Canadian Premier League — Match #45 Pacific FC vs. HFX Wanderers FC July 20, 2019 — Westhills Stadium (3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET) Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca

The east and west coasts collide this weekend as HFX Wanderers FC head to Van Isle for a Fall season reprisal of the CPL's second-ever game against Pacific FC. HFX has a win and two losses to start the Fall, having fallen flat on Wednesday in a 2-0 road loss to Forge FC. They're still in search of their first away goal in CPL play, with all their positive results coming at Wanderers Grounds. It's impossible for them to be farther from home than British Columbia, but a point or three against Pacific would get the monkey off their backs and go a long way toward turning things around. Pacific, on the other hand, has lost all three games since the table reset earlier this month, including two straight 3-2 scorelines at home. Michael Silberbauer will be desperately hoping his team can find a way to stop their skid here, especially after an extremely positive ending to the Spring season (a resounding 3-1 win over the ascendant Cavalry FC). Following this coastal clash, HFX will jump back into their Canadian Championship tie with the USL's Ottawa Fury (which they trail 3-2), as they travel to the nation's capital on Wednesday, July 24 (7:30 p.m. ET, on OneSoccer). Pacific, meanwhile, will have a break, with their next game coming on Wednesday, July 31 on the road against Valour FC (8:00 p.m. ET, 7:00 p.m. CT, on OneSoccer).
KEYS TO THE MATCH

  • Nolan Wirth: Now that he's started four straight games in goal for Pacific, it seems the Comox, BC native has seized the number one keeper's shirt from Mark Village. He was particularly impactful in Pacific's 3-2 loss to Forge, which could've been a blowout were it not for him almost single-handedly keeping his side in it. He made five saves against York9 last time out, too. His entire backline's confidence will grow if he continues playing the way he has been.​
  • Don't waste goals: Three of the last five times Pacific scored a goal, they were picking the ball out of their own net within the next five minutes. They've been aggressive enough to fight their way back into games after falling behind, but too many times their attacking efforts have been undermined by a leaky defence. That's just not good enough; while Pacific hasn't had much of an issue scoring goals, especially with Terran Campbell heating up, the revolving door of defenders they've employed haven't been able to stay focused in such key moments.​
  • Fullback depth: HFX's typical fullbacks, Andre Bona and Zela Langwa, have been crucial to the Wanderers' counter-attack game all season, and they've been stable presences in the defence. However, they both missed out on Wednesday's loss to Forge, and Langwa has now missed two straight. If they're unavailable again due to injury, this will be a major test of Alex De Carolis and Chrisnovic N'Sa's abilities as understudies in positions that are crucial to HFX's gameplan.​

PROJECTED LINEUPS

Pacific FC: Nolan Wirth; Blake Smith, Hendrik Starostzik, Émile Legault, Kadin Chung; Victor Blasco, Jose Hernandez, Alessandro Hojabrpour, Noah Verhoeven, Ben Fisk; Terran Campbell

HFX Wanderers FC: Christian Oxner; Alex De Carolis, Matthew Arnone, Peter Schaale, Chrisnovic N'Sa; Kodai Iida, Andre Rampersad, Elton John, Mohamed Kourouma; Akeem Garcia, Luis Alberto Perea


HEAD TO HEAD

April 28 - Pacific FC 1-0 HFX Wanderers FC June 1 - HFX Wanderers FC 2-1 Pacific FC

STATS LEADERS

Terran Campbell - 5 goals (Pacific FC) Akeem Garcia - 4 goals (HFX Wanderers FC)

INJURIES

Marcel De Jong (Pacific FC) - Out Marcus Haber (Pacific FC) - Out Ndzemdzela Langwa (HFX Wanderers FC) - Doubtful Andre Bona (HFX Wanderers FC) - Doubtful

INTERNATIONAL DUTY

None

SUSPENSIONS

Matthew Baldisimo (Pacific FC)

ACCUMULATION (Players are suspended for one match 14 days after accumulating a 4th Yellow Card)

Ndzemdzela Langwa (HFX Wanderers FC) - 3 Andre Bona (HFX Wanderers FC) - 3


REFEREES

Referee: Yusri Rudolf ARs: Erina Cho & Evan Fryer 4th Official: Cole Shoemaker


FANTASY PREDICTOR Download the Centre Circle app to play predictor ahead of each match.

Q: Will a single player score more than 1 goal?

A: So far in the CanPL season, braces have been few and far between. Don't expect that to change.

Q: Will the home team have more possession?

A: So far in the Spring Competition Forge, Pacific and Cavalry have been averaging 57.8%, 50.1% and 53.8% possession respectively. In this case, Forge seems to be the only home team that can be relied upon to out-posses the visiting club.

Q: Will a player with the letter "E" in their surname score?

A: Borges, Campbell and Telfer: Do you want to bet against them?


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