Pacific FC officially secured a playoff home match following the result of the Atlético Ottawa v HFX Wanderers FC match on Sunday. With fifth-placed Ottawa seven points behind the Tridents with two games remaining, it is mathematically impossible for Pacific to finish in fifth position – the only place in the current playoff format to not host a playoff match.
With Pacific currently third in the table, it is still possible for the team to finish anywhere from second to fourth over the final two weekends of the regular season. Given the new-look playoff format – a photo of which can be seen below – it is very advantageous to finish in the top two positions.
Cavalry FC have already clinched first place, and with it the new Canadian Premier League Shield, but second place is still very much up for grabs. In fact, this season there’s more than just playoff seeding that makes second so valuable, as the prospect of playing in the CONCACAF Champions Cup (formerly the CONCACAF Champions League) in 2024 is also in the cards.
With Cavalry having already securing one of the two spots given to teams from the Canadian Premier League, the other will be determined by how the playoffs play out. Starting this season, one place in the CONCACAF Champions Cup is rewarded to the team that finishes first over the course of the regular season and the other is rewarded to the winner of the playoffs. If that team is the same – in this case, if Cavalry were to win the playoffs as well – the second spot would then go to the team that finishes second in the regular season, not the loser of the playoff final.
With all that in mind, these final two fixtures are perhaps the biggest of the Tridents season so far – which is saying a lot given the other high-profile matches we’ve seen in 2023.
The first of those games comes on Saturday, September 30th, the final regular season home game at Starlight Stadium, against mainland rival Vancouver FC. This will be Pacific FC’s second consecutive Orange Shirt Day Match and has been circled on the calendar since it was announced. Presented in partnership with Portofino Bakery, the Orange Shirt Day Match will feature a traditional land blessing prior to kickoff.
Tickets for the Orange Shirt Day Match are still available and can be found here.
After that, on the final weekend, Pacific travels to Calgary to face off against the Cavs in a match with more on the line for the Tridents than the home side.
If Pacific is able to grab enough points over the last two weekends to leapfrog Forge back into second, it would be an immediate return to Alberta the next weekend for the semi-final match between first and second. With a win there, Pacific would go on to host the final on the weekend of October 28/29, and with a loss Pacific would drop down into the other semi-final which they would host the weekend of October 14/15.
In the end, there’s still so much to play for during the final stretch of the regular season for Pacific, but the magic of a playoff game on the Island lingers on the horizon regardless of where the club can mathematically finish in the table.