It was the preliminary round of the Voyageurs Cup, the top professional soccer prize in Canada, and the first Langley Derby.
A Mother’s Day match that pitted Langley’s top two soccer teams against each other ended with Vancouver FC outpointing Langley United 2-0 late in the game Sunday afternoon before thousands of fans in the Stadium at Langley Events Centre, which is home to both teams.
In a post-game press conference, VFC Head Coach Martin Nash said he was expecting a challenging match against United, the British Columbia Premier League champions
“I knew they had some good players in their team and they’d be organized ,and be tough to break down,” Nash said.
“They run some great programs and we have a great connection with them as a club ourselves, so it was interesting going against them,” Nash said. “I think it was a fantastic moment for soccer in this community and hopefully we as a club, along with Langley, can keep building on it.”
Langley United Soccer Association Executive Director Marcel Horn said the final score didn’t reflect the level of play by Langley United, who are undefeated in five games this BCPL season, “and we have not conceded a goal yet this season in regular play.”
Conditioning was a factor, Horn suggested.
“What you’ll see is the difference between a youth club semi-pro, where the players have regular jobs and aren’t paid, and can’t do cardio and training five days a week, versus the pro team, the CPL, the VFC, [where] that that is their job and their cardio training, and they were able to keep their legs under them for those final 20 minutes,” Horn told the Langley Advance Times.
“That’s where we conceded the goals. We ran out of legs.”
Horn was delighted with the turnout, seeing it as more evidence of the growing popularity of soccer in Langley.
“We had 3,000 in attendance on a Mother’s Day to watch and gather and enjoy our community. It was heartwarming.”
In the scoreless first half, the Eagles held slight edges in shots, shots on target and expected goals — leading Langley United 0.48 to 0.12 in xG.
In the second half, Langley United made two shots on target within the opening eight minutes, both blocked by VFC captain Callum Irving.
Eagles broke through in the 74th minute when a Nicolas Mezquida free kick struck the crossbar and bounced back to Marcello Polisi. The midfielder fired a long-range effort into a crowded penalty area, where a deflection off Tom Field got past Langley United goalkeeper Treyson Smiley.
Mezquida doubled Vancouver’s advantage in the 87th minute, finishing off a box-to-box run down the left flank from Kian Proctor.
Vancouver FC will now advance to the quarter-final round in July, where they will face Major League Soccer side CF Montreal.