Island team visits Hamilton on Friday
The only thing standing between Forge FC and history is Pacific FC.
The Hammers will be looking to set the record for the longest unbeaten streak in the seven seasons of Canadian Premier League existence when they meet the Island club today in Hamilton at 4 p.m. PT.
Forge FC, which has emerged as the flagship franchise of the CPL, has opened the season with seven wins and seven draws. A win or draw tonight against the Tridents will be 15 to break the record of 14 consecutive undefeated games Forge FC set last season.
Forge FC is also looking to extend its record winning streak of 17 games this season across all competitions, including the win over FC Montreal to knock the Major League Soccer club out of the Canadian Championship for the second consecutive year.
“We know what they are chasing,” said PFC head coach James Merriman.
“We respect Forge and this is a difficult place to play. We have to be brave and have personality.”
The Tridents (3-8-3 in wins-losses-draws) have shown stirrings of that in their past two games with a 4-4 draw against Vancouver FC and 3-2 victory over the HFX Wanderers of Halifax, both at Starlight Stadium in Langford.
“We know this is going to be a tough game in Hamilton but there is no better time to come in here because there’s extra motivation for us to stop their run,” said PFC striker Dario Zanatta.
“We have our sights set on the playoffs and need to build on last week’s result [against HFX],” added the hometown Victoria product, a former Canada U-20 and Scottish Premiership player.
The Tridents have exploded for seven goals in their past two games after a long dry spell when goals were scarce.
“Now we know we can score goals when we need to. We are all in this together,” said Zanatta, who has a team third-leading three goals on the season.
Some tweaks have proved advantageous in attack for Pacific FC.
“We adjusted tactically on how we set up with [defenders] Kadin Chung and Georges Mukumbilwa moved up and attacking more and [forward] Marco Bustos given more freedom,” said PFC bench-boss Merriman.
“And Yann Toualy has been dynamic,” added Merriman.
The little-known rookie-forward Toualy scored all three PFC goals in the win over HFX and had his first goal as a pro in the previous game against VFC to tie veteran and former France Ligue pro Aly Ndom for the PFC team lead with four goals.
CORNER KICKS: Following today’s contest, Pacific FC returns home to host Atletico Ottawa on July. 26 with a 5 p.m. kickoff.
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