Vanni Sartini has never experienced a pre-season quite like this one.
Given the cold winter in Nova Scotia, the team's preparations thus far have been entirely indoors. It has been an adjustment for the Halifax Wanderers' new head coach — never an issue during his time on the more temperate West Coast at the helm of the Vancouver Whitecaps.
At first, he was concerned it would limit what he wanted to implement in his first pre-season with the club. But over the past four weeks under the roof at the BMO Soccer Centre — protected from the frigid maritime weather — Sartini says the enthusiastic and talented group of players, and his top-quality staff, in Halifax's training camp presented by WestJet, are executing everything as planned.
After becoming a household name by leading the Vancouver Whitecaps to three TELUS Canadian Championship titles, Sartini comes to the East Coast with a strong reputation for success in the Canadian game.
For Sartini, this Halifax team is even closer to success than the Whitecaps side he inherited on Aug. 27, 2021. The goal, however, is the same: to deliver a big moment to a fanbase that has long dreamed of that success.
"They are a team that made the playoffs two of the last three years," said Sartini. "The team had success, but they still need to have that marquee victory, or that trophy, or that run in the [Canadian] Championship. So we're here for that reason. We're here to try to win trophies. We're here to create this historical moment for the fans.
"But let's start with step by step."
Step one, of course, was assembling a cast of players that Sartini felt was capable of carrying out that mission. That has included an exciting mix of returning Wanderers like captain Andre Rampersad, Lorenzo Callegari and Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, along with the addition of CPL legend Marco Carducci and several players from Sartini's past.
The coach's West Coast connections have certainly come in handy with the recruitment of former Whitecap Marcus Godinho, as well as Whitecaps 2 players like Finn Linder and Francesco Troisi.
"The guys that already knew me, and how I worked, they could help the other guys to get used to my idea of the game and the way I do things on the pitch," said Sartini.
For Godinho, a 27-year-old Canadian international full-back who won a Voyageurs Cup with Sartini in 2022, the biggest draw to Halifax was getting to work with his old coach again.
He says that Sartini's style of play is perfect for his attributes: a high-octane, high-energy brand of football that looks to dictate the tempo of each match. But it is the way the coach approaches the day-to-day that really sets him apart.
"He's got a philosophy where the team is first, every player is equal, which in a lot of clubs you don't find that," said Godinho. "It kind of equals that playing field. There's no guaranteed starting 11, let's say. It's all about how you perform day-in, day-out.
"Even for myself, I need to be the best every day, or else maybe I'm not gonna have my spot. I think that's something that really pushes me and challenges me."
Also helping Sartini and a number of new players integrate into the team is its strong cast of leaders. Players like Godinho and CPL legend, and champion, goalkeeper Marco Carducci, add to an already strong leadership group with the likes of Meilleur-Giguère and Rampersad.
"We'll try to do something special and win the league," said Sartini. "And we need players, in my opinion, that have already been in this kind of situation where they played high-intensity games, or games with high stakes, like playoff finals. The fact that we have at least a couple of them is very important."
In a few days, the team is off to Marbella, Spain, where they will finally get to train outdoors in the Spanish sun. This crucial stretch of preparations serves two purposes. First, the new-look group will get to bond while spending all of their time together in a different country. The trip will also bring key matches against strong opposition, as the team plays three games during their nine-day voyage.
After they return to Halifax at the end of the month, all focus shifts to stepping onto the pitch together in an official capacity on April 4 at Willoughby Stadium for their season opener. That will be a special occasion for Sartini as it represents a homecoming of sorts in the province that he called home for so many years.
"I crave that day also because this was the first year of my career that I didn't coach," said Sartini. "My last official game is in November 2024, so it's gonna be like 16 months...I really look forward to that date."
A second monumental step for Sartini comes two weeks later, when he coaches the team in front of the fans at the Wanderers Grounds.
"When I was watching the CPL on the TV, I thought this was the coolest environment in the league, and the one where the fans really play a part," said Sartini. "You can tell that there's a kind of symbiosis between the club and the fans."
Everyone involved with the club knows one thing above all will further cement that connection: winning.
That's exactly what Sartini and this Halifax group were brought in to do, and the work has begun to accomplish that mission
