Playing soccer on live national television might not be a big deal for the likes of Pacific FC veterans Marcus Haber and Issey Nakajima-Farran. Haber did so while playing in the Scottish Premiership and Nakajima-Farran in Major League Soccer.
Pacific FC head coach Michael Silberbauer, a Danish and Dutch Premiership veteran as a player, represented his native Denmark at Euro 2012.
But for many of the young Pacific FC pros, on what is the youngest roster in the Canadian Premier League, it is a big thing to get that sort of exposure. Still, they try to keep it in perspective.
Pacific FC plays its second consecutive nationally televised road game (Saturday at 9 a.m. PDT on CBC) when it meets York9 in the Greater Toronto Area.
“Getting to watch an away game on national TV is great for our supporters, families, and certainly the exposure is great for the league as a whole, but you don’t really think about it as a player,” Pacific FC midfielder Noah Verhoeven said.
Pacific FC can only hope it goes better than it did two weeks ago, when the Island-based club squandered a 1-0 halftime lead in Halifax to lose 2-1 to the HFX Wanderers.
That was the second time in as many games Pacific FC had blown a first-half lead following a 2-2 draw with York9 last month after leading 2-0 at the half at Westhills Stadium.
“We switch off for short periods of time, and that’s something we need to fix and to realize we need to play a full 90 minutes,” Verhoeven said.
“When we get a lead, we need to continue to push to build on it.”
Injuries remain an issue for PFC with two of their five goal scorers on the season — import Hendrik Starostzik from Germany and Jose Hernandez — out for today’s game.
On the plus side, the emerging Verhoeven has returned from his call-up as a practice player for the Canadian national team in Los Angeles ahead of its CONCACAF Gold Cup opener today against Martinique. The 19-year-old has shown well in starting all six CPL games for Island-based Pacific FC and the two Voyageurs Cup Canadian Championship fixtures.
“It was a good experience and national team coach John Herdman told me to keep pushing at Pacific and putting in the performances,” Verhoeven said.
“He said the Olympic [U-23] qualifiers for Tokyo 2020 are coming up,” added Verhoeven, who has played for the Canada U-20 team.
The growing pains as a group have been evident as Verhoeven and his PFC mates are 1-3-2 in league play and 0-2 in the Voyageurs Cup after going down in the latter to Cavalry FC, which has advanced to meet the Vancouver Whitecaps of the MLS in the third round in what is Canada’s version of the FA Cup.
The CPL, Surrey-product Verhoeven said, was the missing link for young Canadian players: “It’s a bridge to the next pro level [Europe or MLS] for Canadian players with potential.”
Last-place York9 also has struggled this season at 0-2-3 in league play, but is coming off an elevating 3-1 victory Wednesday over FC Edmonton in the Voyageurs Cup competition. That advanced York to a third-round meeting against Montreal Impact of the MLS.
After a hectic flurry of games to start the season, Pacific FC is coming off a much-needed two-week break. PFC will stay on the road after today’s match in Toronto for a game Thursday in Winnipeg against Valour FC, before hosting FC Edmonton on June 23 at Westhills Stadium.
