Pacific FC is the youngest team in the Canadian Premier League, the nation’s long-awaited professional soccer circuit, and makes no apologies for it.
“This league is built for 2026 [when Canada co-hosts the World Cup with the United States and Mexico],” PFC head coach Michael Silberbauer said.
“The 30-year-olds now will not be on that Canadian team. But, hopefully, some of these young guys will be.”
PFC has taken to heart what it believes is the mandate of the CPL — to develop young pro Canadian soccer talent.
Each team must give a minimum 1,000 minutes of playing time during a season to at least three under-21 players.
Heading into today’s away game against FC Edmonton, a number of U-21 PFC players are well on their away to contributing to that 3,000-minute team total. PFC is already up to 1,359 minutes played by U-21 players after only three games.
Kaden Chung and Noah Verhoeven have both logged 270 minutes of field time, Matthew Baldisimo 252 minutes, Terran Campbell 218, Emile Legault 180 minutes, Jose Hernandez 136, Zach Verhoven 29 and Admed Alghamdi four.
But Pacific FC is off to a 1-2 start, so is this too young?
“We are trying to build something here,” said Silberbauer, a former pro with FC Copenhagen who represented Denmark 25 times, including at Euro 2012.
“We believe in the way we are doing it.”
That includes trusting the results will come as this young group learns and improves as pro athletes.
The 3-0 loss last Wednesday to Forge FC at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ont., was one of those harsh lessons that have to be learned along the way as PFC went down 2-0 in the first 14 minutes in the first road game in franchise history.
“That was a good lesson for this group and they will learn from it,” Silberbauer said.
“It may happen again, but not like that,” he vowed.
The youthful Pacific players are on beam to be quick learners. Legault and Hernandez made their debuts for Canada at the 2017 CONCACAF U-17 championship in Panama.
Legault’s most recent foray on the international pitch was in the 2018 CONCACAF U-20 championship in the United States. Legault and Verhoeven also competed at the Toulon Tournament with Canada’s U-20 team.
“Playing in the 2026 World Cup in front of our home fans in Canada would be awesome,” said Legault, allowing himself to dream big.
But the pro game in the CPL has certainly come with a steep learning curve.
“The pros are so good that you have to be switched on and focused at all times. You can’t have any lapses, or they will cost you,” said Legault, who was in the MLS training camp of Montreal Impact this year.
Meanwhile, the breadth of Canada is only just hitting home to Silberbauer.
After the loss in Hamilton, PFC flew all the way back to the Island. A day of practice at the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence was squeezed in before flying back out over the Rockies for today’s fixture at what will be a sold-out Clarke Stadium for the first CPL home game for FC Edmonton (1-0).
The distance from Victoria to Hamilton is twice as long as the trip between Copenhagen and Moscow. “It’s far and not perfect for playing football [the travel in the PCL, which spans Langford to Halifax],” Silberbauer said.
“But in Canada, it is how it is.”
So you deal with it.
CORNER KICKS: Today will be a special Mother’s Day game for PFC’s Hernandez, who hails from Edmonton . . . There is optimism in the PFC camp that 27-time Canada capped striker Marcus Haber will be back in the lineup today after missing the game in Hamilton with a toe issue . . . Definitely ruled out today for PFC is injured standout German import defender Hendrik Starostzik.
WINNIPEG — Callum Ferguson scored the lone goal early in the second half, leading Winnipeg’s Valour FC to a 1-0 win over Halifax’s HFX Wanderers FC on Saturday in Canadian Premier League play. Ferguson found the back of the net in the 48th minute in front of 5,819 fans at Investors Group Field.
Mathias Janssens earned the clean sheet in the Valour (2-2-0) net with three saves.
Jan-Michael Williams stopped four shots for Halifax (1-2-0).
The CPL’s inaugural season sees seven teams each playing 28 regular-season games, 14 home and 14 away. — The Canadian Press
