It has been a month since York United’s players stepped back onto the pitch to begin preparations for their sixth Canadian Premier League season.

New club President and General Manager Ricardo Pasquel is already counting down the days to when he gets to see his side in official competition.

He has spent those weeks evaluating the group on a near-daily basis as they play different formations and test themselves against multiple opponents ahead of their season-opening trip to TD Place Stadium to face Atlético Ottawa on April 13.

“It’s a long preseason right?,” Pasquel told CanPL.ca. “For us, it’s almost two months and a half, so it’s far too long. At the same time, we have to take advantage of the opportunity that it brings, we’re trying different formations, we’re trying different strategies.” 

In the 14 weeks since Game Plan Sports Group, led by Pasquel and his brothers Miguel (CCO and Head of New Strategy Alliances) and Eduardo (CEO), Ricardo, the coaching staff, and sporting director Jorge Villalpando have been hard at work reinforcing the Nine Stripes roster ahead of this season.

In his introductory press conference in December, Pasquel spoke of a global search for talent, and that has certainly been made apparent in the Nine Stripes signings so far this off-season. Players have joined the club from leagues in Austria, Belgium, Chile, Mexico and Spain.

“Different experiences all around, some good, some bad, but that’s part of the job right?,” said Pasquel. “With talking to countries, maybe from 10-15 different leagues, maybe even more, but that’s part of the job, that’s part of being a GM, that’s part of having good leadership. We have to explore every option. Being under the salary cap every cent counts, when are you going to spend and how are you going to spend it.” 

Pasquel was quite happy with the core of players that he inherited from a Nine Stripes team who set a club record for points and wins last season before making the playoffs for just the second time in club history. But in evaluating the group this off-season, one area in particular stood out as needing to be addressed ahead of 2024.

“I think something that happened last year is they had bad luck in the injury part, specifically on the defensive side of the ball,” said Pasquel. “Nashy [York head coach Martin Nash] had to maneuver all around, so an important part was to make sure we got the backside done first. Not only do we have Juan [Córdova] coming from Chile, we’ve got Frank [Sturing] from Europe, Oswaldo [León] and Orlando [Botello] coming from Mexico. And having Noah [Abatneh], he has surprised, he’s a hell of a player Noah. That was very important, to make sure we reinforced the backend.”

The pair of Canadian international defenders, in particular, headline a new-look York United backline. Juan Córdova, a 28-year-old fullback, joins the club from Ñublense, one of the top clubs in Chile, and has twice played for the CanMNT. Frank Sturing, meanwhile, a 26-year-old central defender recruited from Austrian club SV Horn, scored for Canada in a record-breaking winner against the Cayman Islands in 2021.

“Juan has a lot of technique, he’s a very good player,” said Pasquel. “I’ve been very impressed by his technique, I think his quick thinking. Frank has been very impressive. He hasn’t played in a while in a formal game, it has been maybe six months of time more or less. He is working slowly his way back up, but at the same time in the minutes he has gotten in the exhibition games you can see the quality right away. He has a very, very good right foot, he makes these long passes look very simple, which is hard to do.” 

Pasquel and Villalpando have also used their connections in Mexico to strengthen the roster, bringing in 21-year-old midfielder Josué Martinez and 22-year-old defender Orlando Botello on loan from Liga MX club CF Monterrey. Meanwhile, 24-year-old defender Oswaldo León signed with the club from Dorados de Sinaloa.

“They have very good quality, very good quality, they have very high technique,” said Pasquel. “But it’s also an adjustment process for them coming to the CPL which is very physical league. So the adaption for them, and also the language barrier but we have been very happy with the month or so that they have been here.” 

While multiple players have impressed during the preseason, at this point, all the way from in net to up front nobody is guaranteed a starting position. That is the sort of depth of talent, and internal competition, which the Nine Stripes have perhaps lacked over the past few seasons.

“It’s a battle every day, and we are trying different formations with different players,” said Pasquel. 

Other new signings this off-season include 30-year-old French goalkeeper Thomas Vincensini and Liechtenstein international Dennis Salanović.

Over the past few days, the club has been doing a final evaluation of its salary cap position as it decides whether to make a move on one, or potentially two more players. Otherwise, the squad for this season is pretty much set. The next undertaking is figuring out what roles those players will have come the start of the season, and what the best starting XI looks like.

“I think we have a bunch of quality all around but specifically on the front side we have many options, which is always a good problem to have,” said Pasquel. “Now just a matter of getting the pieces right around see which ones have more chemistry between them and the team, work more with them than anything.”

York have already played a number of pre-season friendlies, including against Ligue 1 Québec champions CS Saint-Laurent and have an upcoming matchup with League1 Ontario winners Simcoe County Rovers. Both of those clubs will participate in the preliminary round of the 2024 Canadian Championship, a competition that York will have circled on their calendar as an important part of the early part of their season.

“We are starting against Forge and we want to start to create this rivalry of just the guys down the road and starting knocking on the champ’s door,” said Pasquel.

That match is to be played between April 23 and May 1 and will be a key early-season test for the Nine Stripes. Win, and they would get an even bigger one against Major League Soccer side CF Montréal.

Whatever the competition York United play in this year, Pasquel believes this group is capable of pushing to the very top this upcoming season, that should be an exciting prospect for Nine Stripes fans as the 2024 campaign looms.

“I want to aim, you may say ‘oh I’m aiming too high’, but the expectation is to win the championship and to win the league points. I mean, I truly believe we have the roster to do it, like all around every single line we are very solid. The coaching staff looks great, so there is no reason why we can’t achieve that.”