2024 CPL Regular Season — Match #105
York United FC vs. Pacific FC
October 10, 2024 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT
York Lions Stadium in Toronto, Ontario
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here

York United FC take to the pitch at York Lions Stadium for the final time in the 2024 regular season on Thursday, as they welcome a Pacific FC side preparing to fight for their playoff lives in matchweek 27.

The Tridents will start the week in sixth place in the Canadian Premier League, although they’re level on points with Vancouver FC who occupy the fifth and final playoff spot. Because their B.C. rivals own the head-to-head tiebreaker, Pacific need to improve on their current points total of 28 if they’re to make their way into the postseason.

Meanwhile, York have guaranteed their berth in the postseason — and a home match, as well — but that doesn’t mean they have nothing to play for on Thursday. On the contrary, in fact; they’re in fourth right now with 39 points, but could in theory pass Atlético Ottawa (40) or Cavalry FC (42) and finish in third or even second place.

The benefits to finishing higher up the table are clear; the second-placed team will play for a chance to host the CPL Final, and the third-placed team avoids the midweek play-in match against fifth place.

York gave their hopes of climbing out of fourth a boost last weekend, as they beat a 10-man Ottawa side 1-0 thanks to 16-year-old Shola Jimoh’s third goal of the year. They’ll still need help from elsewhere to pass the teams above them, but a win in this game would help tremendously.

Thursday night will be the fourth — but not necessarily the last — meeting between York and Pacific in 2024. Currently their season series is split completely evenly: each team won 2-0 at home, and the two sides drew 1-1 in their most recent meeting, on Aug. 2 at Starlight Stadium.

In that latest game, both sides scored within the first two minutes and couldn’t solve one another again.

Thursday night’s clash will see both sides missing a handful of key players. Pacific are of course without the suspended Gazdov and Ceceri, which leaves them undermanned at the back. They were also missing Cédric Toussaint last Saturday; he’s unavailable still, which is a significant loss because fellow midfielder Marco Domínguez is away on international duty with Guatemala. The other major absence will be Josh Heard, who has returned to training but did not travel to Toronto.

York, meanwhile, have several injury concerns. Mo Babouli missed Sunday’s game after exiting the prior match at halftime and remains unavailable with a short-term injury that coach Benjamín Mora says is “progressing.” Tomas Giraldo and Kembo Kibato were also both surprise omissions from the most recent matchday squad. Dennis Salanovic is away on international duty with Liechtenstein. The good news, though, was Noah Abatneh playing as a substitute against Ottawa; the young defender had missed the previous three games with injury. They’ll also get Juan Córdova and Jorge Guzmán back from suspension.

It’s the time of year where every team in the league is a little bruised. The challenge, now, will be who can power through their team’s difficulties and emerge on top.

All CPL and Canadian Championship 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

• York galvanized by fiery Ottawa clash? While York United’s win over Atlético Ottawa was certainly heated on the pitch, with Liberman Torres’ first-half red card, it was actually the post-match pleasantries that made things boil over. After Atleti boss Carlos González suggested he sees York as the “weakest” of the playoff teams, the Nine Stripes’ manager Benjamín Mora retorted that his side has outscored Ottawa 7-2 in three meetings since his appointment. It’s not the first time this year York have felt overlooked or disrespected, and it might be the kind of thing that could galvanize a side with a chip on its shoulder at the most important time of the season. There’s no shortage of confidence in this team, of course, but a defiant attitude can always add a little extra when the margins are so thin at this point. “I don’t use that as motivation,” Mora said on Wednesday. “We have better tools. … Analysis of the games, our own game style; that, I leave it to the players. They were having a blast of this situation, because of course everyone sees what’s going on. I think it was just a moment that Carlos González was a bit heated maybe, and he said things that maybe he shouldn’t have in that moment. I’ve been a coach a long time, I know the pressure he might feel with the results. I don’t blame him, but we do our job, and I just try to respond, to take care of my team and to protect our environment.”

• Pacific to adjust to changes at the back: With their number one goalkeeper, Emil Gazdov, and usual starting centre-back Kevin Ceceri suspended, James Merriman has to make some alterations to his side for this game. Fortunately, he has obvious like-for-like replacements at his disposal; Sean Melvin will make his seventh start of the year (all competitions) and first since Aug. 17. In defence, expect Juan Quintana to replace Ceceri; he hasn’t started since Sept. 7, but has made 19 appearances in all competitions. Still, it’ll be an adjustment for the rest of the squad around them, with Ceceri having started the last 10 games, and Gazdov the last nine, they’ve become accustomed to both players being there. Pacific aren’t likely to be too fazed by the absences, though, and won’t need to change the game plan much, if at all. “Sean’s been excellent all season long,” Merriman said Wednesday, adding that Melvin likely would’ve played more earlier in the year if he hadn’t hurt his ankle at the same time as Gazdov missed time with illness. “He’s got good experience, he shows up to work every day. The team has big confidence in him, and we know his mentality. And then [Thomas Meilleur-Giguère] has been dealing with different changes in the back four and different partnerships all season long, so we’ll lean on him to show his experience and put his arm around whoever we put into the back four for the match.”

• Strikers still alive in Golden Boot hunt: Only two weeks remain in the regular season, so it may be a longshot, but both York’s Brian Wright and Pacific’s Moses Dyer are still in contention for the Golden Boot. Wright has nine goals this year — two back of leader Ruben del Campo’s 11 — but hasn’t scored in the last nine York games, missing three of those due to injury. Dyer, meanwhile, has eight (split evenly between time with Pacific and Vancouver FC). He scored in four straight games in September and was named the CPL’s Player of the Month, so it’s not impossible that he could explode for multiple goals in these last couple of games. Either way, both players are key to their team’s chances; if either can make an impact in attack and score, it could make the difference between winning or not.