Final Score: Pacific FC 3-0 Vancouver FC
Goalscorers: Zanatta 7′, 72′, Dyer 43′
Game of the 2024 season: 90
CPL match: 574

Match in a minute or less

Pacific have climbed back into a tie for the fifth and final playoff spot in the CPL table, as they defeated rivals Vancouver FC 3-0 at Starlight Stadium on Saturday, snapping a five-game losing streak against their fellow B.C. rivals.

It didn’t take long for Pacific to find the net to open this game, either as Dario Zanatta turned home a rebound from close-range after a dangerous Moses Dyer shot in the 7th minute, giving his team an early 1-0 lead.

Then, Dyer doubled his team’s lead in the 43rd minute, as he headed home on a corner after a perfect delivery from Andrei Tîrcoveanu from that dead ball situation.

Pacific then found their third goal in the 72nd minute, as Zanatta slotted home into an empty net after Tîrcoveanu had a free kick denied by Callum Irving, giving him a brace, allowing Pacific to secure all three points on the day.

Three Observations

Pacific learns from past derby losses in long-awaited win over Vancouver:

Heading into this game, Pacific knew that their attention to detail was going to be critical if they were to claim this Salish Sea derby.

Having lost their last five derby games, including all three of their matches this season, Pacific were eager to finally get one up over their provincial neighbours. Especially given what was at stake in terms of the table, this felt like a must-win for Pacific in terms of the playoff race, helping them keep pace in a quickly-changing table.

If they were to do that, however, Pacific knew that they were going to be much more ruthless than they were in their most recent matches against Vancouver, where they had let games slip away from them.

Having scored first in two of their three previous derbies this year, they lost both of those games where they opened the scoring 2-1, as Vancouver managed to come back from down a goal on each occasion to win.

Because of that, the goal wasn’t necessarily for Pacific to score first (at least, that always feels like that’s a goal for them in all games), but to then follow it up with more goals, allowing them to put the game away early.

Safe to say, they executed that game plan to perfection in this one, as not only did they find their early goal, but they did well to build off it, scoring a second before half time, and then putting the game away with 20 minutes to go.

One of their most complete performances of the season, they were excellent at both ends, too, making this a deserving win.

Offensively, they arguably even left goals on the table, as they generated 19 shots, including 10 on target, generating five big chances and 2.52 xG per OPTA. Then, defensively, they held Vancouver to just 10 shots, including only one on target, as Vancouver failed to muster up a big chance and had just 0.65 xG.

Yet, that’s exactly what they needed in this sort of game. Having struggled in past derbies, they knew that they were going to need a top performance to break that slump, and they certainly got that.

“It’s something that we wanted to really do, to try to attack the game and start a little bit more direct as well, and put pressure on them,” Pacific’s head coach, James Merriman said afterwards. “And we did it, but then it was important that we stay in the match and not lose our way, because we’ve also conceded goals after we’ve scored quickly this season, so I’m really happy with the management of the moment, the management of the first half, and of course, the result and our overall performance.”

“We all know it’s been unacceptable against Vancouver this season,” Zanatta added. “We’ve been in winning positions, but we haven’t taken any points from them. But we had some good leaders out there, Marco Domínguez, Thomas Meilleur-Giguère and myself trying to spur us on to get us these really important points going into the playoffs.”

Now, this win could prove to push Pacific onto bigger and better things, too. The beauty of a big derby win is that it can have a big effect on a team’s form in future games, too, as there is a special lift that comes from winning against one’s rivals.

Of course, Pacific would’ve preferred not going over 15 months without a win in this fixture, but they’ll now be able to take solace in the fact that they not only busted that slump in style, but did so at a perfect time in their season.

With six games left for them in the regular season, this would be the perfect time to peak, as doing so could not only push them into a playoff spot, but perhaps on a bit of a playoff run if they reach that stage.

They won’t be thinking of that, naturally, as their main focus is just getting into the postseason, but that’s a pretty good incentive to have at the front of their minds, and their performances in the last two games certainly reflect that.

“We’ll take our six goals in the last two matches, we’ll take the three goals today, and we’ll continue to build confidence at the right time and put in the work because we’re far from where we want to be still,” Merriman finished.

Wide balls haunt Vancouver in another slow start:

Having conceded inside six minutes in three of their last four games, it went almost without saying that Vancouver were hoping to go a little longer in this game without having to pick a ball out of their own net than they ultimately did.

Instead, after conceding goals in the sixth minute against Forge on August 18th, in the second minute against Ottawa on August 31st and in the fourth minute against York on September 6th, they had a goal breach their goal after just seven minutes in this one.

From there, it seemed to put them on the back foot the rest of the game, and they were never really able to recover from that.

That had an effect on all areas of the game, and none so more than on their attack, as they were unable to get going offensively until it was too late, as eight of their 10 shots in this game came in the second half.

For a team who has done well to score against this Pacific team in past matchups, scoring in all but one of their seven meetings with their rivals, that was frustrating for them, as they’ll feel they could’ve still gotten something out of this game even despite trailing so early, having done so in past fixtures against Pacific.

Instead, some familiar struggles from the last few weeks accompanied the early goal they conceded, as they’ve found it hard to get back into any of those games in which they trailed nearly instantly. For a team who has proven they can score goals, sitting with 26 in 23 CPL games despite now being shut out in nine of those 23 matches, that’s been a surprise to see.

“We didn’t really create enough clear chances in this game, as most of our chances were dead ball situations or half-chances,” Vancouver’s head coach, Afshin Ghotbi, said. “We have to be more creative, especially out of the midfield, and more show more innovation, more quality.”

Yet, it feels like if they’re to get their attack going again, it’ll start with the work at the back, and in this game, they struggled to deal with Pacific’s delivery of wide balls into the box.

That’s reflected statistically, as Pacific completed an impressive eight out of 13 cross attempts on the day, which is a very high completion rate for that type of delivery.

For a team that has good size and prowess aerially, as Vancouver still won 49% of their aerial duels despite their struggles on crosses, it’s a surprise to see, but shows what Vancouver will want to fix going forward.

Now, they’ve made it a habit to switch off in crucial moments in front of goal, especially when the ball is delivered from out wide, and teams are picking up on the fact that they can put them under pressure and turn that into chances and goals. In a league where everyone is quite familiar with each other given how often they all play one other, that trend has quickly spread, and Vancouver has felt it in this last sequence of matches as they’ve started to see teams for the third and fourth times this season.

“I think we could have done better,” Vancouver defender, Matteo Campagna, said afterwards. “We’ve talked a lot about the set pieces (and wide balls) we were conceding, so it just wasn’t good enough, and we need to keep working on towards the future to really secure our playoff spot.”

Because of that, they’ll now have to head back to the drawing board for their last five games. That’ll start with their work at the back, as they’ve conceded 24 goals in their last 13 games, keeping just one clean sheet across that span, and they’ll look to turn that into more offence, as six of the nine times they’ve been shut out this CPL season have also come across that 13-game period.

Despite this loss, Vancouver still sits in a good position in the playoff race, but they’ve now got a massive period ahead of them, or else they’ll risk erasing the work they’ve done to sit in a playoff spot for most of this year.

After a shock derby loss like this one, however, it feels like the exact sort of game that can trigger a response, so now they’ll try and find that spark before it’s too late.

“Well, if speak about it as often as I do, and if you can work on it as often as I do, at some point, when it doesn’t get done, you have to change personnel in the field,” Ghotbi finished. “Players can’t keep making the same mistakes over and over – at some point, you have to make changes.”

New-look Pacific attack continues to gel:

Heading into their matchup against the Halifax Wanderers on September 7th , Pacific was looking for any source of goals they could find at that time. Having entered that match with just one goal scored in their last six games, they would’ve been happy to find the net just once in that game, let alone three times as they ultimately did en route to a crucial 3-0 victory.

At the same time, they knew that while that offensive performance was one that had been a long time coming for a Tridents side who had scored more than two goals just one other time this year in CPL play, it was crucial that they find a way to build off it with another strong offensive performance.

They didn’t disappointed in that regard, as they had the ball inside of the net twice after 45 minutes, added another in the second, and most importantly, looked like the dangerous and free-flowing attacking side Pacific has been known for being over the last few years.

Led by the striker partnership of Moses Dyer and Dario Zanatta, and then supported by Andrei Tîrcoveanu in a free role underneath them, they ended up causing all sorts of problems for Vancouver’s back line, as the work of Dyer and Zanatta off the ball up front ended up opening up space for Tîrcoveanu to operate in between the lines.

In particular, Dyer was lively, as his work rate off the ball caused all sorts of problems for Vancouver’s defence, both in terms of how he pressed them when they had the ball, as well as the runs he made when Pacific had possession.

As a result, that forced Vancouver to play more directly when they had the ball, while pushing their line deeper when they were defending.

The latter ended up benefitting Tîrcoveanu the most, as the Pacific attacking midfielder ended up thriving in the space he found in midfield, finishing with one assist, five shots, two chances created, one dribble and four completed crosses in a top attacking performance. Along with strong showings from Dyer, who had four shots and two chances created to go along with his goal, and Zanatta, who had four shots to go along with his brace, and it made for a tidy afternoon for the trio.

“We look like a whole new team going forward at the moment,” Zanatta explained. “Having Moses (Dyer) and Andrei (Tîrcoveanu) around me have been big help.”

“First, there’s Moses. He’s a joy to play with in terms of his work rate and and how he puts defenders under pressure. Then, there’s Andrei, who is always looking to give you passes to get you involved, and you saw it on our second goal the quality that he has, and I’ve just been lucky to follow shots in and get the goals.”

Yet, this is a formula that Pacific will feel they can continue to build on. Having only started that trio for the first time in that Halifax game, they’ll be encouraged to see these kinds of early returns already.

Having struggled to find a consistent source of offence all season, scoring only 14 times in their first 20 CPL games (an average of 0.7 per game) before this recent two game surge, they can look at this sequence as something to build off of.

Of course, the big key for Pacific will be to now build off this stretch, as they’ll need these goals to keep flowing if they’re going to climb up the table and secure a playoff spot. Now sitting tied for a playoff spot once again, having won back-to-back games for just the second time this season, this is a good starting spot for them, and they’ll now look to turn it into a strong finish to the year.

The good news? They’ve got reason to believe that they can turn this into more success, as even if any of Zanatta, Dyer or Tîrcoveanu slow down, Adonijah Reid has been dangerous off the bench as he builds towards full fitness, Reon Moore will be looking to earn more minutes, and Josh Heard is working back to full health.

For now, however, as long as Zanatta, Dyer and Tîrcoveanu can continue to connect, it appears to be a trio worth keeping together for the near future, having been the key dam bursters for this Pacific attack.

“I think you have three mature players with different dynamics,” Merriman said of his attacking trio. “Andrei is very intelligent, he has great vision and is a technical player – he’s always looking for those forward runs. Then, Moses is constantly moving and active, he gives us that that direct reference to be aggressive and to go to goal. Lastly, Dario is such an intelligent player, he’s got a lot of experience in the game, and he works well with Andrei’s intelligence, and he works well off of the intensity that that Dyer brings, I think it elevates his game.”

“So the three of them together are finding a nice chemistry at the right time for us.”

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Andrei Tîrcoveanu, Pacific FC

Tîrcoveanu was a creative force in midfield for Pacific in this game, as the attacking midfielder finished with one assist, five shots, two chances created, three touches in the box, four passes into the final third and four crosses in a lively offensive showing in the middle of the park.

What’s next?

Pacific will head out on the road for a midweek clash, as they get set to face the Halifax Wanderers at Wanderers Grounds on Wednesday, September 18th (3:00 p.m. PT/7:00 p.m. AT), before travelling to Ottawa to take on Atlético Ottawa at TD Place on Sunday, September 22nd (11:00 a.m. PT/2:00 p.m. ET). Meanwhile, Vancouver will return home for a match against Forge at Willoughby Community Park on Saturday, September 21st (3:00 p.m. PT/6:00 p.m. ET).