\u2018Blessing in disguise\u2019 fuels Langford\u2019s Pacific FC ahead of Ottawa test<\/p>\n
Published 1:30 pm Friday, July 24, 2026<\/p>\n
Three weeks without a match was never part of the plan, but Pacific FC is hoping the unexpected break will prove to be exactly what the club needed.<\/p>\n
The Tridents return to Canadian Premier League (CPL) action Sunday (July 26), travelling to the nation\u2019s capital to face Atl\u00e9tico Ottawa in what will also serve as Terry Dunfield\u2019s long-awaited debut behind the Pacific bench.<\/p>\n
Pacific hasn\u2019t played since a 2-1 loss to Halifax Wanderers on July 5 after its scheduled July 16 meeting with league-leading Forge FC was postponed because of poor air quality caused by wildfires in northern Ontario.<\/p>\n
Instead of preparing for matches, Dunfield and his staff have spent nearly three weeks implementing their new identity after the former Canadian international officially took over on July 7.<\/p>\n
While players would always prefer meaningful games over training sessions, defender Diego Konincks believes the timing may ultimately work in Pacific\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s a patch that we might have wanted a little bit more training time to fine-tune some things and work on our new identity under our new coach, I think it\u2019s probably this at the time,\u201d Konincks said. \u201cIt could be a little bit of a blessing in disguise.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, as a player and as a team, you want rhythm. We haven\u2019t had a game in three weeks. We\u2019ve done some exhibition games, we\u2019re trying to keep that rhythm, but there\u2019s a certain feeling in your body. You want to have those match days, what really matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
The extra training has also given Dunfield more time to introduce his tactical ideas after weeks of planning behind the scenes with Pacific\u2019s manager of football Jamar Dixon before officially stepping onto the training pitch.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel like it\u2019s just been three weeks,\u201d Dunfield said. \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of work underneath that\u2019s gone into this mini pre-season, if we want to call it that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Konincks, who has played every minute \u2013 1,080 \u2013 of Pacific\u2019s first 12 league matches this season, said one of the biggest changes has been the positivity surrounding the group.<\/p>\n
\u201cTerry\u2019s trying to bring a really positive and optimistic energy to the group,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been quite a breath of fresh air. We\u2019re really trying to create a winning culture and a family-like environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the field, Konincks said the emphasis has been on becoming much harder to break down defensively.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re fine-tuning more and more of our defensive structure than we probably have ever had this season,\u201d he said. \u201cThat brings a certain confidence as a player and as a backline, knowing where you should be and what to expect from your teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n
This will be the second of four meetings on the season between Pacific and Ottawa. In their first encounter, on May 30, Ottawa erased a two-goal deficit in the final 15 minutes to force a 2-2 draw.<\/p>\n
Pacific enters the weekend still searching for its first league victory of 2026, sitting last in the CPL table with a 0-9-3 record. The club trails the final playoff position by 14 points with 16 regular-season matches remaining and has not won a league match since Aug. 10, 2025.<\/p>\n
Despite the uphill climb, Dunfield said making the playoffs remains the standard.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I came in, the first thing I said to the group was our mission is the playoffs this year,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s two thirds of the season left. I think the playoffs are doable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before results can change, Dunfield wants his players to know exactly who they are.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver these three weeks, the biggest thing we\u2019ve worked on, on the field and off the field, is our identity and knowing exactly who we are,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sunday will provide the first opportunity to see whether that identity can finally translate into points.<\/p>\n
Kickoff is set for 11 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Blessing in disguise\u2019 fuels Langford\u2019s Pacific FC ahead of Ottawa test Published 1:30 pm Friday, July 24, 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-824388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}