of them any further. Therefore, expect this game to be cagey, testing both sides’ resolve, continuing what has been a good matchup between these two teams this year.

• Halifax looking to have short memory after rare home setback: It was a good learning lesson for Halifax against Pacific – sometimes, you need to have a short memory. Either within the game itself, or across matches, it can be easy to get caught up in things when they don’t go your way, or even when you do start to get a bit of form. Because of that, it’s important not to get too high, or too low, a message that Halifax has looked to push this season. Now, they get a good chance to practice that, especially after the frustration they suffered earlier this week, when they fell to Pacific in a game where they’ll feel they had some refereeing decisions that didn’t go their way. Yet, that’s soccer sometimes – things don’t always go your way, so it’s important to not let that affect you too much, and focus on controlling what you can control. Because of that, while Halifax will remain frustrated with their missed opportunity from this game, they’ll now look to put that behind them as they get set for this Vancouver clash. In particular, they will want to get back to winning ways at home, as while they snapped their five-game home winning run in their loss against Pacific, they’ll feel that there’s no better time than the present to start a new streak, which will only help put the disappointment of that loss behind them, too.

• Will goals dam finally burst for Vancouver? Sometimes, form can be finicky in soccer. You can string together a good run of performances, yet have nothing to show for it when the dust settles. That’s been the story of the last four games for Vancouver, as despite playing some good soccer, they’ve lost three and drawn one of those matches, getting outscored 10-2 across those games. In particular, they’ll feel that’s been harsh on their attack – despite looking dangerous in offensive phases of play, goals have been hard to come by for them across that stretch, and they enter this game having not scored in their past two games. Because of that, they enter this game hungry to score, allowing them to snap that streak. Between Shaan Hundal, Alejandro Díaz, Mikaël Cantave and Gabriel Bitar, they’ve had options up front, and that group has played well together, but they just haven’t gotten the goals to drop for them. With their defence improving each game, it feels like figuring out their attack is the last step that they need to put everything together as a team, which is why they’ll look to get those goals to start flowing as soon as possible.

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Halifax Wanderers (4-3-3): Fillion; Fernandez, Nimick, Loughrey, Timoteo; Rampersad, Callegari, Watson; Daniels, Collomb, Ferrin

Vancouver FC (4-2-3-1): Irving; Bakare, Romeo, White, Cameron; Garcia, E Simmons; Hundal, Bitar, Cantave; Díaz

ALL-TIME SERIES

Vancouver FC wins: 1 || Halifax Wanderers wins: 0 || Draws: 1

Last meeting:

July 7, 2023 – Vancouver FC 2-1 Halifax Wanderers

KEY QUOTES

“For us, we’re looking at redemption. For us and the city, it’s been a short week, it wasn’t the result that we wanted (vs Pacific), but we have to take care of the moments of adversity that happened during that game, there were obviously a couple of things that were unexpected and threw us off, but that’s never an excuse. We need to be more dangerous. I thought we got a lot of the ball, but we lacked what we needed to score goals. So that’ll be critical for us to do if we want to get back in the win column” — Halifax Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar

“As an athlete and as a coach, I’ve always loved playing in full stadiums. I love stadiums that give you the ambiance that you need to be at your best. I think all my players, based on us getting to know them, they also thrive on that, be it the home fans or away fans. I believe it brings the best out of our players, and it should also bring the best out of Halifax.”— Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi