Stephen Hart, when coaching sa国际传媒 and Trinidad and Tobago in World Cup qualifying, trekked thousands of kilometres through the CONCACAF region.
But during his last visit to the Island, even Hart noted the expanse between Greater Victoria and Halifax in the Canadian Premier League. For the record, it’s 5,832 kilometres, making it the third-longest distance travelled in the world between soccer teams in a domestic Premiership league.
Hart’s HFX Wanderers meet Pacific FC Saturday at 2 p.m. at Starlight Stadium in Langford.
“It’s the fact and reality of the league,” said PFC head coach James Merriman, noting also that his club is coming off three consecutive road games to Ottawa, Hamilton and Toronto.
Because of the long travel distances, home teams in the CPL are always looking to take advantage by getting an early jump on the visitors.
“It’s important for us to start right [Saturday] and dictate the game from the start,” said Merriman.
“We have good energy, connection and relationship with our fans that continues to build and we’re looking forward to being back to that. We want to embrace being back home and use the energy of the crowd from the start of the match.”
Somebody who knows the Victoria soccer vibe is HFX midfielder Cory Bent, the former Victoria Highlanders star in the old Premier Development League. It was bend it like Bent when he scored the HFX goal on a free kick in a 2-1 loss to PFC on April 23 at Starlight Stadium.
“I love the Island and have good memories here,” he said, following that game.
“Next time I come back hopefully to [win].”
Bent gets that opportunity Saturday in the Wanderers last regular-season visit to Starlight.
“Halifax had a good game in that last match here and played well,” said Merriman, of the contest in which his Tridents escaped with victory on a late penalty kick.
“Both teams are hungry and will be up for this game.”
HFX (4-5-2) comes in following a 3-0 home loss to Forge FC, which is the same scoreline the Hammers used to beat PFC two weeks ago in Hamilton before the Tridents (5-3-4) rebounded with a scoreless draw last week in the Greater Toronto Area against York United.
Meanwhile, PFC’s injured trio of Manny Aparicio, Sean Young and Jordan Haynes appears ready to return.
“Everyone is fit and training fully and ready for selection,” said Merriman.
CORNER KICKS: PFC striker Kamron Habibullah is among the six CPL players with sa国际传媒 in the CONCACAF U-20 qualifier in Honduras for four berths into the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia and two berths into the 2024 Paris Olympics. sa国际传媒 went 1-1-1 in group play and has advanced to the playoff round, where it will play Guatemala on Sunday in the Round of 16.
