While the Canadian Soccer League is celebrating its 100th season, FC Whitehorse Freezers are entering their first in the new league. Club President Jaheem Byam was excited about the upcoming season, a sentiment that the fans seem to share. "I have noticed a number of Freezers jerseys in and around town" said Byam in an interview. "The fans are clearly looking forward to having a home club to support in this league. We are continuing to work on the stadium to accommodate fan demand, but I expect the fans to be cheering loudly when we kick off the new season."
Tactically, Manager Oros Bala is expected to stick with the 5-3-2 formation he has been using for the past couple seasons. "Obviously, it's a formation that puts a lot of pressure on the wing defenders" said Bala in a recent press event. "There is a lot of ground for them to cover to support the attack out wide. However, being defensively sound is going to be a key to this season, and this is a tactic that should help with that."
While there may be some players coming in and out of the lineup throughout the season, the starting 11 for FC Whitehorse at the start of the year is expected to look like this:
In net, Zavala won't be expected to make the jump to elite netminder immediately, but many in the football world are raving about his potential. The defense will have the youthful Nunez, Letour, and Scott anchoring the centre. Young "veteran" Sabido and semi-pro veteran Lillan Duivant will have their hands full running things from the wings. The midfield is where the club's experience shines. Captain Johan Nix will hold the middle with Bryan and Lemoine at his flanks. If this team will find success early on, those three will need to have some strong performances. On the attack, Josemisco and Bencsik will have the pressure on them to provide the bulk of the scoring.
With no fewer than 7 players making their senior debuts having spent last season playing U18, the Freezers will have their hands full with some of the top clubs in the league. Manager Bala pulled no punches talking about his team's chances. "There are going to be some hard days ahead" said Bala. "Every victory is going to be hard earned to be sure. The important thing is to see growth after every match. We might lose a lot of matches, but it is only failure if we take nothing from those losses. These early growing pains will lead to success down the line, if we can maintain focus on the long term goals."
The club's first captain Johan Nix echoed his manager's call for patience. "I have seen a lot of these young guys in training, and they are certainly hungry to get on the pitch" said Nix in a post-training press appearance. "There is talent here to be sure, but it's going to take a good amount of time for that to really show through. I know that my early years in this league...it took me a while to really get settled. I will do my best to guide them along the way, but they will need room to make mistakes and learn from them."
Most experts have FC Whitehorse finishing near the bottom of the table this season. Those early predictions haven't discouraged the locker room, according to midfielder John Bryan. "We are going to catch some teams by surprise for sure" said Bryan after an intersquad scrimmage for the fans. "We're not going to tear up the tables just yet, but there will be at least a few clubs that get an unexpected challenge from us. We're hungry and ready to get this season started."
FC Whitehorse Freezers will begin their CSL season as the away side, on the road against
The Real Worker Footballers. Their first home match will be the following week as the Freezers host Canadian National Football Club.