Pacific FC, facing the suspension of crucial cog Kunle Dada-Luke for the rest of the Canadian Premier League playoffs, is appealing the red card the left back received during the contentious moments following the final whistle in the Tridents’ 1-0 quarter-final victory last weekend over the HFX Wanderers in Halifax.
PFC managing-director Paul Beirne said the club does not believe that Dada-Luke’s actions warranted a red card and that is the basis of the appeal. Beirne, Major League Soccer executive of the year in 2007 for the launch of Toronto FC and BMO Field, said PFC had not heard back from the league as of Tuesday.
The PFC-HFX quarter-final was spirited and impassioned and that spilled over following the final whistle.
The panel on the One Nation show on OneSoccer, showing a video clip of the Dada-Luke incident, said he was red carded for doing a “wrestling gesture” toward the boisterous and passionate Halifax crowd following the game at the sold-out Wanderers Ground. The HFX players didn’t like that and there was a bit of a skirmish between the PFC and Wanderers players with some pushing and shoving before they were separated.
A direct red card comes with an automatic two-game suspension (two yellows leading to a red is a one-game suspension). That means if the direct red is upheld against Dada-Luke, he will miss the CPL semifinal match-up Saturday afternoon in Calgary against Cavalry FC and also the CPL championship game Oct. 28 against Forge FC in Hamilton, if the Tridents advance.
The situation has uncanny reverberations to two years ago, when Dada-Luke scored the winning goal in extra time on a pure-hustle move against Cavalry FC in the 2021 CPL playoff semifinal in Calgary, en route to PFC winning the league championship with a victory over Forge FC in the final played at Hamilton.
The question now is whether Dada-Luke, a former sa国际传媒 U-17 player, will even be dressed in purple on Saturday to perform such heroics this time around. With his distinctive headband, the 23-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., has become one of the most popular Tridents at Starlight Stadium due to his non-stop motor that disrupts opponents and carries him from end line to end line over the course of a game.
The CPL semifinal between top-seed Cavalry FC and fourth-seed PFC is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT on Saturday at Spruce Meadows in Calgary.
The CPL playoff champion will earn a berth into the 2024 CONCACAF Champions League to join regular-season champion Cavalry FC. If the Calgary club also wins the playoff title, regular-season runner-up Forge FC will get the second CPL berth into the Champions League. PFC only has one route remaining – with or without Dada-Luke — it must win the CPL playoff championship to advance to the CONCACAF Champions League next year.
