2025 CPL Regular Season — Match #10
Halifax Wanderers FC vs. Pacific FC
April 19 at 12:30 p.m. PT/4:30 p.m. AT
Wanderers Grounds in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Watch Live: OneSoccer // Tickets available here

For the first time in 2025, the Halifax Wanderers are back at home, as they get set to host Pacific FC at Wanderers Grounds on Saturday. 

After starting the season with two straight road games, the Wanderers will be ecstatic to be back on their home pitch, having last played there in mid-October. 

As for Pacific, they face a similar milestone in this game, but in a different way – this marks their first road game of the season after starting 2025 with two matches at Starlight Stadium. Having last visited Halifax in September of last year, where they picked up a crucial 2-2 draw amid a late push to the playoffs that saw Pacific sneak into that last spot, four points ahead of the Wanderers, they’d love for another similar result (or better) this time around. 

Despite having different starts to the year in terms of travel, both sides have achieved similar results in their first few matches – Pacific won their first game vs. Valour before falling in their second game vs. Forge, while the Wanderers drew their first game vs. Atlético Ottawa before defeating York United in their second game – making this an important one in terms of the quest to establish early positioning in the CPL standings.  

The Wanderers do come into this one with more momentum – their victory against York was a massive one, given that they came from behind to win on the road, picking up an impressive 2-1 result in a game that York looked likely to run away with early. 

Seeing that the Wanderers only won once on the road in all of 2025, they’ll be happy to be on the board early in that category this year. 

Now, they want to build on that momentum, turning this into a dream start. After having failed to win a game until their 10th match of 2024, they’ve wanted to start strongly in 2025, and a victory here would certainly put them on the right track. 

“It’s really important to focus on ourselves,” Wanderers’ head coach, Patrice Gheisar, said this week. “We know that (Pacific) are a terrific team, they’ve added a lot of new players, as we have, but I think we have to come out and play the way we do at home – we have to come out and be willing to take chances to get goals.”

RELATED: ‘He has every attribute’: Halifax Wanderers’ Tiago Coimbra ready for breakout CPL season

As for Pacific, they’ll want to have short memories after their loss to Forge, where they didn’t put in a bad performance, but got undone by two set-piece goals and failed to create enough to break down a solid Forge defensive unit on the day. 

Following a comprehensive win vs. Valour, their showing vs. Forge felt flat by comparison, as they just never seemed to get any rhythm in their play. 

Because of that, their big goal will be to find that rhythm again, especially on the ball, which will help them get more involved in the game. Given that they’ve won three and drawn three of their 10 visits to the Grounds, they’ll feel they have what it takes to surprise the home fans, even against a Wanderers team that wants to make this place a fortress.

“‘It’s going to be a big crowd, it’s always a great atmosphere to play in,” Pacific head coach, James Merriman, said this week. “I think as much as (the Wanderers) are always going to enjoy being at their home, our players enjoy it, as well. We’ve had some good matches here, it’s always a good game.”

“We expect a big match, and I believe we’ll be up for it.”

In terms of roster availability, Halifax had nothing to note in their pre-match availability, while Pacific looks to be without Lukas Browning-Lagerfeldt for this match as he works his way back from a knock, with the goal being to have him ready for their next game vs. Vancouver FC. 

All CPL matches will be broadcast live on OneSoccer, available as a linear channel on Telus’ Optik TV (Channel 980) as well as online at OneSoccer.ca, through the OneSoccer app and on the fuboTV Canada platform.

3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Wanderers looking to continue home dominance: For two straight years, the Wanderers have been one of the best in the CPL when it comes to playing at home, as they had the second-best home record in both 2023 and 2024. Sitting with a record of 15W-7D-6L across those 28 games, that gives them 52 points – for context, that would’ve been enough to finish 2nd in the table in 2023, and would’ve won them the league in 2024. Of course, that isn’t a far comparison to make, as the real challenge in the CPL is to be able to consistently win on the road, especially for a side like the Wanderers who has to travel a bit extra compared to most teams due to their location, but it just gives an idea of how dominant they’ve been at home. Because of that, look for them to continue that strong play at the Grounds in their 2025 home opener. Given that it’s a long weekend and the weather looks good, the crowd will be lively and energetic – now, it’ll be up to the Wanderers to put in a performance to match that. “We can’t take that for granted,” Gheisar said of his team’s home record. “Just because you’re at home, it doesn’t mean that someone’s going to roll over and just give you the three points – we have to work for it.”

• Can Bustos ignite Pacific’s attack? While it’ll be easy for Pacific to look at their offensive performance from their loss to Forge and be frustrated with the fact that they failed to score, there are still a lot of positives for them to take away from that game. A big one was how involved Marco Bustos was, as he had 70 touches, which is a positive sign, even if he wasn’t able to find a goal or assist. Given that he’s still adjusting back to this league and team after a stint in Sweden, one has to imagine it’s only a matter of time before he’s back to his usual best, having scored 14 goals and added 15 assists across three seasons for Pacific in CPL play before transferring to IFK Värnamo in 2023. Pacific are certainly banking on that – that’s why they brought him back, as they lacked a player like him last year, in which no one had more than three assists for them in CPL play – Bustos alone has had at least three assists in four different CPL seasons, including years of six assists in 2021 and 2022 with Pacific. Because of that, look for him to get the ball rolling in terms of this year’s assist haul in this game. “We know the quality that he brings to us and what he can add in the final third,” Merriman said of Bustos. “We need to be cleaner and more decisive as a group in the attack; we were a bit hesitant and indecisive in good moments (last week).”

• Will Halifax find a rhythm on the ball despite Pacific’s counter threat? Even though they played both of their first two games on the road, Halifax have made it clear – they want to be aggressive on the ball, breaking teams down with their possession play. That they were able to keep an average of 50.3% of possession in those two matches, despite going up against two strong ball-dominant sides in Atlético Ottawa and York United, shows that. Because of that, expect them to be aggressive on the ball against a Pacific side that held an average of just 44.3% of possession in their first two matches, despite being at home. That’s not a figure Pacific wants long-term, as they’re also comfortable holding the ball, but they want to be efficient with their possession, as the first few weeks showed. The balance, however, will be to find moments where they can get on the ball and dictate the tempo, ensuring they don’t wear themselves out by defending all game, while also realizing that the Wanderers’ aggression can also be their own biggest enemy. That’s not lost on the Wanderers, who have tried to improve their counter-press this offseason to help overcome that, but as York learned last week, there are still moments where Halifax’s ambitions on the ball can put themselves into trouble, something they’ll want to limit given Pacific’s proficiency in those dangerous transition moments.

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Halifax Wanderers FC: Yesli; Pearlman, Meilleur-Giguère, Sow, Timoteo; Callegari, Johnston; Telfer, Probo, Rea; Coimbra

Pacific FC: Anchor; Chung, Quintana, Machado, Greco-Taylor; Young, Ndom; Kratt, Bustos, Zanatta; Heard

ALL-TIME SERIES

Halifax Wanderers wins: 5 || Pacific FC wins: 10 || Draws: 8

Last meeting:

Sep 18, 2024 —  Halifax Wanderers 2-2 Pacific FC

KEY QUOTES

“It’s always exciting to be here for the home opener, it’s always exciting to be home, it’s great to be in front of our fans – it’s just always good to see the Grounds again. It’s been quite some time since we’ve been here, but we’ve got to make sure that we manage that excitement and make sure that it doesn’t overwhelm us, but at the same time, (enjoy) those jitters, as there’s that excitement aspect, as well.”— Halifax Wanderers FC head coach, Patrice Gheisar

“We need to be strong in our mentality. If there are moments we’re without the ball, we need to stay together, stay composed and work together… we weren’t clean in our transitional moments last match, and that’s something that we’ve been very strong at in preseason, so we want to be tidy here, and we want to make sure that we take advantage of those situations and those actions. Then, on the ball, in possession, I think we can show our personality, and have a bit more confidence.”— Pacific FC head coach, James Merriman