2024 CPL Regular Season — Match #43
Vancouver FC vs. Halifax Wanderers FC
June 24, 2024 at 4 p.m. PT/8 p.m. AT
Willoughby Community Park in Langley, British Columbia
Watch Live: Onesoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here

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Matchweek 11 of CPL action will wrap up with a big match out in Langley, British Columbia, as Vancouver FC gets set to host the Halifax Wanderers at Willoughby Community Park on Sunday afternoon.

The second meeting between both teams this year, after Vancouver beat Halifax 2-0 back on April 19th, it’ll be a big test for both teams, who have gone through a lot in the two months since.

For Vancouver, they’ll look to continue what has been a pretty strong start to the season for them. Currently sitting in fourth place, two points off second place, they want to keep doing what has worked for them to do date, while continuing to grow as a team.

In particular, they want to continue to be dominant at home, as they’ve got a record of 3W-1D-0L at Willoughby Community Park, outscoring opponents 9-3. Given that in their other six games they’ve played they’ve only scored five goals and conceded 11, a return home after not playing there since May 25th will be exactly what they’ll feel they’ll need to keep pushing up the table.

At the same time, while they haven’t been at their usual home, it’s worth noting they’re coming off a positive experience at a “home away from home”, and that was last weekend in Kelowna, where they hosted Cavalry in the CPL’s first-ever “On Tour” match. There, they did well to use the support of a strong crowd in a 0-0 draw, one that Vancouver could’ve arguably won if not for their finishing in front of goal.

Entering this game with two straight draws now, they’ll want to build off that string of results, and no better way to do so than with a key win at home.

“Summer is a very important period,” Vancouver’s head coach, Afshin Ghotbi, said this week. “The sun is shining for longer,  when you sleep sometimes varies because of how the sun is shining, and I feel that for a lot of teams, not just in our league, but all over the world… some teams are peak in this moment and get a lot of points, and some hit a low, and I’m hoping that especially because we have a series of of really important games, including some important home games, that we’re peaking at this moment.”

As for Halifax, they enter this game in a much different situation. Still without a win through their first nine games of the CPL season, they’re looking to avoid making it double-digit games without a victory to start the season, which would certainly be frustrating for them.

Given that they’re already 10 points out of a playoff spot, they know that they need wins, and quickly, if they’re to turn things around. The good news is that it’s not too late for them to do so, but they’ll need more points sooner rather than later, and they’ll look to begin with this match, given that they’re entering this game coming off of three straight draws.

For what it’s worth, however, is that Willoughby Community Park hasn’t been the kindest venue to the Wanderers in the past. In fact, they’re yet to win there, having lost all three of their past visits there by a combined scored of 6-1.

Yet, that’ll only be another point of motivation for a team not short of it, as they look to get back on track in 2024 with a massive win.

“We’re still four games away from the halfway point,” Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar said this week. “But we want to continue the momentum we’ve had. I think we’re still trying to put a complete game of 101 minutes together, and continuing to really just fine tune things, but we are at a point that we have to start collecting more and more points, as we have an ambition to make the playoffs.”

In terms of player availability, Vancouver could be set to welcome back some new faces, including Rocco Romeo, who made the bench last week after dealing with an injury in the prior weeks. As for the Wanderers, they’re also welcoming back some key faces of their own, including Dan Nimick, who Gheisar said is available for selection after dealing with an injury of his own.

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3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Can Vancouver continue home success against Halifax? As mentioned earlier, Vancouver has done pretty well whenever they’ve hosted Halifax in Langley in the past, and they’ll look to build on that in this game. If they’re to do so, however, it’ll be important for them to employ what they did well in those games tactically, which was to stay compact defensively, be aggressive in marking Lorenzo Callegari and knowing when to press and limit space on the field. In particular, they’ll look to use the blueprint from their first meeting this year, in which Vancouver forced some uncharacteristic turnovers out of the Wanderers, helping them cruise to a 2-0 win. As for the Wanderers, they’ll look to not play the game into Vancouver’s hands, knowing that they’ll look to be defensively solid. Because of that, look for them to throw a curveball tactically – for example, Vancouver has frustrated them with direct offensive play in the past, so why not employ something similar in moments? Or use Callegari as a decoy in possession? Or tweak their build-up play slightly? Of course, you don’t want to change everything just for one opponent, but the Wanderers might look to the element of surprise as something to use, with Vancouver seemingly having had their number at home in the past.

• Defence a big area of focus for Vancouver: Scoring goals can be fun, but not as fun when you’re prone to giving them up at the other end. Because of that, while Vancouver has been strong offensively this year, their big focus continues to be on the defensive end, as they feel that could be crucial for them as they look to push up the table. They’ve shown that over the last month – despite dealing with injuries to some key defenders, they’ve been able to develop an identity defensively, and they showed that in their recent 0-0 draw against Cavalry. Now, with their backline mostly looking healthy, look for them to build off that clean sheet, as they were coming off conceding four goals in their previous two games before that. As Ghotbi noted ahead of this game, he feels like his team is doing a better of job of limiting chances by the game, and that he’s pleased with how they’re progressing defensively. Over the course of a long season, that should benefit them, especially if they can keep scoring the goals at the other end. After a game where they squandered several big chances offensively against Cavalry, however, scoring shouldn’t be an issue if they keep generating opportunities like that, so the focus will remain on keeping things tidy at the back, too. “We are doing very well defensively, because we give very few chances away,” Ghotbi said. “In our last set of games, if you look at the opportunities we gave the opponents, we are decreasing them game by game, so collectively, we’re defending better from the front to the back, we’re giving less and less space away, and I’m very pleased about that.”

• Scoring the key to busting slump for Halifax: Not only is it a surprise to see the Wanderers struggle to win as they have to start the year, it’s been a bigger surprise to see a big reason for those struggles to be a lack of goals, too, as they’ve scored a league-low of eight as of writing. For a team who scored the third-most goals in 2023, it’s been a big surprise to see them struggle to build on that, yet it’s not for a lack of trying. Heading into this match, they’ve got the most Expected Goals (xG) in the league with 14.77 (per OPTA), yet have underperformed that metric by almost seven goals, which shows that they’ve been quite unlucky in front of goal, having been shutout in three of nine games and yet to score more than two goals in a game. From their perspective, however, they’ll hope that just means their luck is due to turn soon, and that a goal outburst is on the way. Of course, it can be argued that teams make their own luck in front of goal, so the Wanderers will have to work to earn that outburst, but if they do, goals could be on the way for them. Especially given that they’ve given up the third-most goals in the league with 15, goals will be key for them as they look to tighten things up defensively, having given up eight goals in their last five games, as a confident attack can often rub off on a defensive group looking to find its feet as a unit in 2024 after conceding the second-fewest goals in the league in 2023. “It’s a difficult one, because I’m really happy to see that we’re the top team in the league in xG, but the goals haven’t been produced,” Gheisar said. “So you still have to continue to fine tune the final act – that’s what it’s telling us, that we’re getting in the areas, but we have to fine tune the finish. Remember, if you finish chances in the first 20-30 minutes, the state of the game changes, your opponents morale drops, and your task becomes easier.”

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Vancouver FC: Irving; Chung, Enyou, Norman Jr., Gee; Fry, Garcia; Bitar, Cantave; Dyer, Díaz

Halifax Wanderers FC: Fillion; Nimick, Dunn, Loughrey, Timoteo; Gagnon-Laparé, Callegari; Fernandez, Probo, Ferrin; Coimbra

ALL-TIME SERIES

Vancouver FC wins: 3 || Halifax Wanderers FC wins: 1 || Draws: 1

Last meeting:

April 18, 2024 — Vancouver FC 2-0 Halifax Wanderers FC

KEY QUOTES

“There’s a lot of maturity in the group, they’re growing not only individually as our players are improving, but I think collectively we are improving, too. I feel that when our players self reflect and they look at our games, they can find ways that they can improve their performance, but at the same time, they can see the good and the bad in those performances. Then, after we digest, we analyze, and we talk about it, we move on, and we try to concentrate on the next opponent and the next match. And that’s been a very good process. As we’ve talked about, this is a marathon of 28 games, so it’s all about how you manage the lows and the highs of the season, and how you evolve, so that when you reach the vital moments at the end of the season, you’re peaking and you’re playing your best football.” — Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi

“It’s all mental, because when you’re doing everything right, but your opponent scores in the 93rd or 101st minute to tie, you’re starting to feel like, and I hate these words, but that luck and bounces aren’t just going your way. So we want to have a positive culture where we recognize growth and positive performances, so while we’re speaking about the frustrations on the minds of these players, but I also have to highlight to them that we’re undefeated in three games, so it depends on what glass you have, it’s half-full or half-empty. Can we say we had a slow start? For sure, but can that slow start take away from the achievements we’ve had the past three, four games? No, and that’s what I’m focusing on, for our leaders to pass on to the younger guys that our start to the season is behind us, it’s over, so now, we’ll focus on our growth, and look to ensure (we play) a complete game.”  — Halifax Wanderers FC head coach Patrice Gheisar