It almost seemed inevitable when the ball fell to Pacific FC’s unsung hero, Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, in the box.
With the clock winding down and the Halifax Wanderers clinging onto a tenuous 2-1 lead over Pacific on Wednesday night, Meilleur-Giguère flicked the ball up to himself amidst heavy traffic and volleyed it with his right foot into the back of Halifax’s net at the death. Meilleur-Giguère immediately sprinted to the corner, a wide grin on his face, as his teammates mobbed him in celebration.
For the first time in a long time, Pacific was in a playoff spot.
Looking at the tape, Meilleur-Giguère’s goal was all instinct, a play of desperation but executed with the hunger of a player — a CPL centurion, no less — who has become emblematic of his club’s post-season hunt. No one familiar with Pacific was surprised that it was Meilleur-Giguère, perhaps the CPL’s best-kept secret, who had stepped up in the moment and saved their match while breathing new life into their 2024 campaign.
“He’s a warrior, he’s a captain and in these moments, captains show up,” said Pacific coach Amando Sá post-match. “It’s not the first time he’s done this.”
A rebuilding year:
The Salish Sea is not known for its tidal range but the same cannot be said of Pacific, who call Vancouver Island and its rugged coast home. Theirs is a history of building and breaking, champions at their peak but prone to falling short of their potential through six seasons in the Canadian Premier League.
Meilleur-Giguère has been through nearly all of it with the Tridents. Signed in 2020, the Repentigny-native has arguably been Pacific’s unsung hero across his tenure, a cornerstone, ball-playing centre-back on one of the league’s highest octane offences.
But this year is different. They are no longer a goal scoring powerhouse. And although they currently occupy a playoff spot, having crept ahead of Vancouver FC by a single point with their important draw against the Wanderers, their playoff hopes are tenuous at best if they don’t continue to get results from their five remaining matches.
“Last year, we had a great team, we thought we were going for it all but it didn’t work out,” Meilleur-Giguère told OneSoccer in an exclusive interview. “This year has kind of been a rebuild. We don’t have a lot of the guys who were playing heavy minutes in 2023. We brought in a lot of players and just want to make it work.”
Amer Didić and Manny Aparicio were two of Pacific’s biggest losses this past off-season but it’s important to remember they also had Easton Ongaro, Djenairo Daniels and Kekuta Manneh move on as well. Combined, this group accounted for 18 of the Tridents’ 42 goals last year.
Many of Pacific’s reinforcements — be it Reon Moore, Dario Zanatta or Andrei Tîrcoveanu — have taken a long time to click offensively, forcing head coach James Merriman to shift to a more defensive style. It’s one of the reasons they’ve managed to score the fewest goals in the league this season. But they’ve also conceded the least, as well.
“It’s different from what we’re used to. We were used to playing offensive football, scoring a lot of goals and always sending it forward and going all in. Now, we play a very different style but that’s the beauty of football,” said Meilleur-Giguère.
“A lot of teams did great work (this off-season). That’s why, for us, we just have to get back at it. If we’re realistic, it’s going to be difficult to get to the third or fourth spot. But if we can get into fifth, playing away at home during the playoffs, for us, is something we’ve always been good at.”
Setting the standard:
Pacific’s squad shuffle has meant, for the first time in his CPL career, Meilleur-Giguère has garnered the lion’s share of the spotlight. It’s not something, he said, he’s sought out but is the result of his even-keel performances and the dismantling — through injuries and free agency — of the club’s leadership group.
Last year, said Meilleur-Giguère, Josh Heard, Aparicio and himself were the locker room leaders. Didic was more of a leader on the pitch. But with two of those four leaving, the club recruited French defender Aly Ndom to fill the void on and off the field.
Sadly, Ndom’s season was cut short due to a ruptured Achilles tendon. And Heard, who is known for his tenacity and for chipping in on both sides of the ball, has missed large swathes of matches as he grapples with knee injuries.
“Those are big hits to us. So, for sure, my role has changed and I’m the one people are looking to. It’s a great challenge,” said Meilleur-Giguère.
One of the ways Meilleur-Giguère has led is through setting the standard for his teammates. Specifically, with a number of young players contributing big minutes, he said he’s tried to set an example of how to be a professional in all aspects.
“Standards mean everything to me,” he explained. “It’s how you present yourself. Are you on time? When you show up on the pitch, are you working hard? Are you playing the right pass that makes sense? If you have the right standards, at least you’re going to know if you lose the game, maybe the other team was the better side but at least you met your standards.”
This mentality has extended to how Meilleur-Giguère deals with younger teammates cutting their teeth with Pacific. He’s the first to admit he’s not the easiest on guys like Eric Lajeunesse (who has returned to university for the fall), Emil Gazdov, Paul Amedume and Christian Greco-Taylor. But he said he believes setting rigorous standards has allowed them to flourish in the minutes they’ve played. Pacific currently leads the CPL with 3,876 U-21 minutes.
Adhering to personal standards is also the reason Meilleur-Giguère took to social media earlier in the season to apologize after a particularly heavy loss to Atlético Ottawa at Starlight Stadium back in August.
Simply put, he said someone had to take ownership for the club’s poor form at the time.
“It felt unfair to them,” said Meilleur-Giguère. “Sometimes, I could feel not everyone was giving 100 percent their best effort on the field and that was unacceptable. That’s why I apologized to the fans. I’m always someone who’s going to give my best and try anything to win. But it wasn’t the standard we had at that moment and someone had to take the lead and apologize. It’s not something that was acceptable.”
Pushing for the playoffs:
And make no mistake: Meilleur-Giguère believes it’s unacceptable for Pacific to miss the playoffs. Having won a championship and become one of the latest CPL centurions this year with the club, he said he knows what it takes to win.
“We want to play our football, for sure. But whatever’s going to get us into the playoffs, that’s what we’ve got to do. It’s all about business now, it’s not about manners, it’s not about how you do it. Make sure you’re in it because for Pacific FC, not being in the playoffs can’t happen. It’s not us, it’s not the club, we can’t let it happen,” he said.
Meilleur-Giguère has backed up his words with another quietly strong campaign. He leads Pacific in minutes played (1,892), passes (1,099), blocks (14), clearances (105) and aerial duels won (60). Meilleur-Giguère is amongst the best in the league in the air, trailing only his former partner, Didic, and Cavalry’s Daan Klomp for duels won. At one point, he led Pacific for open play goals and with his marker against Halifax, sits at three for the season.
But this year isn’t the first time the Québec-born centre-back has been rated amongst the league’s best defenders. He finished last season behind only Klomp for minutes played and scored four goals which tied him with — you guessed it — Didic for third most goals by a centre-back. He also completed the most passes from anyone on Pacific.
However, out of the shadow of players like Didic and Aparicio, Meilleur-Giguère said he’s focused on getting better. When asked about what he’d like to improve, he’s quick to note he’d like to improve his all-around ability with his left foot and his dribbling to add another aspect to his game.
“There’s so many things I could be better at,” he said.
But Meilleur-Giguère denies that he’s a perfectionist.
“Sadly, I’m not a perfectionist at all. I’m really realistic about what we can achieve and how we can achieve it so I wouldn’t demand perfection. But if you ask if I have standards, yes I have standards. If you don’t respect them, I’m going to make it hard on you,” he said.
“The thing is you never know in football. Maybe it’s my last year here, maybe I have more years here. Some guys, it’s their last year. Maybe it’s the last time they’ll see the fans. Every moment we have to share with them, we have to make it count.”
And that’s why Meilleur-Giguère and his teammates are so desperate to make the playoffs. Having tasted success previously, and a brief run in CONCACAF, they’re eager to get back despite the challenges they’ve faced this year. They expect more from themselves. They want more for their fans.
“Those moments — maybe we took them for granted,” he said. “If I look at all of it, it was amazing. I’ve loved it. I know the club by heart, I know everyone, I know the system. It would feel weird for me to try something else because it’s so special to me. “
With five matches left, Meilleur-Giguère added he’s going to give everything to help his club down the stretch. And maybe, just maybe, he’ll have another trophy to bring back across the Salish Sea.