2023 CPL Regular Season — Match #5
York United vs. Vancouver FC
April 22, 2023 at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT
York Lions Stadium in Toronto, Ontario
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York United and Vancouver meet for the second time in a week at York Lions Stadium on Saturday, as the two sides turn their focus back to the Canadian Premier League after Wednesday night’s Canadian Championship clash.

Vancouver visited Toronto for the first time in club history this week, but they found themselves knocked out of the cup competition thanks to an early Mo Babouli penalty kick that gave York a 1-0 win. Still, Vancouver left the contest with plenty of positive takeaways for a side playing its second-ever competitive match.

It was a tale of two halves on Wednesday, with York overwhelming the B.C. visitors in the first half and Vancouver looking much more dangerous in the second as they chased an equalizer. The unforgiving travel schedule that saw VFC fly from the west coast to Toronto for the midweek clash may have factored into their flat first half-hour, but that won’t be much of a factor this time with Vancouver staying in North York between the two games.

RELATED: MATCH ANALYSIS: Mo Babouli penalty the difference as York narrowly defeat Vancouver in CanChamp

York head coach Martin Nash said after the match on Wednesday that he was surprised by how good Vancouver were for a side just two games into its existence.

“They held us to the sword for the last 20 minutes or so,” Nash said postmatch. “Even though we had a few chances to put it away, it was a nail-biter to the end.”

Now, the two teams meet again for both sides’ second league game of 2023. Vancouver opened their first campaign last weekend in Langford, B.C., where they lost a tight 1-0 battle with Pacific FC. York, meanwhile, struggled at home last Sunday, conceding twice in similar fashion to drop a 2-0 result against Valour FC.

Both clubs will therefore be looking for their first win of the CPL season, with York and Vancouver being the only two sides without a point yet through one weekend of matches.

On the injury front, there aren’t likely to be many changes from midweek, with Vancouver seemingly having a clean bill of health. York continue to deal with knocks to centre-backs Roger Thompson and Tass Mourdoukoutas, and both Elijah Adekugbe and Michael Petrasso also have yet to dress for a game this year. One development to watch will be the fitness of Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé, who left Wednesday’s game with what looked like a painful ankle injury. Nash said Friday that Gagnon-Laparé is day-to-day but hasn’t broken his ankle or done anything particularly serious; meanwhile, Mourdoukoutas and Thompson are close to a return but may not yet be ready.

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

3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Vancouver seeking plenty of firsts: Expansion side Vancouver FC have a lot to play for in the early stages of this year, and pretty much everything they do in a game is some kind of first for the club. What they want most, though, is to get off the ground with their first-ever goal and victory. Through two matches, they have yet to score a goal, dropping both the CPL opener and the Canadian Championship tie by 1-0 scorelines. There’s quality up front with the likes of Gael Sandoval, Shaan Hundal and Ameer Kinani, so once that first one goes in perhaps they’ll flow more freely. Until then, though, coach Afshin Ghotbi hopes his side can be a little more clinical in the final third. “What’s going wrong in our team at this moment that’s not good enough is when we get in the final third, the decisions are rushed, the passes miss the precision that’s necessary, the final touches were horrible,” Ghotbi said Wednesday. “We work on it so much; it surprises me, we have to change the nets every week in training because we score so many goals but in the matches we’re not scoring.”

• York look to get strikers going: York have yet to score a goal from open play through their two matches this year, despite 28 total shots — six of them on target. Osaze De Rosario got the start up front on Wednesday after Brian Wright had the nod on Sunday, and De Rosario directed a team-high seven shots at Callum Irving, but couldn’t bury one. York in general had a handful of chances that perhaps should have found the back of the net, generating 2.49 expected goals from their 14 shots against Vancouver, but the finishing wasn’t quite there. De Rosario scored 12 CPL goals last year and Wright had seven, so there’s no shortage of goalscoring quality in the side; Martin Nash will want to see at least one of his number nines get on the scoresheet this weekend to open their account for the season.

• Kadin Chung, box-to-box midfielder? One of the biggest surprises about Vancouver FC so far this year has been Ghotbi’s deployment of natural right-back Kadin Chung on the right side of his midfield. The adapted role allows Chung, one of the club’s (indeed, one of the league’s) best technical players to get on the ball more and make more of an impact in games — which he did against York on Wednesday, with 12 final third entries. Still, Chung playing in midfield does sacrifice his ability at the fullback spot; Ibrahim Bakaré, deputizing on the right, is an excellent defender but doesn’t have the same quality going forward or ability to deliver balls into the box. Whether Ghotbi sticks with this shape on Saturday will be an interesting story for this rematch. “We feel by pushing Kadin Chung into midfield we bring more balance,” Ghotbi said this week. “We allow Kadin to bring more influence into matches because he’s such a clever, technical player.”

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

York United: Giantsopoulos; Gee, Grant, Soumaoro, Ferrari; Bayiha, Alou, Baldisimo, Voytsekhovskyy; Babouli, Wright

Vancouver FC: Irving; Bakaré, Romeo, Martínez, Kwak; Chung, Bitar, Simmons; Sandoval, Kinani, Hundal

ALL-TIME SERIES

York United wins: 1 || Vancouver FC wins: 0 || Draws: 0

Last meeting:

April 19, 2023 — York United 1-0 Vancouver FC (CanChamp)

KEY QUOTES

“I thought [Vancouver] were going to be good but they were better than I thought they would be. They were very organized, they work extremely hard and they’re better going forward than I realized they were.” — York United head coach Martin Nash

“Tactically we’re doing very well for a team that’s only been around for six weeks. I think we have a lot of quality in our group, we have players with different abilities, and in a lot of positions we have players with speed and athleticism.” — Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi