CPL Regular Season — Match #102
Vancouver FC vs. Halifax Wanderers
September 22, 2023 at 1 p.m. PT/5 p.m. AT
Willoughby Community Park in Vancouver, British Columbia
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here

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The Halifax Wanderers could complete the remarkable this weekend, as they can clinch a berth in the CPL playoffs for the first time since 2020, giving them plenty of motivation as they get set to take on Vancouver FC in Langley on Saturday.

They don’t fully control their destiny, as they’ll need a combination of results to make it happen, but it is still a very realistic proposition for Patrice Gheisar’s side to achieve heading into this game.

Should York United lose to Cavalry in the first game of this weekend, Halifax can clinch later that day with a win over Vancouver, while if York draws, Halifax could also clinch with a win provided that Ottawa then either loses or draws at home to Valour the next day.

For a Halifax team that finished seventh place last year, 17 points behind fourth place (the final playoff spot last year), and eight points behind fifth place (the final playoff spot this year), it could be another key milestone in what has been an impressive bounce-back campaign for them.

Despite the disappointment of last year’s campaign, they’ve done well to put that behind them, becoming a new-look outfit this season. Led by a new head coach in Gheisar, and a team filled with new recruits, they’ve helped completely change the identity of this Wanderers side, one that has impressed with their style of play and ability to grab points while entertaining.

While the possibility of being able to clinch is an exciting proposition for any club and their fans, however, the Wanderers are not thinking about that heading into this game. Instead, they’re focused on bringing their best version of themselves, and then from there, they’ll let the rest fall into place around them.

“I’m overjoyed about what we’ve done and where we’re going, but we are looking at it as just another game,” Gheisar cautioned. “I think the moment that you look at a game as a clincher, then you start to go too high, and as we’ve experienced with our group, the moment we go too high, then we experienced the lows, so it’s about finding the balance.”

Yet, while the Wanderers will look to take one step closer to the playoffs, it’s important to note that they face a Vancouver side well capable of derailing those plans, however.

Despite having been eliminated from the playoff race this past weekend, Vancouver have no intention of slowing down to end this season, and they proved that this past week.

Even though they were fresh off their elimination, and away to a Valour side that needed a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, Vancouver were able to dispatch them with a ruthless 1-0 victory via a late winner from 16-year-old TJ Tahid.

Not only that, but they also leapfrogged Valour in the standings for the first time in a long time, too, climbing out of the basement with the result.

Therefore, while they might not have any dreams of making the playoffs this year, they still want to finish on as high of a note as possible, with the goal of being able to hit the ground running in 2024.

From there, if they can skewer any more team’s playoff dreams along the way, even better, so look for them to do everything to ensure that the Wanderers don’t clinch in Langley on Saturday.

Especially for a Wanderers side without key midfield lynchpins Andre Rampersad and Callum Watson due to suspension, Vancouver will be eager to catch them out in the middle of the park, in particular.

“It’s going to be an interesting match for us,” Vancouver’s head coach, Afshin Ghotbi, noted. “One, we are not laying down and dying, and two, I’m sure they’ll come and fight. So it’s going to be a very interesting fixture, as when we play them, it’s always a good game.”

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

3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Can Vancouver chase more first-year history? For an expansion team, it’s important to celebrate milestones, and Vancouver is well aware of that. From their first goal to their first win, and many more along the way, Vancouver has done a good job of putting those sorts of valuable achievements into context as this season has gone along. Because of that, they’ll be hungry to celebrate some more history in this game, as they’ve got a chance to tick off some more key boxes with a win. First, they’ll have picked up back-to-back wins for the first time all season, which is a huge accomplishment. Then, there’s also the fact that a win in this game would also mark the first time that they’ve beaten a team twice, as they dispatched Halifax earlier this year at home. Because of that, look for them to want to build off their big win in midweek. Especially given that they’ve struggled in the games immediately following a victory, sitting with a record of 0W-1D-4L in such matches this year, they’ll know the importance of finding a bit of momentum. As the saying goes, it’s important to not get too high or too low, and this game will be a good chance for Vancouver to continue to find that balance as a team.

• Vancouver’s defence eager to build off midweek performance: While the victory in midweek was quite satisfying for Vancouver, however, it’s worth noting that a big reason for that was because they also kept a clean sheet while doing so. Given that they’d only kept one of those in their previous 13 games, it was a well-deserved reward for their defence, who put in a good shift in this game. Even despite facing a Valour team desperate to win, they kept them to 1.26 xG on 16 shots, which is less than 0.08 xG a shot. Yet, that’s a credit to Vancouver’s defensive group, which was excellent on the day. From Callum Irving in goal, to the back four of Kadin Chung, Rocco Romeo, Anthony White and James Cameron in front of him, they put in a big shift off the ball to help their team claim the win. Along with another good showing from Renan Garcia at the #6 position, supported by Elliot Simmons, all of that paid off big time in this win. Now, however, the key will be to build off this. There’s no doubt that they’ve improved a lot defensively, and the stability they’ve found at the back is a big reason why, but the next step will now be to maintain consistency in that.

• Halifax expected to go heavy on U21 Canadian minutes: Should Halifax clinch a playoff spot this weekend, it’s worth noting that they’re not technically eligible yet to play in the postseason as of writing, as they’re one of the four CPL teams not to reach the required 2000 U21 Canadian minutes quota required to be eligible for the playoffs. Not only that, but they’ve got a lot of work to do in order to reach that 2000-minute threshold, too – their 1453 minutes are the lowest in the league. Because of that, expect a lot of U21 minutes from them over their last three games, as they need to average 182 minutes a game, or get around six 90-minute games (with a bit of change) from their U21 players. Yet, based on their past approach, don’t be surprised if this is a game where they feel this is a good chance to do so. Given the travel they have to undergo to reach British Columbia, expect Gheisar to rotate his squad heavily, starting a couple of U21 minutes. Much as he did so in his last trip to the province, a September away game against Pacific where he squeezed over 250 minutes out of Tiago Coimbra, Tomas Giraldo and Armaan Wilson in a 1-1 draw, a similar approach could make sense for him in this one. Either way, one thing’s for sure – expect a lot of Coimbra, Wilson and Giraldo over the next three games, as they’ll be crucial for their team as they look to meet that vital threshold.

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Vancouver FC (4-3-2-1): Irving; Chung, Romeo, White, Crawford; E Simmons, Garcia, Fry; Tahid, Díaz, Bitar

Halifax Wanderers (4-3-3): Fillion; Fernandez, Nimick, Loughrey, Timoteo; Callegari, Omar, Wilson; Giraldo, Coimbra, Ferrin

ALL-TIME SERIES

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

Last meeting:

August 12th, 2023 – Halifax Wanderers 3-0 Vancouver FC

KEY QUOTES

“I’m so proud of this group because we’ve been through such a long and difficult journey, with a lot of twists and turns, ups and downs, bright moments and dark moments, and I think the resilience that we’ve shown game after game gives me an enormous amount of hope and an enormous amount of optimism towards our future. Then, when you see that in our last two wins, teenagers scored our winning goals in the last 15 minutes of each match, one is James Cameron in added time, and the other is TJ Tahid off the bench, that really puts a smile on my face because we’ve got almost 5000 U21 Canadian minutes, have played many teenagers in the lineup, sometimes we’ve played four or five teenagers games, and these are the building blocks for the future of Vancouver FC.” — Vancouver FC head coach, Afshin Ghotbi.

“People always remember how you finish, so we have a great chance to improve and play at a high level (to end the season). Everybody knows what we need to do, and that’s play for our fans, our family and (ourselves). I’ll always play with all of my soul in every game, and we know that we have beautiful things still to do this season.” — Vancouver FC midfielder, Renan Garcia. 

“I think we’re one of the teams that has the least losses on the road, we’ve had very few losses on the road, and that shows that we’ve managed things quite well, but where we’ve needed to be a bit more cutthroat, we haven’t been, and I’m sure our opponents will say the same, because it’s a tie right, that’s what a definition of a tie is. Of course, as we prepare ourselves for the rest of the year and also next year, we need to be able to learn how to better handle these long trips, as no one has the challenges we have, but where there are challenges, there are opportunities, and we’re learning about it, and I think Saturday could be a really a big statement about our group, and what we’ve learned over the past eight months.” — Halifax Wanderers head coach, Patrice Gheisar.