Having trailed Forge FC and Cavalry FC all last season, York9 FC’s coach Jimmy Brennan was plain with his off-season intentions: "We’ve got to improve. We’ve got to be better." As training camp opened in sunny Orlando this week, Brennan recounted a busy winter that saw a smattering of new recruits welcomed to the fold, a balanced mix of Canadians and internationals. On the domestic front, York acquired some of the highest-profile free agents on the market in Chris Mannella, Michael Petrasso, and Matthew Arnone, while in Max Ferrari, Brennan went back to his old club, Aurora FC, to pluck a gem from League1 Ontario. Dipping into the international market, Brennan searched for further additions, highlighting six players from South America, Asia, and the Caribbean in a range of positions. While hardly the most drastic turnover in the CPL, it was a recognition that 2019 just wasn’t good enough. "It's hard building a squad," Brennan told CanPL.ca. "Last year it was a scramble. You build your squad and then after your first year you start looking at it and go, ‘Okay, this is where we need to improve, this is the quality that we need in this position.’" He continued: "Everybody's realized that. The only two that really haven't shuffled too much is Cavalry and Forge. The rest of us have all been juggling our rosters because we know what the standard is going to be." RELATED READING: CPL pre-season roster tracker: How each team is shaping up With 11 returning players, York9, by latest count, are smack in the middle of the seven original CPL sides braced for year two. The two pacesetters, Forge and Cavalry, are two of the three above them with FC Edmonton largely staying the course as well. That group of 11 returnees contains most of the names one would expect, the majority of Brennan’s preferred XI from last season, minus a few notables. That is the foundation. "I was delighted that we had (them) all coming back," Brennan said. "They understand the way that we play, our philosophy, and now it's just getting all the right pieces that’s going to enhance the squad. "Now it's just building around that core." But having fallen short in 2019, Brennan was adamant that, "We needed a bit more quality to come in, especially off the bench, to give us more depth. We wanted to create an atmosphere within the club where we would have guys fighting for positions all over the park." "That's really going to push our group and get us over the final hurdle to get us into a final," he added. "We've got a great squad now that we feel are very competitive. "We’ve added some very good players to our roster, that's going to improve our squad and make us a better outfit this year." With the announcement this week of Brian Lopez, an Argentine midfielder, and Jaco, a Brazilian forward, York feels they have done what was needed. Brennan likes the mix at his disposal and their prospects for 2020: "We've got a great bunch here, they’ve got a great mindset, they've got good work ethic. These players, every single day, are coming in focused and they're raring to go. They know what the end goal is for our organization. "We have one goal: get to the final and win a championship." One question looms. With the departures of Ryan Telfer, Simon Adjei, and Rodrigo Gattas – a trio that accounted for 24 of York’s 39 goals last year – where will the goals come from for York9 FC? "In the second part of the (2019) season, 18 games, we scored 30 goals. It's not just those strikers, it's the rest of the team, our defenders, our midfielders, that are creating those opportunities for the strikers," Brennan explained. "We feel we've got some dynamic players that are first class, in and around that box, with Ugarriza and Jaco. We’ve got the pace that we wanted as well with (Nicholas) Hamilton and (Gabriel) Vasconcelos. We feel that we've got the right mix. "We've got guys that have got an eye for goal, in and around the box, so we feel that we've got the right pieces that are going to get those opportunities because we will create them." York will spend two weeks in Florida with a handful of pre-season matches lined up against Orlando City B and Chivas de Guadalajara’s under-23 team, and a local university. "It's good for the guys to get down south, get in the sun, get on grass for a couple of weeks and really get the fitness levels up," Brennan detailed. "There's a lot of tactical work, a lot of fitness work, but it just gives us an opportunity to get away from the city, get away from everybody, and just really focus on ourselves.” But that April 13 home opener against HFX Wanderers FC can’t come soon enough. In fact, unlike in 2019, York will open the campaign with two straight home matches. "It's great," Brennan stated. "Last year we had four or five games on the road and it felt forever before we were getting home. It was a difficult start for us, but this year is going to be different."
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