James Merriman and Martin Nash are a couple of Island-bred coaching veterans. Nanaimo-native and Pacific FC bench-boss Merriman may well want to pick the brain of Victoria-raised York United mentor Martin Nash following their Canadian Premier League game this afternoon at Starlight Stadium.
PFC plays the Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer in the Canadian Championship semifinals May 24 at Starlight Stadium. Nash’s York United squad has been eliminated by the Whitecaps two years running in the competition, including by a 4-1 count in this year’s quarter-final round last Wednesday in Toronto.
“Anytime a CPL team plays an MLS team, you are always going to support the fellow-CPL team,” said Merriman.
But first up is today’s league business. Pacific FC comes in at 2-1-1 in the CPL and 4-1-1 overall with two wins in the Canadian Championship for the Voyageurs Cup. York United is more on the limp at 1-3 in league with the loss to the Whitecaps heaped on top of that across all competitions.
“We know York are going to be very hungry and we have to be prepared for that and not be complacent and not be looking ahead,” said Merriman.
“Today is the most important game of the season, as far as we are concerned.”
St. Michaels University School-grad Nash will be looking to turn York United’s fortunes on his return to his hometown. He was Island high school basketball MVP in 1993, the year after his brother and future two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash was Island championship MVP with SMUS. Both siblings came out of Victoria playing a variety of youth sports. Both went on to pro and international careers, Steve in the NBA and to the Olympics on the floorboards and Martin on the pitch with the Whitecaps and as a CONCACAF Gold Cup champion with sa国际传媒 who earned 38 caps. But Martin is returning to the Island today with his York United crew a bit on the back foot.
“[PFC] are a quality team, and it’s a tough place to go and get a result,” Nash said in a statement during his pre-game media conference.
“They’ve got a lot of talent and they’re organized, so we’ll have to be at our best. But we’ve done it before, so there’s no reason why we can’t do it again.”
York United leads the all-time series against the Tridents 6-3-5 in wins-losses-draws, including last year’s opening-round victory on penalties in the Canadian Championship.
Pacific FC, meanwhile, is enjoying the home cooking with seven of its first nine games at home across all competitions, continuing today at Starlight against York United and May 24 in the Voyageurs Cup semifinal against the Whitecaps, with a league tilt in Winnipeg against Valour FC sandwiched in-between next Saturday.
“Being home so often early has helped us to find our rhythm and get a good start,” said Merriman.
An early-season issue for the Tridents, finishing after the build-up, appears to have been rectified with six goals in the last two games — a 4-1 CPL victory over Atletico Ottawa and 2-0 Voyageurs Cup quarter-final win over the stubborn Burnaby TSS Rovers of League1 sa国际传媒
But an issue at the other end persists, with goalkeeping having been an adventure this year for PFC, as it looks to replace the departed veteran Callum Irving.
“These are two young goalkeepers [Emil Gazdov and Kieran Baskett] and we have full trust in them,” said Merriman.
It’s about overcoming tightness, the PFC bench boss added: “It’s the same thing we had earlier in the season at the other end with scoring — they just have to play freer.”
