Victor Blasco had a blast Wednesday night at Westhills Stadium. With his foot for his seventh goal of the season. His free kick to the top corner at 31 minutes, from just outside the box, was the Pacific FC goal in a 1-1 Canadian Premier League draw against HFX Wanderers of Halifax.
“You have to try it. Sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn’t,” said the former Barcelona academy player.
“Today, I was confident.”
But Trinidad and Tobago-capped Akeem Garcia squeezed a wet ball just over the goal line, off a corner kick, to tie it for HFX (2-6-7 in the fall season) at 80 minutes. That left PFC ruing its missed opportunities to bury the game earlier before 2,708 fans.
“When you don’t put away your chances, you get punished on an opportunity [going the other way]. That’s what happens,” said Blasco.
Pacific FC (4-7-4 in the fall) came off road losses to the two top teams in the league, Cavalry of Calgary and Forge of Hamilton.
“I thought it was a good bounce back after the last two games. But I felt there could have been more in it for us. We created enough chances to put the game away,” said PFC head coach Michael Silberbauer.
“If you don’t, there’s always the chance one moment will come when they [opposition] level up,” added the 25-cap former Danish international. “I’m disappointed but not angry. The boys tried.”
Marcel de Jong, who played six seasons for FC Augsburg of the Bundesliga and also four seasons for top-level Dutch Eredivisie club Roda JC, recorded a remarkable comeback from injury Wednesday by dressing for Pacific FC. It was only the wet conditions which probably held him from being brought into the game from the bench.
The tenaciously determined 56-cap former Canadian international returned for the first time since going down in training camp to a ruptured Achilles in mid-March. Most medical experts thought he would be out for the season. But de Jong made a promise to himself that he would return before the season was over. The 32-year-old, who played the last three seasons in the MLS with the Vancouver Whitecaps, lived up to that vow and will likely see action over the last two games, the first of which is the return match next Wednesday in Halifax.
With 4,476 kilometres between Victoria and Halifax, this matchup constitutes the third-longest trip in the world between domestic league Premiership soccer clubs.
