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PREVIEW: Pacific FC vs. FC Edmonton – Match #29

Canadian Premier League — Match #29
Pacific FC vs. FC Edmonton
June 23, 2019 — Westhills Stadium (3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET)
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca

Wrapping up this week of CPL action, Pacific FC hosts FC Edmonton at Westhills Stadium looking to climb the league’s Spring table after HFX Wanderers FC and York9 FC played out to a 0-0 draw on Saturday, opening the door for a massive three points which could see the Van Isle side leapfrog to third place.

But, Michael Silberbauer’s side will need to pull off the victory with some unwanted obstacles, as striker Marcus Haber and defender Lukas MacNaughton picked up knocks and left their last match early with injuries, leaving them questionable for this upcoming tilt.

Meanwhile, FC Edmonton is still hunting for a win – and for goals, really – as they remain firmly bottom of the table after seven matches; the Eddies have scored just two goals in CPL action in that time, both coming in a 2-1 opening win against Valour, but since that day back on May 4, Jeff Paulus’ side hasn’t found the back of the net in regular season play. The Eddies come into this match on the back of a 0-0 draw against York9, ending a run of losses that have hampered the side of late.

Neither team remains in contention for the Spring crown, but both will be looking to wrap up their Spring campaigns on the right foot, with the visiting Eddies hoping to find their groove against an ailing Pacific FC, who themselves are looking to find solutions to their injury woes. It all kicks off on OneSoccer at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET.

KEYS TO THE MATCH

  • Bury your chances: Simply put, neither team can afford to miss their looks at goal, especially the visiting Eddies, who are desperate for a goal celebration or two. While Pacific’s chance creation has been decent, their execution in the final third has not been quite as sharp, and, missing Haber, they’ll need to find alternate solutions up top, too.
  • Battle for the middle:  While neither team is midfield heavy, they do rely on their midfielders to get the ball to important spaces for their forwards to attack; the battle between Ramon Soria and Ben Fisk will, thus, be of great importance – if Soria can keep Fisk from influencing the tempo, Pacific may struggle to put together their chances as they’d like.
  • Ignore the past: The last meeting between these two wasn’t particularly one-sided, and recent results don’t always matter, either. Sure, Pacific FC comes into this one riding the high of a win over Valour, but confidence is only as good as the work you put in; meanwhile, the Eddies can wallow in their past failures, or choose to pave forward regardless in hopes of better.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

Pacific FC: Mark Village; Emile Legault, Ryan McCurdy, Blake Smith, Kadin Chung; Matthew Baldisimo, Alexander Gonzalez, Noah Verhoeven, Ben Fisk; Victor Blasco, Terran Campbell

FC Edmonton: Connor James; Allan Zebie, Mele Temguia, Amer Didic, Kareem Moses; Ramon Soria, James Marcelin; Bruno Zebie, Oumar Diouck, Marcus Velado-Tsegaye; Randy Edwini-Bonsu


HEAD TO HEAD

May 12 – FC Edmonton 0-0 Pacific FC

STATS LEADERS

Terran Campbell – 2 goals (Pacific FC)
Mele Temguia, Oumar Diouck  – 1 goal (FC Edmonton)

INJURIES

Hendrik Starostzik (Pacific FC) – Out
Lukas MacNaughton (Pacific FC) – Questionable
Marcus Haber (Pacific FC) – Questionable

INTERNATIONAL DUTY

None

SUSPENSIONS

None

ACCUMULATION
(Players are suspended after 4 Yellow Cards)

Matthew Baldisimo (Pacific FC) – 3 Yellow Cards

REFEREES

Referee: Alain Ruch
ARs: Jasmain Parr & Evan Fryer
4th Official: Mo Mohseni


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

1. Will the team with more possession win?

Typically the home side tends to dominate the match in terms of possession. This coupled with the higher seeded team being at home for 2 out of the 3 matches this weekend means that it’s a safe bet for teams such as Cavalry and Pacific to both win and have more possession.

2. Which team’s goalie will claim more crosses?

Simply put, goalies who tend to make more saves tend to have to do more work during the match. Meaning that a goalie such as York9’s Nate Ingham, who leads the league in saves, is much more likely to be claiming crosses.

3. Will an outfield player have a 100% pass accuracy?

While this may sound like a very hard achievement to come by, 3 players in this week’s York9/Edmonton match managed to do so. All players came into the match late as a substitution, providing them with a lesser chance of having passes go array.