They lost 2021 Coach of the Year Pa-Modou Kah. Kadin Chung and Lukas MacNaughton went to Toronto FC. The most difficult of all perhaps, Player of the Year finalist Terran Campbell and Canadian U-21 Player of the Year -- not to mention the man who scored last year's championship-winning goal -- Alessandro Hojabrpour were poached by rivals Forge. No team in the league lost more quality this past offseason than Pacific FC, and all signs pointed to a championship hangover. Instead, through six matchweeks, they are eight points clear atop the Canadian Premier League table. A big reason for that has been the MVP-calibre play of midfielder Manny Aparicio, who with more freedom to play offensively has thrived. "I think Manny has arguably been the best central midfielder in the league so far," said Pacific manager James Merriman earlier in the year. "These are the qualities that he has, he's a box-to-box central midfielder, he has technique, he has quality on the ball, he does the work defensively, he creates chances going forward and he's also taking chances now as well. You see the all-around central box-to-box midfielder that he is and he's a player that I'm excited to work with." As his coach mentioned, Aparicio's game is one of the most well-rounded in the league. He is excellent at winning the ball, has outstanding passing ability, can take free-kicks with the best in the league and has a seemingly undrainable fuel tank. But what has taken his game to the next level this year has been that Merriman and staff have afforded the 26-year-old a lot of license to get forward, and he has been using it liberally. This has allowed Aparicio to lead the Canadian Premier League in a very surprising statistical category: headed goals. Listed at 5-foot-6, let's just say he probably isn't winning many contested headers in the box, making this all the more impressive. On both of his goals this season, Aparicio has made clever late runs into the box to lose his marker and find the open space needed, as evidenced by the clips below (Aparicio is #34).
All clips courtesy OneSoccer
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