2024 CPL Regular Season — Match #6 Pacific FC vs. Valour FC April 19, 2024 at 7 p.m. PT/9 p.m. CT Starlight Stadium in Langford, B.C. Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here​


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Pacific FC is looking to make it two wins from two to start their 2024 CPL season, as they get set to host Valour FC at Starlight Stadium on Friday. After a key 1-0 win over the Halifax Wanderers on opening weekend, Pacific will feel this is a great chance for them to rack up some more early points, as they continue a stretch that sees them open the year with six out of their first eight league matches at home. Yet, on the flip side, they face a Valour side who are looking to embrace a road warriors mentality as they continue a run of seven straight road games to begin their 2024 campaign. Coming off a tough 4-1 loss to Vancouver FC on opening day, Valour will enter this game hungry to avenge that result, one where they'll feel the scoreline didn't necessarily reflect how they played on the day.
2024 CPL SEASON PREVIEW: All you need to know about the 2024 Canadian Premier League season
Despite that, Pacific will remain focused on themselves. Having done well to grind out a win against the Wanderers, riding a solid defensive performance to a win after dispatching a first half penalty, they'll feel primed to build off a performance like that. They'll see some areas where they'll feel they can improve in their play, such as with their overall offensive game, which was quieter than they would've liked, penalty aside, but they more than made up for that with their play at the other end. Plus, with it being early in the season, they'll feel confident that their offence can only grow from here. Especially given that they were starting with two new forwards in their attack in Reon Moore and Dario Zanatta, who will need time to get adjusted to their new system and teammates, there will be a lot more offensive growth to come from them over the next few weeks. Until then, however, Pacific can feel confident in their ability to buy their offence that time to gel with their defensive performances, as they look to be bought in to the defensive philosophy that head coach James Merriman wants from his side, and then had a big showing from young goalkeeper Emil Gazdov behind them to clean things up when needed. They keep that up in the games to come, and they'll feel they can really take advantage of this run of home matches, setting themselves up nicely for what's to come across what will be a long and gruelling campaign for them. "It's really nice to be able to play at home," midfielder Sean Young explained. "It was really important to win the first game in front of our fans, they give us a big a big boost in every game, whether we're behind and we need to get a goal, or if we're winning, we feel their their presence cheering us on." "We have a lot of home games at the beginning of the year, so we just need to take advantage of them now." Meanwhile, Valour will be looking to hit the reset button after their opening day loss, as they look to find their feet as a group. Despite a hot start that saw them jump out to the lead against Vancouver, they lost control of the game at a pivotal time, conceding right before and after half time, which allowed Vancouver to dominate the rest of the match. Before that first goal, however, Valour was doing well to control the initiative in the game, something they'll look to build off. Yet, this shows the biggest area of focus for Valour in these first few games - how they manage these matchups. A group with several new faces, as they started just two returnees from their 2023 team against Vancouver, it'll take time for them to gel as a team, which can come with several learnings. While they figure things out tactically, however, what they can control is how they react in certain moments, such as the goals they allowed on both sides of half time, which they'll certainly feel could've been avoided. Because of that, look for Valour to try and focus on those little details, as that can be the difference for them in this game, especially if they can take another lead in this match. "We just need to be more aggressive," head coach Phil Dos Santos said this week. "We need to make sure that when the opposition is in our half or our box, that they don't have the time to play in a comfortable manner, as when you look at (our first game), you can see that the problem was our team being too passive." "I know the type of players we have, they're not passive players, but I think that it was the occasion, it started with one moment, and then it's hard to get our legs going again when you go down on this course." "So I really think there's going to be a response this week from our guys." In terms of player availability, there are a few things to note from both teams ahead of this one. For Pacific, they're set to receive a big boost as Kunle Dada-Luke returns from a suspension that saw him miss out against Halifax, giving them a full set of players to select from. Meanwhile, Valour will be without Jordan Faria as he serves the first of a one-game suspension after his red card against Vancouver, but it looks like Tass Mourdoukoutas and Raphael Ohin both could be options to crack the squad for this game after missing out altogether last weekend with injuries.
All CPL matches are available to stream on OneSoccer, FuboTV, or on TELUS Optik TV Channel 980.

3 THINGS TO WATCH​

  • Pacific facing tough questions up front: There's no doubting Pacific's depth in the attack, and they showed that in the opening day match, as they were able to start with Moore, Zanatta and Sellouf, before bringing in club captain Josh Heard and Adonijah Reid off the bench, just giving an idea of some of the names they can turn to in attack. Plus, they didn't even fully tap into their reserve of offensive players on the day - new signing Andrei Tîrcoveanu was an unused substiute on the day, leaving their new attacking midfielder to wait for his debut, while Kunle Dada-Luke could've added a jolt to that game from wing back had he not been suspended. Yet, when looking at all of those names, it leads to a more interesting question - how will Merriman manage the minutes of that group? Certainly, rotation will be key, as you can only fit so many players out on the pitch at once, but finding the right balance of players to consistently rely on will also go a long way towards Pacific's offensive success. Given that they didn't fully hit top gear offensively against Halifax, it'll be interesting to see how Merriman looks to address that, as he has options to tweak things up. Because of that, keep a close eye on what card he does play up front, as he can either run things back and let that group gel, or shake things up by inserting one, two, three or all of Heard, Reid, Tîrcoveanu and Dada-Luke to try something different. "We know we have different pieces and different dynamics based on how we want to attack the game and how we want to change the game," Merriman explained. "We know the quality they have, we see it every day, and we just need to keep believing in that and look for them to enjoy their work and the process of it."

  • Valour looking to be more ruthless in the attack: At first glance, it may have looked like Valour struggled to generate chances offensively against Vancouver, and understandably so - they found the net just once and only generated 0.4 Expected Goals (xG) on nine shots in that game, showing that they didn't threaten Vancouver's goal enough on the day. Yet, if you dive deeper, it's worth noting that they got into some pretty good positions - despite only having 38.9% of possession as Vancouver looked to wear them down on the ball, especially after Valour's 55th minute red card, the game was spent nearly as much in Vancouver's third of the pitch as it was in Valour's (26.1% to 31.2%) . That's backed up by the eye test, too - Valour had several opportunities where they were able to filter the ball into that final third in possession, but they were then unable to turn them into shots and chances. Had they been able to do that, they could've very well gone toe-to-toe with Vancouver, but they then let things slip away from them. As a result, don't be surprised if they're more aggressive offensively in this game, especially knowing how solid Pacific's defence can be. Valour has offensive pieces they can rely on, as Shaan Hundal can be a threat up front with the right service, while Antonglou and Swibel showed a glimpse of what they can do when they linked up nicely for Valour's goal, but they'll need to work as a team to get them all more involved, and then be much more trigger-happy as a group than they were against Vancouver. "I think we have goals in our team," Dos Santos noted. "It's just a shame that we we sat a little bit back when we got our first goal, that we didn't keep pushing and playing our strengths, as I think that (our offence) is going to be one of our strengths this year."

  • Battle on the flanks could be crucial: Interestingly, both teams ended up employing new formations in their opening match of the season - Pacific came out with a 4-5-1 off the ball that turned into a 3-5-2 into possession, while Valour had a 5-2-2-1 off the ball that turned into a 3-4-2-1 as the wing backs pushed up when they had control of the ball. Yet, this shows one thing - both teams are going to want to control the width of the pitch in this game, as they placed heavy emphasis on wide play in possession in their opening day matches - just 24.7% of Pacific's attacks went down the middle of the pitch against Halifax, while Valour sent just 26.6% of their attacks via that avenue versus Vancouver. Because of that, keep an eye on both teams wing backs in this game. For Pacific, that'll likely be two of Dada-Luke, Ayman Sellouf or Georges Mukumbilwa, while Valour will be expected to rely on Roberto Alarcón and Antonglou to provide them that width. From there, the big goal for both sets of wing backs will be to be aggressive in possession, before not foregoing any of their defensive responsibilities, with the team who does those things most effectively likely to gain a key edge in this game.

PROJECTED STARTING XIs​


Pacific FC: Gazdov; Amedume, Meilleur-Giguère, Ndom; Dada-Luke, Young, Lamothe, Yeates, Sellouf; Moore

Valour FC: Viscosi; Samaké, Chantzopolous, Facchineri; Alarcón, Campbell, Verhoeven, Antonoglou; Swibel, Binate; Hundal​

ALL-TIME SERIES​


Pacific FC wins: 14 || Valour FC wins: 2 || Draws: 3

Last meeting:

Sept, 2, 2023 — Pacific FC 2-1 Valour FC​

KEY QUOTES​


“We're at home, so we need to start strong and we need to build. We know we can be better, we want to attack the game more, we want to improve the way that we attack, the way that we play, so we're focused on ourselves, but we'll respect Valour and the motivation that they're going to have to come in here to try to turn (things) around after their last performance. We'll be more than prepared for that, and the focus from the group is excellent, so I'm excited for the match, it'll be another good game” — Pacific FC head coach James Merriman

“I think that if this type of game is to happen, let it happen early in the season, because it's a good opportunity for me to show it to the guys, and for us to learn from it. There's no game in this league where we're going to show up, put on our jersey and expect to win, you're going to have to work hard, you're going to have to be in the opposition space, you're going to need to be very committed defensively and not give the opposition time or space on the ball if you want a chance to win matches, and I felt that we didn't do that, and therefore we lost. But if there's a time for us to learn that lesson, let it be early in the season, and let's grow from it. ” — Valour FC head coach Phil Dos Santos​

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