The Pacific FC players watched the first half of Saturday’s inaugural Canadian Premier League soccer game in Hamilton, between Forge FC and York 9, before turning off the television and hitting the pitch themselves for a final training session.
They have their own CPL debut to consider and it happens Sunday at 4 p.m. at Westhills Stadium against the HFX Wanderers of Halifax.
You don’t get to do this too many times, if ever, in a career.
“A brand new league, brand new team and brand new [renovated] stadium. I think all the players are going to remember this day for the rest of their lives,” Pacific striker Marcus Haber said.
“It’s exciting to be part of something so special and which doesn’t happen often. We will relish the moment. There will be some nerves, but, in the end, it’s another game.”
The veteran Haber has seen plenty of those in a career in which he played nine seasons as a pro in Europe and was capped 27 times for Canada.
The journey began in 2009 when he signed with English Championship side West Bromwich Albion and continued through the Scottish Premiership with Dundee.
The CPL, however, is primarily for younger Canadian pros looking to move on to Europe, MLS and the senior national team. Haber, 30, will be expected to be an on-field mentor to those rising, young Pacific pros.
Haber said he liked what he saw in his first glimpse of the CPL on Saturday.
“It was a high-quality game with both teams [Forge FC and York 9] showing firepower. This is going to be good for soccer in our country.”
Indeed, both sides in Saturday’s 1-1 draw in the first game in CPL history looked fine offensively.
So, what style can fans expect from Pacific FC?
“Without giving away too much [to HFX], we will play attractive up-tempo football with pace and high energy,” Haber said.
But when 56-time Canada capped former MLS and Bundesliga attacking-defender Marcel de Jong, like Haber a marquee veteran signing by Pacific, went down in training to a season-ending injury, other CPL teams began to question the Island club’s back end.
Haber said Pacific’s team is deep, well put together and will recover from the blow, because of head coach Michael Silberbauer, who played for FC Copenhagen, and represented Denmark 25 times, including at Euro 2012.
“[Silberbauer] is very organized and wants us to be well balanced,” Haber said.
“Our team has high quality. Michael wants us to go out and be professional.”
Which is what the CPL is all about as it addresses the issue of Canada, up until Saturday, being without a domestic pro soccer league.
That was an issue HFX Wanderers head coach Stephen Hart dealt with as Canadian Under-17 and U-20 head coach from 2002 to 2007, and Canada’s senior national team head coach from 2009 to 2012.
Hart went on to become Trinidad and Tobago head coach from 2013 to 2016, so has guided two nations in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying campaigns.
Hart, in an interview before departing Halifax, said everyone in the Canadian Premier League is jumping into the unknown: “I think it’s one of those games where it’s more important what you do than what they do, because we’re both blind and really don’t know our qualities.”
But the uniqueness of Sunday's moment is not lost on Hart: “It’s an exciting time and a special time.”
Haber knows Hart well.
“I played for Stephen at the U-levels of the national program, and also with the full national team, and have a lot of respect for him,” Haber said.
“He will have his team ready.”
