Final Score: Pacific FC 2-0 Valour FC
Goalscorers: Zanatta 18′, Kratt 30′
Game of the 2025 season: 3
CPL match: 599
Match in a minute or less
For a fifth straight year, Pacific FC have opened their CPL season with a win, as they defeated Valour FC 2-0 at Starlight Stadium on Saturday.
Pacific came out flying to start this game, as they looked to kick their season off on a high note. They’d be rewarded for their strong start, too: first, Dario Zanatta opened the scoring on a rebound in the 18th minute, before Ronan Kratt doubled their lead with an audacious volley in the 30th minute, which gave Pacific a two-goal lead heading into the break.
Then, from there, despite a late push from Valour in the second half, Pacific held strong defensively as they made sure to keep their clean sheet and secure all three points that were up for grabs on the day.
Three Observations
Pacific’s new-look attack shines thanks to surprise tweaks:
When looking at Pacific’s lineup pre-game, nothing looked out of the ordinary, as James Merriman put together a relatively straightforward lineup.
Deployed in what looked like a 4-4-2, it was expected that his attacking group would have a lot to do, led by Ronan Kratt and Dario Zanatta up front, and the pair of Josh Heard and Marco Bustos underneath.
Or at least that’s what the plan appeared to be.
In reality, Pacific’s front four ended up looking a lot different, as they were instead deployed in a 4-2-3-1; Heard ended up leading the line, with Bustos underneath him, leaving Kratt on the right wing and Zanatta on the left wing.
From there, the plan was clear: use Heard’s pace to stretch the Valour backline, opening up space for Bustos in the pocket, and room for Kratt and Zanatta to drift centrally.
Because of that, Pacific ended up looking dangerous every time they got the ball, as Heard’s pace gave them an early outlet, and they caught out Valour’s line a few times because of that. Then, once Valour adjusted by dropping their back line a bit more, that then opened up more space for Kratt and Zanatta, who took advantage of the fact that Valour’s full backs would push up in possession.
As a result, it made for a smooth and free-flowing attacking performance from Pacific. Having spoken a lot this offseason about wanting to be more aggressive offensively after scoring a league-low 27 goals in 2024, they certainly lived up to those ideals in this game, looking a lot more like the Pacific of past seasons, who were typically among the league’s top-scoring teams.
Now, the challenge will be to sustain this going forward, but this is an encouraging start, one they can build off of.
When Pacific is at their best, this is the kind of swagger they have in possession, which is a good sign of what could be to come for them this year.
Valour struggles to find chances despite new-look possession-based approach:
Often a team that is less aggressive in possession, Valour wants to change that this season, as they look to be more aggressive on the ball.
That approach was evident to see early – they finished the first half with 59.3 per cent possession, and had 56.9 per cent of the ball in the entire match, as they spent most of the game on the front foot.
Part of that came due to score effects – Pacific ended up sitting back a lot more than they perhaps otherwise might’ve due to their two first-half goals – but that doesn’t change that Valour wanted to be the ones on the front foot, even if it wasn’t maybe to that extent.
On the ball, however, they faced some challenges, as Pacific offered stiff resistance defensively. Sat back in a 4-4-2 block off the ball, they clogged up central channels by keeping the space between their blocks of four compact, but still stretched wide enough to limit space on the flanks.
As a result, Valour weren’t able to find as much joy in wide areas as hoped, with wingers Kris Twardek and Jordan Faria struggling to find space, which then made it hard for full backs Themi Antonoglou and Roberto Alarcón to get the ball in dangerous spaces when they overlapped.
Yet, a big reason for that is they seemed to lack movement in the final third, as they looked unsure of where they needed to be. Because of that, they lacked the final action, as they only had five shots despite having 20 touches in the box, showing that they were getting in the right areas but were not as good as they could be when they got there.
That’s not unexpected for a team that is still getting used to each other, however, but it’ll be something they look to clean up going forward, as they have the pieces to be dangerous offensively, with finding that chemistry and their patterns of play the next step for them.
Max Anchor leads strong Pacific defensive performance in debut:
When it was announced that Max Anchor would be making the loan move to Pacific, it was expected that he’d have every opportunity to step up for Pacific at some point this season.
Having already gotten some MLS minutes under his belt with the Whitecaps, along with a couple of seasons of MLS Next Pro, this was seen as an exciting opportunity for the 20-year-old to develop.
What wasn’t as clear, however, was how long it’d take for him to get an opportunity. Given that he was coming in to share the net with Sean Melvin, who had a great end to 2024 for Pacific, it seemed likely that he’d keep that spot to begin 2025, especially after the departure of Emil Gazdov to MLS side CF Montréal.
Unfortunately for Melvin, however, he didn’t get a chance to build on his strong end to last season, as he picked up a small injury ahead of this game, giving Anchor a chance to start.
There, the youngster showed exactly why the Whitecaps have been so excited about his development in recent years, as he didn’t look out of place in his debut, making one save, four high claims and three punches.
Despite sitting behind a backline that has been significantly remodelled, Anchor looked comfortable, doing well to command his penalty box, which can sometimes be harder for younger goalkeepers to do, which is a credit to the work he has already put in to be ready for this opportunity.
While Anchor shone, however, it’s worth noting that it was overall a strong showing from Pacific’s backline, who looked a lot like the team that was among the league’s best defensive groups in 2024. Considering the improvements made to their offence, that’s encouraging, as there was some worry their defensive game would take a step back as they searched for more goals.
Yet, credit has to go to Pacific’s full backs in that regard, as Kadin Chung and Christian Greco-Taylor put in a big shift on both sides of the ball. Not only did they help their team create some of their most dangerous chances, but they defended well in their 1v1 matchups, with Chung having an excellent defensive performance, in particular.
Now, the goal will be to ensure this isn’t a one-off performance, but it’s worth noting that this game was exactly what Pacific’s blueprint is supposed to be – aggressive attacking play combined with stingy defensive work. Having recruited players like Anchor and Chung to help them with that, they’ll hope this continues going forward, helping them get off to a strong start to 2025.
What They Said
“It’s important to send a message to our fans and ourselves by starting with confidence. We wanted to be on the front foot today, we wanted to get a positive result to build from, but we know it’s a long season. We’re not going to get carried away – we’ve got a lot of work to do (…) But when you win your first game, you take confidence from it, and it’s perfect for us to build on that heading into a big, big match next weekend.” — Pacific FC head coach James Merriman
“I think the narrative of what Valour has been has changed this season. I think today we did a good job of showing that, we can be on the front foot in games, we can retain possession in the opponent’s half, and now it’s just about working on the fine details of breaking lines, finding that pass, and getting to the final third. ” — Valour FC centre-back Rocco Romeo
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Kadin Chung, Pacific FC
Chung couldn’t have asked for a much better game in his first match back with Pacific, as he put in a dominant showing on both sides of the ball for his team.
He finished with 29 out of 32 passes (91 per cent), one dribble, five passes into the final third, and four out of five long balls in possession, along with five tackles, 11 clearances, one interception, four recoveries and won seven out of eight duels defensively.
What’s next?
Pacific will stay put this week, as they get set to host Forge FC at Starlight Stadium on Saturday, April 12th (2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET). Meanwhile, Valour will get some extra time off, as their next match will come against that same Forge side at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton on Saturday, April 19th (5 p.m CT/6 p.m. ET).
Watch all CPL matches live on OneSoccer. In addition to its website and app, OneSoccer is now available on TELUS channel 980 and on Fubo TV. Call your local cable provider to ask for OneSoccer today.