CPL Classics: Powerhouse Pacific Performance on PEI
CPL Classics documents the very best matches so far see in the Canadian Premier League.
Pacific FC waited to the very last minute to put together the biggest victory of the 2020 Canadian Premier League season.
They and their final opponents of the year, Halifax Wanderers, had both made it out of the regular season and had earned the right to contest for a place in the final, but following two losses the western Canadian team were out of the running for the final. The Wanderers, meanwhile, had already won their place in the championship match - but were given a deadly farewell kiss by their opponents on UPEI Alumni Field, where all 2020 CPL games took place.
When they faced off on September 16th, it didn't take long for the first goal to go on the board. A diving header by Terran Campbell off the cross from Marcos Bustos blindsided the Halifax keeper after just eight minutes played. The second goal came in very much the same way: this time Bustos on the receiving end of the cross from Josh Heard and headed home for a 2-0 Pacific lead.
Time was running down in the first half, but Bustos and Pacific were not done yet: on the 44th minute he slotted the ball through Halifax's defensive wall to Alejandro Diaz, who after out-running the Wanderers defenders put it past Jason Beaulieu in goal. In the final seconds of the half Bustos lobbed the ball to Diaz, who lobbed it back to Bustos for the forward to complete a first-half hat trick and to see Pacific FC head to the locker rooms leading 4-0.
Even on the receiving end of a heavy deficit, Halifax were in search of a goal, with Joao Morelli Neto having the best chances of them all, but very few of them were on target on the night. Pacific added to the misery more in the 81st minute: holding the ball ten yards from goal Campbell passed the ball back to Victor Blaso, who hammered it home to complete the emphatic 5-0 victory for Pacific FC.
Perhaps this heavy loss followed the Wanderers through to the final, where although they held off defending champions Forge FC for the first half, two goals in the second sealed the win for the Ontarian team who also captured their second CPL title.
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