It鈥檚 the Canadian Premier League鈥檚 version of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. The best attacking team in the league, Island-based Pacific FC, travels to Winnipeg on Monday to play the best defensive team, Valour FC.
PFC has the most goals with 19 in 12 games, crafty and quick league co-leader Marco Bustos having five of them to go with his CPL-leading four assists.
Valour FC has allowed the least goals, with nine in 12 games. (Forge FC of Hamilton, Ont., has also allowed nine goals but has played 11 games, giving Valour the better goals-against average.)
Valour FC is the kind of team that has been known to play five players on the back line. It鈥檚 an approach that has allowed goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois, on loan from CF Montreal of Major League Soccer, to set a CPL record with six consecutive clean sheets, although it was Matthew Silva who recorded the shutout for Valour in a scoreless draw at Edmonton on Thursday. Not that PFC鈥檚 goalkeeping hasn鈥檛 matched, as Callum Irving also has a league co-leading six clean sheets.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good match-up,鈥� said PFC head coach Pa-Modou Kah, who has a definite pressure-attacking mindset.
鈥淭hey are at home. But our focus has always been about us and how we play.鈥�
That has been pretty good of late, with a five-game undefeated streak on the line as a three-game winning streak has been followed by two draws. Valour FC, after a 6-1 start, lost four consecutive games before playing to the scoreless draw against host FC Edmonton at Clarke Stadium.
IG Field, also home to the Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League, is a venue all CPL teams know well after having played eight games each in the Winnipeg bubble to start the 2021 CPL season. Not that Kah showed much of a sentimental streak regarding the facility heading into Monday: 鈥淲e have a business mindset 鈥� do our job there, and go back home.鈥�
PFC will have to be wary of talented defender Rocco Romeo, who snuck up with a header on a corner to score the goal for Valour FC in PFC鈥檚 2-1 victory on Aug. 4 at Starlight Stadium in Langford. Romeo, on the sa国际传媒 Under-23 provisional roster for Tokyo Olympics qualifying last year before COVID-19, is playing for Valour FC on loan from Toronto FC of MLS.
鈥淭he CPL is a very challenging league,鈥� said Romeo.
