2025 CPL Regular Season — Match #104
York United FC vs. Pacific FC
October 9 at 7:30 p.m. ET/ 4:30 p.m. PT
York Lions Stadium in Toronto, Ontario
Live: OneSoccer // Tickets available here
York United have a chance to jump into third place on Thursday night, when they host Pacific FC in their final home game of the regular season.
The Nine Stripes open up matchweek 27 sitting in fourth, three points behind Cavalry FC. However, they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Cavs, so York would take over third spot if they can beat Pacific.
That's a clear objective for Mauro Eustáquio's side, who would love to take that third spot and thus avoid the midweek knockout match that begins the CPL Playoffs, instead playing the winner of that in a semifinal qualifier.
York didn't manage to pick up all three points last weekend, when they drew 1-1 with the Halifax Wanderers, though a second-half equalizer from Massimo Ferrin meant they didn't leave with nothing.
Standing in York's way this week is a Pacific side eager for some redemption, after what happened last time they visited York Lions Stadium. On that occasion in late August, the Tridents saw their playoff hopes effectively dashed as York's Shaan Hundal scored four in a 5-1 win.
Now mathematically eliminated, Pacific are playing for pride now as they make their final road trip of the season. They sit seventh in the table, and would at least like to climb to sixth — and hold off last-place Vancouver FC, who are aiming to leapfrog them.
Pacific showed some fight last weekend against Cavalry FC, where they nearly won but conceded in the 94th minute for a 3-3 draw. James Merriman is hoping his side can show a similar level of effort, and hopefully manage their first win since Aug. 10.
York have beaten Pacific twice this year, though the Tridents did pick up a win at home in May.
It'll be a tricky match to prepare for both managers, with a variety of absences on both sides. York are without midfielder Steffen Yeates due to international duty with Trinidad and Tobago, as well as defenders Frank Sturing and Oswaldo León through suspension. Pacific, meanwhile, have a long list of injuries, recently adding Lukas Browning-Lagerfeldt to the group of players officially ruled out for the season.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
- What do York do in defence? York boss Mauro Eustáquio already had a tough job setting up his defence without Oswaldo León, who is suspended for the remainder of the season. This week, the task gets harder as Frank Sturing is also suspended for one match due to yellow card accumulation. That's York's top two centre-backs unavailable. So, the question now is who Eustáquio will turn to in the middle of his defence; he's favoured a back three all year but has been forced into playing a back four more recently with so few central defenders to pick from. Luke Singh will likely be one of the options, but with Nyal Higgins injured it's unclear who will be the other. Midfielder Elijah Adekugbe is the most likely option, having played in the position recently, but with Steffen Yeates away on international duty, that leaves a new hole further up the pitch.
- Can Pacific keep scoring: One of Pacific's biggest problems this year has been that they don't score enough goals. Prior to last weekend, they'd scored just one goal in their last four games. However, the attack exploded for three against a tough Cavalry team, which was an encouraging sign for James Merriman. Alejandro Díaz is now up to five goals since joining the club in late July, and when he's in good form he's one of the CPL's best finishers; his goal against Cavalry was arguably his best yet this year. If the confidence and momentum gained from last week can spur the Pacific attack to come out strong against York, they could cause problems against an under-manned backline.
- York spurred by excellent home form: Part of the reason York are fighting so hard to ensure themselves a home playoff game is that they've been excellent at York Lions Stadium this season. They've only lost one of their last 10 CPL matches at home, and are unbeaten in the last four. Their 24 total home points is tied for a single-season club record, and they could surpass that this weekend. Meanwhile, Pacific have a league-worst six points on the road this year, and four of them came against Vancouver FC, so they've struggled mightily outside of B.C. — in fact, they've lost every away game against a playoff-bound team so far. So, Mauro Eustáquio will hope that his side can keep up their dazzling home form to carry them into the postseason.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
York United: Urtiaga; Ferrari, Adekugbe, Singh, Botello; Kibato, López; Jimoh, Reid, Ferrin; Altobelli
Pacific FC: Melvin; Chung, Baldisimo, Ndom, Greco-Taylor; Daniels, Keshavarz, Young; Bustos, Díaz, Heard
ALL-TIME SERIES
York wins: 10 || Pacific wins: 10 || Draws: 7
Last meeting:
Aug. 24, 2025 — York United 5-1 Pacific FC
KEY QUOTES
"For us, home is special. We're in a moment right now that we enjoy where we're at, we're hungry. We want to show that we can be the best York ever; we want to reach 40 points to beat that mark. We're tied with the home record, and we want to get three points to beat that ... A lot of the positive results we've had are at home, and that's why we want to continue to fight for third place because that playoff game at home is something that's very important for us." - York United head coach Mauro Eustáquio
It's about our pride, it's about our fans, it's about each other, the work that's been put in all season long, even though it's not been good enough from us in terms of where we're at as a team, but the work that the players put in every single day, to travel across the country, it's about that, and playing with pride and putting in good performances — performances you can stand behind at the end of the day as professionals." - Pacific FC head coach James Merriman