It was a week in which Pacific FC and Forge FC came within a step of advancing to the Canadian Championship, losing respectively in the semifinals to the Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC of Major League Soccer.
Back to league play, the Canadian Premier League clubs meet today at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton in a match-up of the only teams to have won the Northern Shield as CPL playoff champions. The Hammers have won four of the five league titles played to date and the Tridents edged Forge in the other in 2021.
The Hammers are back in their familiar perch atop the CPL table while the seventh-place Tridents have won only twice in their last 15 games and are in danger of missing the playoffs for only the second time in the six seasons of franchise history.
Island-based PFC comes into the game after having lost 1-0 to Cavalry FC on a late goal last Saturday in Calgary in league play and 1-0 on an early goal to the Whitecaps on Tuesday at B.C. Place Stadium in the second leg of their Canadian Championship semifinal to go down 2-0 on aggregate with both Whitecaps goals by Scottish-import Ryan Gauld.
“This much travel can be a heavy challenge on your mentality,” said PFC head coach James Merriman. “The players who played big minutes in Calgary and against the ’Caps have to have tough mentality.”
So will Forge FC, who went into BMO Field with a one-goal advantage over Toronto FC of MLS in the second leg of their semifinal following a 2-1 win last month at Tim Hortons Field. But TFC’s 1-0 victory in the ill-tempered and combative second leg Tuesday between the Ontario rivals tied the set 2-2 on aggregate and gave the Reds the semifinal win over the Hammers due to the away-goals tie-breaker.
Meanwhile, the Tridents’ best player over the last two games was goalkeeper Emil Gazdov, the 21-year-old pro who is coming into his own.
“Emil [Gazdov] gives us confidence. We need to get the job done at the other end of the pitch,” said Merriman.
The Tridents are the lowest-scoring team in the CPL by a wide margin having scored just 14 goals in 19 league games.
“We’re excited to get Moses Dyer involved [tonight],” said Merriman.
The striker Dyer was acquired by PFC on loan last week and he automatically became the team’s leading scorer with four goals on the season, all while with Vancouver FC. It shows why he has earned 11 caps for the New Zealand national team after representing the nation in the 2017 FIFA Under-20 World Cup.
“Moses brings something different to the attack,” said Merriman.
