After a weekend off, a rested Vancouver FC is set to host the Halifax Wanderers in Canadian Premier League action at Willoughby Community Park on Saturday.
Having last played on May 6th, where they defeated rivals Pacific FC on penalties in the preliminary round of the Canadian Championship, Vancouver will hope that the extended break hasn’t halted any of the momentum they’ve done well to build up over the last few weeks, however.
When they were last in action in CPL play, on May 3rd, they did well to beat Valour FC 3-1 for their first win of 2025, building off consecutive draws against Cavalry and Pacific in their previous matches.
That paved the way for their Canadian Championship exploits vs. Pacific, allowing them to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time, where a two-legged clash vs. Cavalry awaits, with the first leg being held at Willoughby Community Park on Wednesday, May 21st.
Before then, however, they’ve still got this Wanderers match to play, and make no mistake - it’s a big one for the hosts. Should they find a victory, it’d be the first time since May of 2024 that they won consecutive CPL games, which would be a great way for them to show how much they’ve turned things around after a slow start to 2025.
"I think structure and organization tactically is everything when it comes to professional football," Vancouver head coach, Afshin Ghotbi, said this week. "If you have the right structure and organization, that allows your players to play in the positions that they're comfortable in and in roles that they can do well, which then gives you a better chance to get results."
Awaiting Vancouver, however, is a frustrated Wanderers side, who are coming off a 3-0 loss to Cavalry at Wanderers Grounds last weekend. For a team that prides itself on having a strong home record, that was a tough defeat for them to swallow, for many reasons.
Especially given how good they’ve been defensively to start the season, conceding just four goals in their first five games before that loss, it’ll hurt to see them concede three to Cavalry just days after they conceded three to Forge in a 3-1 preliminary round loss in the Canadian Championship.
Yet, it shows how big this game is for these Wanderers. Despite the loss, they sit second in the CPL table, so they’ll know that they remain in a good position even after a frustrating week.
The important thing for them to do, however, is bounce back, and no better way to do so than to halt the progress of a Vancouver team who have started to hit a good patch of form lately.
"When things like that happen, it's not great that it happens, but it's great that it happens earlier on in the season," Wanderers head coach, Patrice Gheisar, said of his team's tough week. "What it allows us to do is to get a feel of what the things that we need to adjust and improve are."
In terms of player availability, Vancouver will be without Kunle Dada-Luke as he continues to serve a red card suspension, while the Wanderers will have a full squad to choose from, with Gheisar noting that Tiago Coimbra and Nassim Mekidèche are set to earn minutes after dealing with various ailments.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
- Can Vancouver maintain sharpness as Wanderers battle travel fatigue? Naturally, it’s never easy for a team to take a break at any point in the season, but especially not when a team that is just hitting their stride, which is why it’ll be interesting to see how Vancouver responds to the extra time they’ve had to rest. In particular, it’ll be important that they come out strongly, ensuring that they use their fresh legs early, while ensuring that they can shake off any potential rust (although it’s unlikely that they have much, having last played 11 days ago instead of 14+). Plus, it’s important to remember that the Wanderers themselves might be tired to start the game, as they’re making one of the longest road trips of their season, with the trip from Halifax to Langley being one of the hardest in global football. Interestingly, the Wanderers' lone road victory of 2024 came at Willoughby Community Park, so it’s a trip they’ve relished making before, and perhaps it’s just what they need after a tough week of results. Yet, that shows why the start to this game is going to be so key - for Vancouver, it’s a chance to keep their momentum going, while for Halifax, it’s a chance to channel their frustrations.
- Keeping a strong defensive foundation key for Vancouver: The big factor behind Vancouver’s recent run of form? Their defensive play, as they’ve conceded just four goals across their last three CPL matches and one Canadian Championship clash. Not only that, but they’re getting strong underlying numbers to match those defensive efforts, too, so they can look at that stretch and know that there wasn’t any luck associated with the results they were getting. At the same time, they know that it’s not going to be easy to keep those results up, so it’s not the time to rest on their laurels quite yet. The beauty of the CPL is that teams are very familiar with each other, which makes it hard to sustain good stretches of play for more than a handful of games at a time before opponents figure you out. Perhaps, however, this is where the true benefit of Vancouver’s extra rest could come into play, as it will have given them time to continue and develop their defensive game on the training ground. Plus, it’s worth noting that while they’ve been good offensively, they’ve still got another gear to hit in that regard, especially when considering the talent they’ve got at their disposal, so this is a chance for them to show that they can score more goals while keeping things tight defensively, which would go a long way towards them maintaining this recent run of good results.
- Halifax looking to find goals again: After scoring seven goals in their first three CPL games, the Wanderers' attack has sputtered, as they’ve scored just one goal in their next three CPL matches, and have been shut out in two straight matches heading into this one. Plus, to add further context to the back-to-back shutouts, those both came at the Wanderers Grounds, a place where they were kept off the scoresheet just once in 2024. The good news? Perhaps this road game could be a good chance to reset themselves, as they’ve done well to pick up results away from home to start 2025 after really struggling in that area last year. Having scored five goals in their first three road games, that’s something they can try to build off, especially when coming to a place where they scored four goals in their last visit, the only time they scored that many goals in a game during all of 2024. That sort of result will be much harder to pull off this time around, given Vancouver’s improved defensive record, but the Wanderers will feel there’s no reason why they can’t find the net a couple of times, helping put this mini-offensive slump behind them. Sometimes, a road trip can be a fantastic way to reset and get a group connected again, and the Wanderers will hope that this match can do that for them after some tough home results.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Vancouver FC: Irving; Gee, O’Connor, Norman Jr., Bah; Fotsing, Essoussi, Fry; Campbell, Díaz, Mezquida
Halifax Wanderers: Yesli; Pearlman, Meilleur-Giguère, Sow, Timóteo; Callegari, Johnston; Baï, Probo, Rea; Coimbra
ALL-TIME SERIES
Vancouver FC wins: 3 || Halifax Wanderers wins: 3 || Draws: 2
Last meeting:
Oct 5, 2024 —Halifax Wanderers 1-1 Vancouver FC
KEY QUOTES
"One of the things that I don't like about breaks is that you lose the rhythm, and I think we're in a very good rhythm. We hit our stride, we're getting results, and we're playing well, so having that kind of a long break (comes at a bad time). So I chose to give our players time off, we gave them four days off after the game in the Canadian Championship, and they came back fresh."-- Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi
"Three games in seven days, coming against Forge and Cavalry is not something that I would wish upon many but, but I will say it is necessary if we want to be a heavyweight contender, as we'll now go into those games next time saying we're going to win all three, which was my ambition."-- Halifax Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar
