In North American team sports, regular-season championships are subservient to playoff championships. But in the soccer world it’s the regular season that crowns the champion.
The Canadian Premier League is bringing both worlds together with the regular-season and playoff championships counting equally beginning this season. Both CPL championships now annually will earn berths into the following year’s CONCACAF Champions League.
Pacific FC hosts Cavalry FC today at 1 p.m. at Starlight Stadium with both teams knowing that every regular-season game matters.
“Getting to the CONCACAF Champions League is an absolute goal of ours — our stated ambition — and we have three avenues to get to there,” said PFC head coach James Merriman.
PFC is still alive in the third route, but Cavalry FC is not, following the Tridents’ dramatic victory over the Calgary club on penalties Thursday at Starlight Stadium in the opening round of the Canadian Championship for the Voyageurs Cup, this nation’s answer to the FA Cup in England.
The hand of fate in the Voyageurs Cup draw, coupled with the regular CPL schedule, brought Cavalry FC to the Island for two games in four days across two competitions. Throw in last weekend’s CPL regular-season openers — PFC edged Vancouver FC 1-0 and Cavalry and Forge drew 2-2 in Hamilton — and the clubs are playing their third game in eight days.
“We knew coming in that we would be starting with a difficult and short timeline in the first week,” said Merriman.
“We place a great deal of emphasis on our rest and recovery plans,” said Merriman.
“That also becomes important later with all the nationwide travel we do in the CPL [which stretches from Victoria to Halifax]. Then you throw in Voyageurs Cup play for those teams advancing.”
Roster depth also becomes important, especially with the kinds of knocks to key players PFC and Cavalry FC both experienced over the first week. Players leaving games included high-scoring Joe Mason of Cavalry FC, a former Ireland Under-19 and U-21 international who has played pro for Plymouth Argyle, Cardiff City, Bolton Wanderers and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Dinged for PFC were midfield engine Manny Aparicio, and backline stalwart and former sa国际传媒 U-20 player Thomas Meilleur-Giguère.
“We have more depth this season than we have ever had with players who have not seen the field yet who believe they are starters,” said Merriman.
“They are going to get their opportunities.”
That includes prize PFC addition Kekuta Manneh, the swift winger who has played 171 games in Major League Soccer. A late signing, Manneh has been held out until he acclimatizes and gets up to speed on team tactics.
“Kekuta is going to be a very important player for us, but there’s no rush,” said Merriman. “He’s hungry, however, and will be in the 18 [roster for today].”
New on the Cavalry FC side is fullback Callum Montgomery. The classy 25-year-old Lantzville product and former Victoria Highlanders star went fourth overall in the first round to FC Dallas in the 2019 MLS draft and is a major addition to the Cavalry backline. The St. Michaels University School graduate was tournament MVP in leading the Blue Jags to the 2014 sa国际传媒 high school Double-A championship and represented sa国际传媒 in CONCACAF qualifying play for the Tokyo Olympics.
“The CPL has provided a platform for Canadian players that wasn’t there before,” said Montgomery, among those who suffered a knock Thursday.
“You’ve seen PFC move up Marco Bustos, Alejandro Diaz [to Europe] and Lukas MacNaughton [to MLS] and have Island players like Josh Heard and Sean Young experience career breakouts.”
Cavalry FC is led up front by striker Myer Bevan, who notched the team’s lone goal in regulation-time play Thursday to show why he scored 12 goals in five qualifying games to get New Zealand to the Tokyo Olympics and why he also has six senior caps and two goals in World Cup qualifying.
“These are two very good, and physical, teams and PFC-Cavalry games are always tight,” said Merriman.
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