After a long and gruelling six months, the Canadian Premier League season concludes this weekend. For Pacific FC, the journey culminates in a trip to old rivals Cavalry FC with playoff positioning still to play for for the Tridents. On the other side, for the Cavs, they’ve already locked up the Canadian Premier League shield as regular season champions, but Pacific will look to spoil the afternoon by grabbing all three points in Calgary.

Heading into the final weekend, Pacific can still finish anywhere from second to fourth in the table. The Tridents have already secured a home playoff match, but the date and time of which are still to be determined by the final standings. Pacific currently sit in fourth following the result of HFX Wanderers FC’s match against Valour FC on Friday night, and will need a win to climb back into third or even second. With Forge FC’s game against Atlético Ottawa kicking off at the same time on Saturday, the final table won’t be set until around both those matches conclude.

Focusing back on the match ahead for Pacific, Calgary has been a tough place to visit over the years but also holds many memorable victories for the club. In 2021, the Tridents won both a Canadian Championship quarter-final match – that set up a meeting with Toronto FC – as well as the CPL semi-final fixture at ATCO Field which took the team to its first CPL Final and first trophy in club history. Using those positive performances in Calgary as an extra boost at this point of the season could help spur the team onto victory as the Tridents look to finish off the regular season strong and carry some momentum into the playoffs.

History

As mentioned above Pacific has enjoyed some success in Calgary over the years despite Cavalry being a good home team since the league’s inception. That 1-0 win in the Canadian Championship was part of the incredible cup run Pacific went on in 2021 which included the win over Vancouver Whitecaps FC in the round before. The 2-1 win the playoff semi-final needed extra time before Kunle Dada-Luke’s sheer perseverance resulted in a goal in the 105th minute which ultimately sent Pacific on the way to its first CPL Final after beating Forge FC 1-0 in Hamilton.

All-time, the head to head record stands at 12 wins for Cavalry, seven wins for Pacific, and five draws.

Quote

“We need to go in there and take this opportunity to show a response, to finish as high as we can. We don’t know what’s going to happen with the other results but we have to control what we can control.” — Pacific FC head coach James Merriman

Keys to Victory

First things first, the Tridents have to finish their chances in front of goal. The team’s ability to create chances in attack has been far and away the best in the Canadian Premier League this season, and while Pacific is still the second-highest scoring team in the league, there’s a feeling more goal were left on the table. Turning those chances into a couple goals on Saturday would bring a great feeling to the group heading into the playoffs.

On the other side of the ball, Merriman’s squad must be organized and communicate in defensive transition. The CPL is primarily a counter-attacking league and as such, being solid in defensive transition can set a team up for success. With Cavalry comfortable without the ball, even at home, the Tridents should be wary of the Cavs on the counter whenever possession changes hands on the weekend.

Match Facts to Know

• There are four possible dates for Pacific FC’s home playoff match. If the Tridents finish fourth – Wednesday, October 11th, third – Saturday October 14th, and second – either October 21st or October 28th depending on the result of that game between first and second.
• Pacific FC have yet to have a player score more than one goal in a game all season long. Despite scoring 42 goals, having 12 different goalscorers, and scoring more than one goal in a game nine times, the Tridents have yet to see a player score a brace or hat-trick this season.
• With an appearance on Saturday, Steffen Yeates will have appeared in all 28 regular season Canadian Premier League games for Pacific FC and will become the only player to have done so this season.