Pacific FC staying grounded despite shocking powerhouse Cavalry FC
Pacific FC is not yet ready to compare itself against the gold standard of the Canadian Premier League. Not even after tarnishing it a bit Sunday with a 2-1 victory over powerhouse Cavalry FC of Calgary.
PFC is still a team in progress, and hardly golden yet despite the noteworthy victory, said head coach Pa-Modou Kah.
“Cavalry is one of the best teams in the league and we were looking forward to the challenge,” said Kah.
That challenge appeared to be met and even surpassed amid the CPL “bubble” in Charlottetown, P.E.I. Not so quick, replied Kah.
“The favourites are still Cavalry and Forge FC [of Hamilton]. We are not at their level, yet, and have not done anything yet to prove we are on par with them,” he said. “But this was another stepping stone.”
Maybe more like a stepping boulder, as PFC used the big win to move into third place in the standings behind defendingchampion Forge FC and 2019 league runner-up Cavalry FC. The top-four teams of the eight will advance to the playoff-group stage after the current opening round-robin stage.
It is still tight with no team having yet clinched a berth into the next round and only last-place FC Edmonton looking to be out of it.
Pacific FC won its second straight game and has two wins, two draws and a loss. Cavalry, suddenly humbled, was left to rue its second consecutive loss after starting with three wins and a draw. “Pacific stretched us side to side and we didn’t respond,” said Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.
“Credit is due to Pacific. They outcoached us. We haven’t been in this situation [two straight losses] but our fate is still in our hands.”
PFC led 2-0 at the half and then held tough as Cavalry pressed in the second half.
“[PFC] had a good game plan and it’s frustrating we couldn’t deal with it better,” said veteran Cavalry centre-back Mason Trafford, who has also played pro in China and Finland.
Kah, however, still saw things he wants improved. “We took our foot off the gas in the second half and could have done better with game management,” said the PFC bench boss. “But I thought our resilience and character in digging in [in the second half] was fantastic.”
Striker Alejandro Diaz and attacking-midfielders Marco Bustos, Victor Blasco and Jamar Dixon seem to have found their flow up front.
“All our front six are finding their rhythm and are finding patterns of play [that are meshing],” said Kah.
Bustos and Dixon showed why they have both been capped for Canada. Bustos opened scoring at 22 minutes with a well-taken left-footed shot to the corner. The play began when a pressing Dixon stole the ball from a Cavalry player in the Calgary side of the field. Then Blasco’s deftly-chipped cheeky cross pass from close in found former Mexico U-20 star Diaz on the fly for the tap-in at 26 minutes to make it 2-0. “We wanted to be on the front foot to start and put Calgary under pressure,” said Bustos.
“We knew they would come back and that it would take a lot of grit to hold on.”
Cavalry did answer with a penalty-kick goal by Nathan Mavila at 55 minutes but could not find the equalizer as PFC’s back four kept its form and held firm.
“We are now on the front foot overall as a team and we want to keep moving forward,” said Bustos.
PFC closes out the first round against Atletico Ottawa on Wednesday at 5 p.m. and against FC Edmonton on Sunday at noon. Both times are PDT.