Pacific FC will go through the rest of the soccer season paraphrasing the late singer Meat Loaf: Two out of three ain’t bad.
The shootout loss to York United this week in the Canadian Championship denied PFC a Voyageurs Cup semifinal berth against the Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer but made the Tridents even more determined to again win the Canadian Premier League championship and their upcoming CONCACAF League competition.
“There’s plenty of season left in league,” said Pacific FC defender Amer Didic, following the wrenching loss on penalties to York United in the Voyageurs Cup quarter-final.
The quest to defend the CPL North Star Shield continues today at 4 p.m. at Starlight Stadium with a league game against Valour FC of Winnipeg, the last home date for the Tridents in nearly a month, before they embark on a three-week road sojourn. Pacific FC tops the CPL table at 5-1-2 in wins-losses-draws while Valour FC is 2-2-2.
“We set big goals, and we obviously missed an opportunity in the Canadian Championship, and it would have been a great match to play the Whitecaps again [after last year’s victory over the cross-strait MLS club in the Voyageurs Cup opening round],” said PFC head coach James Merriman.
“It’s always hard when you leave it to penalties. But that makes us driven, hungry and wanting more. We are extremely motivated. We are focused on a big response from our last match and to have a big response [today]. It’s important to finish this homestand with a big performance”
But not meeting the Whitecaps stills hurts, financially with the Cup semifinal a guaranteed sellout if the coin flip had brought it to Starlight Stadium like last year’s first-round fixture, and in missing out on the emotional charge the victory over the Whitecaps gave the club and city last season. But it’s moot now — that opportunity has gone to York United. (As it turns out, the Whitecaps were drawn Friday to host that Cup semifinal on June 22 at sa国际传媒 Place while Toronto FC and CF Montreal will meet in the other all-MLS semifinal).
The Cup loss did point out a particular shortcoming of PFC this season. All its offensive possession, pace and pressure has not resulted in an avalanche of goals, as might be expected. The CPL leaders are only the fourth-highest scoring team in the league with 10 goals in eight games. Valour FC has 11 goals in six games.
“We have not had that killer instinct in those critical moments,” admitted Merriman.
“We need to be more clinical in the final third of the field. It is something the group knows and is something that we’re working on. We know we need to continue to attack and score goals.”
Standing in the way today, as the last line of defence, is Valour FC’s 20-year-old goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois, in his second season with the club on loan from CF Montreal of MLS.
Sirois is second in saves this season in the CPL with 21 and veteran Callum Irving of PFC third with 19. Irving is tied for first in clean sheets with three and Sirois tied for third with two.
Alejandro Diaz of PFC leads the league with five goals and 11-time New Zealand-capped Moses Dyer of Valour FC is tied for second with three goals. Former Liga MX pro Diaz played for Mexico and Dyer for New Zealand in the FIFA U-20 World Cup, Diaz in 2015 and Dyer in 2017.
The Tridents beat Valour FC 3-2 in their free-flowing first meeting of the season April 17 after the Winnipeg club was red carded and went down to 10 men at 26 minutes.
CORNER KICKS: The two-game set against the big and bruising York United squad, particularly the scoreless league draw before the Cup loss on penalties, left the PFC roster pockmarked with injuries. Manny Aparicio (knee), Jordan Haynes (hamstring) and Sean Young (shoulder) are all out week-to-week.
