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.”
