New season, new faces for Pacific Football Club
Pacific Football Club looks forward to inviting soccer fans to watch the start of their second season at Westhills Stadium – whenever that may be. The club welcomed new head coach Pa-Modou Kah in the beginning of the year, a former top player who coached previously in the MLS.
“The health and safety of everyone in our community is the most important thing at this time,” said Kah. “Once we are in a different circumstance, we can’t wait to play at home in Langford and have the game of football bring smiles back to people’s faces.”
Kah’s inaugural season with Pacific includes an impressive roster of new players and many returning fan favourites. Newly signed talent includes Canadian Premier League star Marco Bustos from Winnipeg and Mexicanborn Alejandro Diaz. In goal, Callum Irving joined Pacific returning to BC from Ottawa where he played three seasons with the Ottawa Fury.
“As a West Coast kid, there’s nothing like living and playing out here close to my family and friends,” said Irving. “The team that Pacific is building makes it an exciting squad to be part of with high aspirations in the CPL.”
Bustos, Diaz and Irving join returning players such as Marcel de Jong, Noah Verhoeven, Matthew Baldisimo, Alessandro Hojabrpour and ‘keeper’ Nolan Wirth.
The mandate of Pacific FC is to enhance the game of soccer on Vancouver Island overall, and although on-field play is currently on hold, the players of the future are hard at work. The Trident Development Program, a training program that supports the development of girls and boys ages 8-18, has moved to online programming to keep youth busy at home.
“While we would love to be training our Trident kids in person at the Island Training Centre, we’ve come up with the next best thing under the current restrictions,” said James Merriman, associate head coach and technical director. “Our young athletes are getting weekly workouts and skills drills helping to keep them fit and engaged with soccer.”
Pacific FC has quickly become a part of the sporting community of Langford and beyond and looks ahead to playing and coaching in the region and welcoming back their enthusiastic fans.