April 4, 2025...Preview: Vancouver FC vs. York United FC - CPL Match #4 (from canpl.ca)
PREVIEW: Vancouver FC vs. York United FC — CPL Match #4
2025-04-04
by Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic, CanPL.ca Contributor (@AlexGangueRuzic)
2025 CPL Kickoff
2025 CPL Regular Season — Match #4
Vancouver FC vs. York United FC
April 6 at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET
Willoughby Community Park in Langley, British Columbia
The final game of a busy opening weekend of CPL action comes out in British Columbia, where Vancouver FC is set to host
York United at Langley’s Willoughby Community Park on Sunday afternoon.
After a jam-packed Saturday triple-header, Vancouver and York will get a standalone slate on Sunday, where both teams
will look to showcase their new-look compositions in competitive action for the first time in 2025.
There, look for them to entertain as they try and build off what they showed in 2024.
For Vancouver, their goal is clear: they feel that the playoffs have to be within their sights, as they get set for their
third season as a club. Having missed the postseason by just four points in 2024, as a strong start to the season fizzled
out in the summer, they want to take the lessons learned from that campaign and apply them in 2025.
Having set out to become a hub of developing talent, they’ve done well to bring in some exciting youngsters to their group
this offseason. At the same time, they’ve also added some key veterans, knowing that while they’ll want to build on their
success of developing youngsters, which saw them sell on Grady McDonnell and James Cameron this past offseason, you need
veteran mentors to help accelerate that developmental process.
Now, they hope to accelerate it enough to make the playoffs, which would certainly be a sign of their project working
as intended.
“You’re going to see a team that has an enormous amount of energy and athleticism, a team that can play at a very high speed
and with tempo in both the defence and attack,” Vancouver’s head coach, Afshin Ghotbi, said ahead of this match. “I feel
that even the veteran players that have come back, they’ve matured, they understand their role in the team, and the
collaboration between them and the young players has been a beautiful thing for me to watch.”
Meanwhile, with York, they’re also jumpstarting a project of their own — one led by new head coach, Mauro Eustáquio, who has
made the jump from assistant coach to the chief job.
The first former CPL player to coach in the league, and the youngest manager to do so, he too is leading a youth movement,
centred around one key theme: local talent.
As seen by their off-season moves, they’ve done a great job of accumulating players who are from in and around the Greater
Toronto area, both from in and outside the CPL.
After a landmark 2024 campaign, where they made the playoffs and won their first-ever postseason match, York wants to make
sure they don’t lose too much momentum, instead allowing them to build on what they did last year.
This is a team that wants to make playoff success a habit, not a rarity, and that will all start this weekend in B.C.,
where they’ll show off this new-look team for the first time.
“I feel like times we’re looked at as a young team, but we’re a team that has a lot of CPL games,” Eustáquio said this week.
“We’re a team that has a lot of professional team games as well, and they’ve been they’ve been gelling together and stepping
up (in preseason).”
In terms of roster availability, both York and Vancouver have no selection issues to deal with, with both managers noting
that all of their players are healthy and ready for this match.
All CPL matches will be broadcast live on OneSoccer, available as a linear channel on Telus’ Optik TV (Channel 980) as well
as online at OneSoccer.ca, through the OneSoccer app and on the fuboTV Canada platform.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
Vancouver looking for leadership up front: If Vancouver is going to have success in both of their goals – to develop talent
and make the playoffs – look for two key names up front to lead the way in Alejandro Díaz and Terran Campbell. The two top
all-time goalscorers in CPL history, they find themselves on the same team again for the second time, having once linked up
with Pacific earlier this decade. In Vancouver, their role is clear – they’re going to have to carry a big load offensively
for this team while playing a key role as leaders. Given that Campbell has been in the CPL since 2019, and that Díaz has spent
parts of five seasons in the circuit, they will also be crucial to ensuring their younger teammates can find their feet as they
make the jump up to this level. Díaz did a great job of that last year – he led the team with 10 goals while providing that
leadership, and now Campbell will look to do the same as he arrives from Forge. Coming off a year where he didn’t score
in CPL action as he dealt with injuries, he’ll want to get back to his usual standard, in which he’s expected to score goals
by the boatload. That’s the bet Vancouver’s making with his signing, so look for him to reward their faith early, especially
in a game like this in front of their home crowd. “We wanted to identify veterans that are first and foremost great human
beings, and people that we want to work with, day in and day out, and we can build a club around,” Ghotbi said when speaking
about his veteran signings, which include Kunle Dada-Luke and Campbell. “And we feel that we hit that (goal) perfectly.”
Can York build chemistry in attack early? A huge hole was created in York’s attack this offseason, as they lost Brian Wright
and Mo Babouli, meaning they’ll have to fill that void of 16 goals and eight assists that they leave behind. In particular,
Wright is a big loss – he won the 2024 CPL Player’s Player of the Year for a reason, as his peers selected him as one of the
best in the league last year. Despite those losses, however, York will feel they have some names who can step up. Julian Altobelli
had a great scoring record with Toronto FC II, Massimo Ferrin scored a lot of key goals for the Halifax Wanderers, Adonijah Reid
was a key part of Pacific FC’s attack, Gabriel Bitar played a lot of key roles in Vancouver FC’s group, and Marsel Bibishkov was
part of Juventus’s youth set-up for a reason – between those new arrivals, one has to imagine there are goals to be had. Along
with the return of youngsters Shola Jimoh and Marki Voytsekhovskyy, that’ll give Eustáquio plenty of firepower to choose from.
If anything, Eustáquio’s big challenge will be to figure out the best way to deploy his attack – another big thing that stands
out from that group is that they have a lot of players who can play multiple roles in the attack. Because of that, don’t be
surprised if he uses that to his advantage, employing a flexible approach that can get the most out of this group. “I’m extremely
happy with the squad,” Eustáquio offered. “I think this year we have a lot more depth in multiple areas, starting from the backline
to up top, and that’s something that we’ve struggled with in the past. I’m happy, as I have many good headaches, as I like
to call them.”
Tightening up at the back a priority for both teams in 2025: While a lot of focus for both teams will be on their attacking
groups, however, don’t discount how important defence will be for each side, both in this game and going forward. Given that
Vancouver gave up 43 goals in 2024, the joint-highest in the CPL, and that York gave up 36, the highest among the five
playoff-bound teams, both sides will look at that and feel they can take a big step forward in that area of their game.
As a result, don’t be surprised if both teams make a point of using a game like this to show off that intent. While many neutrals
will hope to see a repeat of their June 9th, 2024 meeting, which finished 2-2, both managers would love to see something closer
to a 1-0 or 2-1 victory for their respective groups, one where defensive play takes centre stage. Especially for Vancouver,
who picked up a league-low 16 points at home in 2024, conceding a league-high 19 goals, look for them to dictate the tempo
in that regard, as they look to take advantage of their home opener.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Vancouver FC: Irving; Dada-Luke, Campagna, Enyou, Gee; Bah, Fry, Essoussi, Tahid; Díaz, Campbell
York United FC: Pavela; Ferrazzo, Léon, Sturing, Botello; Bitar, Adekugbe, Yeates; Ferrari, Reid, Ferrin
ALL-TIME SERIES
Vancouver FC wins: 1 || York United FC wins: 6 || Draws: 2
Last meeting:
Sept. 6, 2024 — Vancouver FC 0-1 York United FC
KEY QUOTES
“I think lessons have been learned from the last two seasons, and whatever’s happened in the past is behind us. What we’re focused
on is having no thoughts other than coming onto the pitch and being committed to the task at hand, playing as a unit in defence,
in attack and all phases of the game, and trying to bring the pride necessary on a consistent basis to get results. Once we start
playing these official games, and as our team starts developing its own unique character, we are going to see a team that I do
believe can get results consistently.” — Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi
“We had to train indoors (early in preseason), so we were on some kind of smaller pitches, trying to make it work. At that time,
we played a small-sided tournament, and the young guys just beat up everybody, they were so excited and raring to go, and so they
beat us. I remember on that day talking to some of the older guys, and we were thinking to ourselves, ‘Okay, they did it today,
let’s see if they can do it tomorrow and do it the next day’, but throughout the preseason, they’ve been consistent in trying
to bring that same energy and have been taking it to us and showing that they’re not just a bunch of young guys who are here
to enjoy having a contract, they’re young guys that want to contribute to winning for the club, and that’s kept some of the older
guys and veterans on their toes.” — Vancouver FC goalkeeper Callum Irving
“ I think the biggest thing for me (as a head coach), is being able to set the tone. As an assistant, you challenge the coach
to do everything you can to make a better environment, and you make sure that the players are on their toes and that the message
of the coach gets across quite well. I think the biggest thing for me now is that I get to make those decisions, and I have a clear
vision of how I want us to play, so I have to pass that on to the players, make those decisions, and mould and shape our identity
as a team.” — York United head coach Mauro Eustáquio
“We just push ourselves to the best of our abilities, to crack the starting 11 and matchday 18. We’ve got a good relationship off
the field, but on the field, it’s competitive, which is what you want as a player, that’s why we play – for that competitive nature
of the game.” — York United midfielder Gabriel Bitar
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