Wanderers, York United look to lessons learned heading into Wednesday clash

Seated pitchside at the Wanderers Grounds, centre-back Thomas Meilleur-Giguère makes an observation, nuanced like a philosopher from his plastic chair: Wednesday is his first playoff match in a Wanderers shirt but certainly not his first playoff match in Halifax.

He remembers visiting in 2023 as a member of the opposition, plying his no-nonsense style for Pacific FC, and knowing that his side was likely to suffer. But, as a champion with the Tridents, Meilleur-Giguère knows that the only important thing in the playoffs is to win, something he feels that Wanderers squad had yet to learn in head coach Patrice Gheisar’s first year.

“I think that 2023 squad was a really good football team but I don’t think they had a lot of experience,” the 27-year old defender tells OneSoccer. “What I want to bring is the dirty work, the winning no matter what, no matter how. I think everyone is going to be super happy if we win 1-0 tomorrow and we have 20 per cent possession or everyone is going to be happy if we win 5-0 and we have 80 per cent possession. As long as we win, that’s the mentality I want to bring.”

Gheisar echoed his defender’s assessment.

“I think our 2023 team was full of energy, youthful and maybe we were a little bit naive, and what I mean by naive, and that also includes me, is that (I thought) the better team always wins. That’s the lesson I’ve learned here in three years,” he said.

Part of the thinking of signing Meilleur-Giguère in the off-season included changing the Wanderers’ culture. Yes, they had been imbued with Gheisar’s football philosophies, had embraced their identity as a side that wants to play on the front-foot, but they had fallen short in big moments when results should have outweighed their ideals. It’s one of the reasons they struggled to make the playoffs in 2024. And it’s perhaps why they were foiled by Meilleur-Giguère and his Pacific teammates.

Now, Meilleur-Giguère is on the home side and says he knows how York United’s players will feel walking into hostile territory. It’s about getting the job done. And a packed Wanderers Grounds will make it unpleasant for the visitors. But York United head coach Mauro Eustáquio says they’re prepared for the venue in which their post-season fates will be decided.

“I tend to tell the players that Halifax this year played three times at home, and we only played once, because even the game at Laval . . . that crowd was with them,” he says.

“Travelling to Halifax isn’t something I’m worried about.”

The Nine Stripes have their own lessons, too, through their last few playoff runs. They’ve battled the highs and lows of success and defeat. They’ve felt the ebb and flow of playoff football. But mostly, they’ve learned to leave everything out there on the pitch while controlling their emotions.

“The biggest thing for us is we know it’s an all or nothing,” explains Eustáquio. “We can’t let our emotions play with us too much. It’s important that we feel those emotions, it’s important that we feel the importance of the game, but we have to understand how to ride it.”

It may be hard for both sides to navigate their feelings given their history this year. Friendly competition has turned unfriendly as the playoff race heated up, with both clubs exchanging barbs — be it comments from former Wanderer Giorgio Probo in the media or pitchside banter — as they fought for home advantage. Things boiled over at the Wanderers Grounds on Sept. 1 as York United lost 4-0. Tempers, to put it mildly, flared on both sides as Isaiah Johnston became incensed and Oswaldo León — one of York’s key players — received a 10-match suspension in the aftermath. Eustáquio doesn’t want to be bit again.

But it’s a different dog that had latched onto the Wanderers: they didn’t know how to play without the ball. Gheisar notes, having been through this year’s tribulations, that they’ve found a way to be as comfortable defending as they are going into the final third.

It feels like a huge philosophical shift but it’s really a maturing of a coach and his system.

“I think this is what was always missing from us,” says Gheisar. “We were so comfortable with the ball and you could see when we didn’t have it — if the opponent had it for 30 seconds — we would have meltdowns, we’d be all over the place, we’d give up goals. I think we’ve seen that we’ve developed both sides.”

Being successful in playoff football means there will be times where both York United and the Wanderers will need to attack. They’ll need to defend. And at some point, they’ll need to suffer. But that’s part of winning and Meilleur-Giguère knows it’s earned.

“We have a lot of quality on the ball, we can’t deny that, a lot of great players that have played at great levels but now it’s about are you ready to sacrifice what we really like to do to do what we must do. That’s what I’m trying to bring,” he said.

“That’s the beauty of our team this year, we’re a team that’s able to adapt to what’s given to us, something we maybe didn’t have in the past.”