“You score one goal and think you are a good player but that’s not good enough for me. That’s a trap.”
It was a hat-trick made in heaven for Pacific FC, ending a seven-game winless streak stretching to May 10. Little-known rookie-pro Yann Toualy scored three times as PFC defeated the HFX Wanderers of Halifax 3-2 in a Canadian Premier League game Saturday at Starlight Stadium.
“It’s [my] first year as a pro in the CPL and nobody knows you but you still have to keep going,” said Toualy, in his post-game media conference.
Toualy’s timely trey against HFX came after the 24-year-old native of Côte d’Ivoire, whose family moved to Quebec when he was nine, scored his first goal as a pro in PFC’s previous game against Vancouver FC: “You score one goal and think you are a good player but that’s not good enough for me. That’s a trap. You just have to keep going like that. Every day I want more and more and more and know I can do it.”
Toualy certainly proved he can do it against the Wanderers and was feeling so confident after his two first-half goals in open play that he asked to take the winning penalty kick after HFX took down PFC forward Marco Bustos with a hockey-like hip check in the Wanderers’ box in the second-half.
Six-time Canada-capped Bustos, the Trident’s prime penalty taker, was hobbled after being sent to the ground hard.
“I asked [PFC’s second-choice penalty taker and former French Ligue pro Aly Ndom] and Aly let me take it. I said: ‘It’s my moment. I feel it. Just trust me.’ He gave me the ball and I scored,” said Toualy, who placed the penalty perfectly in the top-left corner.
The result moved the Tridents to 3-8-3 in wins-losses-draws and staunched their freefall down the table. Third-place HFX went to 7-4-3 after the coast-to-coast loss to PFC in what is the third-longest fixture in the world, in terms of distance, between clubs in a domestic soccer Premiership.
“We got three points. The feeling is amazing. We want to go to the playoffs. We just have to keep going,” said Toualy.
That task won’t be easy as next up for the Tridents on Friday in Hamilton is annual CPL powerhouse Forge FC, undefeated in league play at 7-0-7, and coming off an upset win last week over CF Montreal of Major League Soccer in the Canadian Championship quarter-finals.
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