There’s an old and frayed pro sports adage that says that you are who your record says you are.
When it comes to HFX Wanderers FC, Bobby Smyrniotis and Derek Martin would like to offer a dissenting opinion.
Here are the Wanderers, with no wins in their first eight league games just three points and five goals to show for it, sitting in last place, currently nine points distant from the final playoff spot. They’re 10 back of third-place Forge, which plays at the atmosphere-drenched Wanderers Grounds on Saturday at 5 p.m.
“It’s just been one of those rough starts for us,” says Martin, president of Sports and Entertainment Atlantic, which owns the Halifax franchise. “You look at all the underlying metrics and the team’s actually doing very well. I think we’re second in the league for expected goals but last in the league for actual goals. So they’re doing all the things, they’re getting in all the right spots, they’re competing, they haven’t given up.
“They’re doing everything you want them to do as a team and I think we’re in the state where we just need a bounce to go our way or something to happen, positively, and that will release the pressure and then they’ll be able to get on with the season.”
Smyrniotis, Head Coach and Sports Director for the four-time league champion Forge, cautioned during this week’s pre-game media conference that the league has only recently gone past the quarter-pole of the 28-game regular season.
“There are two things you look at,” Smyrniotis said. “One is that you can look at the table and get fooled. At this point in the year, I don’t think it tells you a lot. I’ve been around this league long enough to know things can change in a couple of weeks.
“On the flip side, this is a perfect situation on their end to get out of their situation. We know they play some good football against us. This is a great opportunity for them we have to be aware of that. Those are the external factors you have to make sure that the team understands. And that’s a bit beyond football.”
Another thing that’s beyond football is the theory that history can repeat itself. Last year, Halifax also did not have a win after eight CPL games, although they had six draws, double this year’s total so far. But they won their 9th game and over the final 20 games of the season had 11 wins and three draws to pull themselves up to third place, even on points with the second-place Forge. Included in that nice four-month run were a pair of 2-1 victories over Hamilton in Halifax and two 1-1 draws at Tim Hortons Field.
“The start of the season is very similar to last year,” Martin says. “Soccer is such a low-scoring game, it amplifies so much. The difference between 0-0 and 1-0 can be an inch of the ball hitting the post. The truth is we’ve been very close–as every team has—and we could be middle of the table. But we have to play like hell now.
“We still feel very good about the talent level. We’ve put together some good games and performances overall but there’s just been these moments in every game so far that make you shake your head, or have a little confusion as to why we’re hitting posts, or not getting to loose balls. Or a referee makes a decision. And I know that goes both ways most of the time but when you’re in a bit of a funk they feel like they’re all going against you.”
Although they’re still searching for that elusive first win, things could be looking up for the Wanderers. They have got some players back from injury and international call-ups and two of their three draws have come in their last two games. They went into Ottawa and tied first place Atlético in a game they led 2-0 before striker Tiago Coimbra was red-carded late, and the home side scored twice to steal a point. Then last weekend against Pacific in the pouring rain, they outshot the visiting Tridents 26-6, including 16 shots from the box, but still didn’t score.
Massimo Ferrin the midfielder from Toronto who played well against Forge last year and had nine goals across all competitions, hasn’t scored yet this year and is due to break out soon. And the Wanderers will have Coimbra, who’s only 20, back in the lineup after he was forced to sit out last weekend for his red card.
The Forge have had a few struggles taking advantage of scoring chances themselves, and have just that dominant home win against York, in their last four games while losing to Vancouver, Ottawa and, last week, in Calgary. Again, Smyrniotis offers, paint-by-numbers can’t draw the whole picture. He says the team has shown well in most matches, but that his club does have to stick to its identity.
“The biggest one is last weekend’s match (in Calgary),” Smyrniotis, “You need to burn the film on that one and move on. Once in a while that’s going to occur. When you look at the other games, we’ve played some good football and gone through our processes.
“We have to make sure that we’re doing what we’re good at. Once we get away from that you put yourself into issues in the game. That’s one thing we’ve had good discussions with the guys about. Trying to keep the games in our hands and not leaving things to random situations on the pitch. And if you do that most of the time you come out on top.”
Smyrniotis says his team likes playing in Halifax where crowds are averaging just over 6,000 in the 6500-seat stadium. It’s spirited, raucous and intimate, despite the Wanderers’ poor start.
The support for Halifax, where the Wanderers are the only major summer game in town, is one of the CPL success stories. Martin is a Hamilton native and was the quarterback for Glendale when future Ticat star Rob Hitchcock played there. He also quarterbacked St. Francis Xavier into a Vanier Cup appearance.
He is, of course, well aware of the winning ways of the soccer team representing his hometown.
“They have always had sustained success,” Martin says. “Every year they’re good and they reload with good players, so this will be a tough game for us.”