Pacific FC head coach James Merriman didn’t hold back after his team suffered one of the most thorough losses in its four-season Canadian Premier League tenure.
Forge FC beat the Tridents 3-0 Sunday at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton to avenge last year’s 1-0 loss to PFC in the 2021 CPL championship game and 2-1 loss to begin the 2022 season in April at Starlight Stadium.
Ashtone Morgan, a former MLS Toronto FC attacking-back capped 18 times for sa国际传媒, stole the ball from the listless PFC defence and scored at 11 minutes. It was pretty much over when veteran midfielder and former sa国际传媒 U-20 players Tristan Borges scored two minutes later to make it 2-0. Woobens Pacius sealed the deal with a penalty at 83 minutes.
“We can’t start games like this. It doesn’t give us a chance and puts us on the back foot right away,” said Merriman.
“We were not ready from the start. That comes down to mentality. We were not good enough. I expect more from the backfield. The whole team was not moving and didn’t run. You can’t build an attack off that. We need to show more pride and run for each other. Every team is good. No one is going to give it to you.”
Forge FC (4-2-2 in league) was coming off an emotional loss in penalty kicks against Toronto FC of MLS in the pandemic-two-years-delayed 2020 Canadian Championship final played last week before more than 13,000 fans at Tim Hortons Field.
“We were unlucky in the Canadian Championship final against TFC but we built off that and this victory over Pacific was a big statement game,” said Morgan, whose early goal set the tone against the Tridents.
“We were on the front foot for a good portion of the game and were hunting.”
The Tridents still top the CPL table at 5-3-3, but by only one point over Cavalry FC and Atletico Ottawa, with both those clubs having two games in hand. Pacific FC is winless in five games, including two league losses, two league draws and a loss on penalty kicks to York United in a Canadian Championship quarter-final that denied the Tridents a semifinal date against the Vancouver Whitecaps of MLS.
PFC lost on a late goal last week in Ottawa against Atletico, followed that with Sunday’s thumping defeat in Hamilton and next are in the Greater Toronto Area on Saturday to play York United. It is cheaper to fly back to Victoria after each of those games than it is to stay on the road in hotels for the three weeks. But Merriman refused to blame the travel, saying it comes with the territory in such a far-flung country, and that the players are professionals and have to look within themselves.
“We collectively have to decide who we want to be on the road across the country,” said Merriman.
CORNER KICKS: Import PFC-attacker Gianni dos Santos earned his first cap over the weekend by coming into the game at 79 minutes as his Cape Verde national side hung tough in a 1-0 loss to 2022 Qatar World Cup-bound Ecuador in Miami … PFC striker Kamron Habibullah is one of six CPL players called up to play for sa国际传媒 in the CONCACAF U-20 qualifier in Honduras from Saturday to July 3 for four regional berths into the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia and two berths into the 2024 Paris Olympics.
