2023 CPL Regular Season — Match #79
Vancouver FC vs. Pacific FC
August 19, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. PT
Willoughby Community Park in Langford, British Columbia
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It’s derby day in British Columbia, and for the third time this Canadian Premier League campaign, Vancouver and Pacific will do battle in the Salish Sea Derby this Saturday.

This time, Vancouver will welcome Pacific to Langley’s Willoughby Community Park for a second time this season. In this game, however, Vancouver will be hoping for a far different result to the first derby they hosted, which was won 6-3 by Pacific back in June.

Since then, though, a lot has changed for both teams. Having each played 11 matches since, each side will be far different from the two that met in that late-spring encounter in Langley.

For Vancouver, they’ll look completely different, as they’ve been reshaping their squad since. Results haven’t quite followed that revamp, unfortunately, but this is still an improved team, one that has given some good teams’ fits as of late.

Really, for them, it just feels like they need one big win to really tie things together, allowing them to build some momentum.

Undoubtedly, they’ve got pieces to build around, but just need to keep gathering experience together, while developing chemistry. At the same time, given that they’re still an expansion team at the end of the day, that will come with time, so it’s not as if they’re behind schedule relative to expectations.

Despite that, they do feel that they’re far better than their record indicates, however, and will look to prove that in this game.

“I think that we bring the best out of most opponents when they play against us,” Vancouver FC head coach, Afshin Ghotbi explained. “It’s like the big brother playing the small brother, we are still the small child in this league, so everybody comes to our backyard or plays against us and feels like they have a chance to score a lot of goals and gain a lot of confidence.”

“We’ll change that narrative soon as we get better as a team and stronger as a group, we’ll become a team to beat, and we’ll hopefully become a team that can help set the bar in this league.”

As for Pacific, it’s been a far different campaign for them over on Vancouver Island. There, they’ve spent most of this campaign sitting in first place, mounting a strong push to win the regular season title, and book the Concacaf Champions Cup place that comes with it.

Yet, while they still find themselves in first heading into this game, it’s worth noting that their form has been mixed as of late.

When they’ve been hot, they’ve been hot – their last win against Vancouver led to a four-game winning streak, and they recently had back-to-back wins before falling 1-0 at home to Atlético Ottawa last weekend. Yet, they’ve also had a big cold spell in between, going winless in five in a stretch from late June to late July.

Therefore, seeing that they’re coming off a loss, they’ll look to avoid going on a similar run, so expect them to come out flying as they aim to gain a bit of ground in their race for first place.

“We’re really focused on ourselves (right now),” Pacific FC head coach, James Merriman, said ahead of the match. “We’re clear in our approach to this game, and it’s a big, big match for us, very important points up for grabs, so we’re going in with 100% focus.”

They’ll be without a key face for this one, as captain Josh Heard picked up a suspension for yellow card accumulation, but he’s the lone player from both teams to miss out on suspension, which is especially good news for Vancouver given the struggles they’ve had in that department this season.

3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Latest BC derby a chance for both teams to turn around recent fortunes: Heading into this derby, the form chart’s less than ideal for both teams – Vancouver’s got one win in their last eight CPL games, getting outscored 17-5, while Pacific has just two wins across that same stretch of games, getting outscored 10-9. Yet, that’s the great thing about a derby – it forgets about form, history and the past, and can act as a key catalyst for either team. Sometimes, a win in a derby can provide the confidence boost of a four-game winning streak or a big win over a top team, which is why these games are so important. A big reason for that? The fans, and that should be no exception in this game. As seen across the two games, the support from both teams has already added a special element to this derby. In the first match, held in Langford, Vancouver sent a strong group of travelling fans, providing a special atmosphere as they traded chants with the Pacific faithful. Then, for the second match, held in Langley, Pacific sent a similarly strong group of fans, once again adding to the atmosphere of this game. Because of that, it’s exciting to imagine what this game could look like. Given that it’s arguably been the most favourable time for away fans to travel, kicking off at 1 PM local, there could be a strong contingent of fans from both teams, fuelling both of these teams to chase what would be a big victory for both of them, for different reasons. You add in that it’s Vancouver FC’s Pride Night, allowing both teams to celebrate a cause that is dear to both of them, and that could bring further fan engagement to the table for this one. Yet, that’s why derby matches are so special, and why it’ll be intriguing to see what this third chapter of this game offers up.

• Vancouver looking to repeat previous Pacific offensive magic: It’s no secret, goals have been hard to come by for Vancouver as of late. With just five goals across their last eight games, after scoring 10 in their first 11, they’ve been on a hunt to find goals lately. Especially given that they enter this game having not scored in their last three games (and haven’t scored in 350 minutes), they’re wanting to change that, and quickly, in this game. The good news? Vancouver has had some offensive success against Pacific before. In fact, the only time they scored more than two goals in a game this season? Their last game out against Pacific where they got goals from Min-Jae Kwak, TJ Tahid and Shaan Hundal. Of course, they also conceded six and ended up losing, but that they scored three against one of the best defences in the league is no small feat, especially when you consider how Pacific has beefed up their attack since, bringing in the likes of Mikaël Cantave and Alejandro Díaz. Therefore, while it will be a tall task for Vancouver to keep things tight at the back while chasing goals against a team of Pacific’s calibre, they’ll look to bust their slump knowing that they’ve got what it takes to do so, as they showed last time out. “It’s been a little bit hard for us to score goals, but derbies are different,” Díaz said. “It’s a different vibe and different energy, so hopefully we can use that to give us confidence to start scoring goals. In the last Derby, there was a lot of goals for both team in the game, so hopefully we see the same thing, but in our favour.”

• Can Pacific continue road dominance? In a league that is as vast as Canada, travel can always be tough. Because of that, it makes playing away from home a tall task, especially for a team like Pacific, who are based on one side of the country, technically giving them more travel to deal with. Despite that, it hasn’t bothered Pacific at all this season. In fact, it’s been the opposite – through eight road games, they’ve picked up an astonishing 17 points, which is an average of over two points per game. Numbers that wouldn’t look out of place for a team playing at home, they’ve done well to really establish themselves as a team that can impose itself in opposing team’s venues, and it’s shown in their record. Because of that, they’re looking to keep that up, as six of their last nine games will be away from home, meaning that they’ll need to maintain that sort of form in order to keep up their title push. No better time to keep that up than this game, either – this trip to Langley from Langford is by far their shortest road trip of the season, a far cry from some of the other road games that await them, which still includes three trips to Ontario, so that’s something that they’ll definitely look to take advantage of when making the short trek over for this game. “We feel good on the road,” Merriman noted. “We feel confident about the group the way that we’re travelling, the way that we’re handling ourselves. Obviously, this is the shortest trip for us, which is also welcome, but we’ve had success all over, and we want to continue to impose ourselves in games, whether we’re home or away.”

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

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

Pacific FC (4-3-3): Gazdov; Dada-Luke, Amedume, Meilleur-Giguère, Mukumbilwa; Aparicio, Toussaint, Young; Reid, Ongaro, Sellouf

ALL-TIME SERIES

Vancouver FC wins: 0 || Pacific FC wins: 2 || Draws: 0

Last meeting:

June 2, 2023 – Vancouver FC 3-6 Pacific FC

KEY QUOTES

“It doesn’t matter where you are in the table, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past, derbies are games that have a tremendous amount of emotions. Even though this derby doesn’t have that much history yet, we’ve already seen that there’s an enormous amount of competition between the two teams. Obviously, they’re in a better position than we are, and they have a better selection than we have, but I believe that these are the games that will help us take steps toward the team that we want to become. If we can present ourselves well, perform well and get the result, hopefully eventually this derby will become even more exciting for the fans in British Columbia.” — Vancouver FC head coach, Afshin Ghotbi. 

“Derbies are always special. You have to build that history, as the history is just this year, but I’ve seen the games, seen the highlights from the first two, and they were pretty intense games. So I’m looking forward to playing in this derby tomorrow, I think it’s gonna be a great match. I’m gonna enjoy it a lot, and hopefully we can take the three points and celebrate the victory here at home.” — Vancouver FC forward, Alejandro Díaz

“Yeah, I think it’s still early days in terms of the derby, (especially) in terms of the relationship with the fans and getting behind these matches, but I know last game that we played there, we had a great away support from our fans, a great turnout from the Lake Side Buoys, and the T.O.P, and that added to the atmosphere. That’s what it’s all about, and that’s what I think both clubs want, as well. So we look forward to this match.” — Pacific FC head coach James Merriman.