CLEVE DHEENSAW
Times Colonist
Pacific FC is discovering how quickly fortunes can shift in the pandemic-abbreviated Canadian Premier League. The week began Sunday with the euphoria of making the playoff group stage with a dramatic 2-1 late win over FC Edmonton in the final opening-round game.
Just as suddenly, a muted PFC is at the foot of that second-round table following the emphatic 3-1 loss to Cavalry FC of Calgary on Wednesday evening. That followed the 1-1 draw between defending-champion Forge FC of Hamilton and HFX Wanderers of Halifax in the first game of the playoff round and which featured a controversial penalty that allowed Forge to tie the game.
Cavalry FC avenged a 2-1 loss to PFC in the opening round of the CPL tournament being staged amid a bubble in Charlottetown, P.E.I. The Calgary team, co-favourite for the title with Forge FC, weren’t about to let PFC sneak up on them a second time.
“Pacific tore us apart the first time we met. Today was a bit of pay back. That looks more like us,” said Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.
“You give yourself a head start and a fighting chance [with a first-game playoff win].”
Hometown Calgary-product Nik Ledgerwood, capped 50 times for Canada, opened scoring from the penalty spot at 15 minutes for Cavalry after Mohamed Farsi was taken down in the box.
“We put ourselves on the back foot with that early goal allowed and we were fighting an uphill battle after that,” said PFC midfielder Jamar Dixon.
PFC head coach Pa-Modou Kah echoed those sentiments.
“We have given away five penalties [in the tournament]. That is far too many,” he said.
“Calgary did not allow us to play and punished us when we made mistakes. They took the chances we created for them. You win some and lose some. We beat them the other day and they beat us today. That is football. They wanted revenge and studied us. Credit to Calgary.”
Elijah Adekugbe made it 2-0 for Cavalry at 49 minutes. A tight battle for the ball between Sean Young of PFC and Dominick Zator of Cavalry was won by the hometown Victoria-product Young to bring PFC to within one with his first career pro goal. But Farsi applied the final dagger with a goal at 75 minutes.
PFC pressed and had good possession in the latter stages but could not make anything of it.
“Calgary was very compact and we could not go forward,” said Canada-capped Dixon.
The win was sweet for 27-time Canada capped former PFC striker Marcus Haber, who now plays for Cavalry.
The playoff group stage is a round-robin. PFC meets Forge FC at 9 a.m. Saturday in a nationally-televised game on CBC before closing against HFX on Sept. 15 at 5 p.m. The top-two teams in the playoff round-robin advance to the one-game league final Sept. 19 at 11 a.m. on CBC. All times are PDT.
“We have excellent character and the guys kept working and that’s all we can ask for,” said Dixon, the former Victoria Highlanders PDL player.
“We are still feeling positive.”
Kah concurred: “We’ve got to win. Nothing changes in that regard. We have two games left.”
The CPL champion will advance to meet the top Canadian team from Major League Soccer for the Canadian Championship, this nation’s FA Cup-type title. The Vancouver Whitecaps, Montreal Impact and Toronto FC are playing in a Canada-only MLS tournament to decide who will advance against the CPL champion. The Canadian champion will represent the nation in the CONCACAF Champions tournament against the club champions from the U.S., Mexico, Central America and Caribbean.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com