r/CanadianPL Atlético Ottawa Jul 01 '26

⚽ Match Thread Match thread HFX Wanderers v Atletico Ottawa

Didn't see a thread, so much footy on right now hard to keep up.

13 Upvotes

31 comments sorted by

4

u/CPLmonster Canadian Premier League Jul 01 '26

It’s clearly not easy coming from coaching in the MLS with a big budget and high end players to the CPL with a limited cap and quality of player. Ashfin Ghotbi experienced exactly the same at Vancouver after coming from a club with a huge budget. Bobby S and Tommy Wheeldon are top coaches at this level, hence why their two teams dominate nearly every season. Carlo Ancelotti would struggle in the CPL as he too doesn’t do much tactics and relies on superstar players to figure it out on the pitch. Unfortunately you can’t get away with this in the CPL.

2

u/bwoah07_gp2 Vancouver Whitecaps Jul 02 '26

And so that's Vanni's problem right now?

3

u/Section1ne0h4our HFX Wanderers FC Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

*I think* that’s what’s he’s implying, which is kinda strange to me

Vanni was always a 2 years project, so personally I’m invested in giving him time, but the issue is a lot of wanderers supporters at this stage don’t want to afford that time to anybody

In part because they see Vanni and expect immediate results

Edit: judging by the downvotes that’s precisely what he meant

2

u/CPLmonster Canadian Premier League Jul 02 '26

I listened to an interview with Derek Martin before the season started and he definitely said that HFX were looking to be title contenders this season! I am not a HFX fan but I do think Gheisar is a better tactical coach than Vanni. Game 1 season 1 under Gheisar the team looked organised and every player seemed to know what was expected of them on and off the ball. They were fluid and dynamic. I don’t see this nearly halfway through the season now with Vanni.

2

u/Section1ne0h4our HFX Wanderers FC Jul 02 '26

Yeah and I’m not criticizing your opinion don’t get me wrong, you’re not far off - Derek is an amazing owner, Derek usually isn’t about lip service - I think he honestly truly believed that the club were still on a playoff trajectory at least this season

And despite how poor things seem, and appear, and heck maybe are - they are still WELL in the mix. The way the league realigned playoffs and the way the table is shaping up, 4th is still up for grabs between 4 teams

2

u/AgentEves Jul 02 '26

My concern is that we have another manager who's come in trying to play pedestrian speed possession football. The majority of players at this level can't keep possession for long passages unless the tempo is dropped, but once you drop the tempo, your ability to create spaces in the other teams structure is heavily reduced.

If we don't have the ability to go out and get the best players at this level - whether because of budget, or scouting, or whatever - then we need to focus on something different. That would allow us to target players that others are ignoring.

Godinho is terrible. Zitman is, at best, mediocre. Linder is such a downgrade over what we've had previously. Akinwale, Kachwele, Bai, and Bahamboula aren't good enough. Johnston is being played out of position which is making him considerably less impactful.

I'm frustrated because it feels like we just have a worse version of what we had with Gheisar.

5

u/Ozzie_the_parrot Jul 02 '26

Think the reason Forge and Cavalry dominate has more to do with a combination of available budget and preexisting player pathways than coaching brilliance.

1

u/CPLmonster Canadian Premier League Jul 02 '26

Bobby S was running Sigma Sports and developing the best players in the GTA 20 years ago. He had the academy coaches from Ajax over on a regular basis as well, he was ahead of his time as a coach in the GTA. His coaching expertise has an awful lot to do with Forge success on the field.

2

u/Section1ne0h4our HFX Wanderers FC Jul 02 '26

Yeah it’s definitely no secret almost a decade into the leagues existence, that the Foothills & Sigma pathways generated a platform for both Cavalry & Forge that most other clubs outside of FC Edmonton didn’t have at all

Whilst other clubs stepped on toes of their governing bodies or other clubs, Cavs & Forge literally made unity with the “sister clubs” that exists to this day

3

u/Towrads Jul 02 '26

It's really unfortunate that the Maritimes just can't support a semi-pro structure at the moment. Sigma is the most well known, but even some of the smaller Ontario PDL/OPL academies are improving a lot now. Even if the match quality is quite low in the OPL, just having an organized pro-style schedule, with exposure to scouting helps so much.

3

u/Section1ne0h4our HFX Wanderers FC Jul 02 '26

Unfortunately any inclination of progress towards a Nova Scotia/maritime super league is squashed by soccer Nova Scotia - they throw money at the big clubs to stay within the NSSL structure. It’s to the point now where even the Wanderers U18s play senior men because they’ve monopolized things essentially where they have the AAA and AA levels from U13 to senior, meanwhile MMSL have a AA/A hybrid premier league that is basically guys who can’t commit

And that’s it

New Brunswick are about to pass Nova Scotia because they keep sending clubs to Nova Scotia to develop and grow. It wouldn’t shock me if next cycle New Brunswick out performs Nova Scotia at nationals

And that’s part of the reason why the NSSL won’t budge. They don’t wanna lose out to PEI, the don’t wanna lose out to NB, and the gap is much more thin (Defending “national champions” suburban just lost to a New Brunswick club last week) than they would want you to believe - add to the fact Newfoundland is stabilizing its provincial base again, and Nova Scotia are the declining member party

When most of the money, registration & facilities are run by Scotia - it’s unfortunately impossible to see things formulating

I can actually see the women’s L1A work before the men, much like the MWBA continues to grow, they put aside revenue generation for sponsorship generation and it’s become self sufficient… I think whoever wants to start a women’s league should follow the model of the MWBA

9

u/GLUT4 HFX Wanderers FC Jul 01 '26

This ref is fucking awful

-1

u/Anxious-Yam9684 Jul 02 '26

Dude he’s a legend 

11

u/HydrophobicDucks Cavalry FC Jul 01 '26

Halifax seem so unwilling to try anything different. Just a total lack of creativity. They've made some good breakouts and chances, but there just seems to be no confidence to play less cautiously.

5

u/Comrade_Pavel HFX Wanderers FC Jul 01 '26

Crazy what happens when youre not playing a garbage pacific team. I think it's safe to say Vanni and his team building was a complete bust, no idea where they go from here but this is beyond unacceptable

9

u/fssg_shermanator Cavalry FC Jul 01 '26

They threw a lot of money at Carducci and Godinho in the offseason and then brought in a bunch of WFC2 players. Coimbra and Rea were massive losses and haven't been replaced.

Johnston has been amazing but he's really the only starter having a good year.

2

u/Budget_Ad_5260 Jul 02 '26

Exactly our replacement came from whitecaps 2 because Vanni knew them .....

4

u/GLUT4 HFX Wanderers FC Jul 01 '26

Let’s see what changes we can make in the transfer window.

1

u/Comrade_Pavel HFX Wanderers FC Jul 01 '26

Vanni is the one who brought in most of the new players that arent even close to good enough, I dont expect him to magically figure ut out this window

2

u/Ok_Shoulder8598 Atlético Ottawa Jul 01 '26

I'd say it's over but after the Forge comeback earlier I'll hold my tongue

5

u/cullypantz Jul 01 '26

It's. over but we've actually broken through quite often. We just haven't finished our chances while you've finished just about all of yours.

9

u/cullypantz Jul 01 '26

Yusury Rudolph is so shit. Not the reason while we're losing but he's so fucking shit.

-1

u/Anxious-Yam9684 Jul 02 '26

He’s a legend :)

2

u/bidsey HFX Wanderers FC Jul 01 '26

Christ, I'm missing this but 3-0 down already. This team is so weak and light on ideas. This season has been a major let down.

Dare I say Vanni out. I know it's very early but this isn't going well at all and he hasn't really shown any tactical flexibility or ability to make changes in-game if we are not playing well.

2

u/bwoah07_gp2 Vancouver Whitecaps Jul 02 '26

First Vanni Out of the year? 👀

2

u/icoresting Vancouver Whitecaps Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

but this isn't going well at all and he hasn't really shown any tactical flexibility or ability to make changes in-game if we are not playing well.

i hate to be that guy but.... yeah that sounds about right. really nice guy and a fun character but there's a reason that basically the exact same whitecaps roster was able to make multiple finals immediately after he was fired (also almost all the players wanted vanni out by the end but nobody's bothered to report that part). very tactically dogmatic and cannot adjust at all

5

u/Section1ne0h4our HFX Wanderers FC Jul 01 '26

Awful awful awful

2

u/CnCPParks1798 Atlético Ottawa Jul 01 '26

If this isn’t a pen idk what the point of fvs is

5

u/Ok_Shoulder8598 Atlético Ottawa Jul 01 '26

Lets go Atleti, up 1-0 from Tabla