We have reached the halfway point in the CSL season, and the debuting FC Whitehorse sits at a record of 4-2-13, good for 17th place in the league. In the Canada Cup, the Freezers crashed out losing all 8 of their matches in blowouts, scoring only a single goal while allowing 50.
Despite the expected slow start for this brand new club, there have been a number of positives to take into the second half of the season. The biggest of these was the stunning 1-0 victory over Presbyterian Express in front of the home fans at Service Stadium, stealing 3 points from an Express side that is currently in 3rd place in the CSL. Similarly, the 2-0 opening match victory on the road Real Workers FC gave the fans an early victory to feel good about.
As far as downsides, in addition the the somewhat expected blowouts in cup play, the Freezers have been routinely blown out in league play, even to relatively small clubs. Their most recent game was the worst of these, as the first place Molly's Migrant Monarchs ran the Freezers off of their own field, with an 11-0 drubbing. Conversely, a pair of 3-0 home losses to fellow CSL minnows Shanghai Sharks and AS Mantis jump out as defeats that the team would like to avoid going forward.
Goals have been very hard to come by this season, as Josemisco and Johan Nix lead the team with 5 goals each. Rókus Bencsik has had trouble finding the net with only two goals to his name this season, while no one else has scored more than one.
Defence and goalkeeping have surprisingly been an even bigger challenge, especially given their largely defensive tactics. Despite the fact that Whitehorse is near the middle of the pack when it comes to saves, their 67 goals conceded put them in second to last in the league. Zavala has made his share of impressive saves, but his tendency to get a bit lost during defensive stands has started to get the ire of the fans. Additionally, defending set pieces has been a major concern for Whitehorse, as the team routinely gets beaten by free kicks and clever corner plays.
Manager Oros Bala summed up his feelings about the first half with a combination of optimism and mild disappointment. "We always knew coming into the season that this was going to be difficult" said Bala during the post-match press conference after the club's loss to the first place Molly's Migrant Monarchs. "And while I can point to a number of areas where we have been growing and improving, there is much more work to do. The play on the pitch has generally been solid, but we are losing out on too many opportunities because of the mental part of the game. Focus for the full 90 minutes is going to be what we preach for the rest of this year."
Captain Johan Nix made a plea to the fans for patience as the team continues to grow. "We really are such a young team" said Nix in a post-training interview yesterday. "And because of that, it's going to take time for some of these guys to get their feet in professional football and for us to gel as a unit. I see it during matches and on the training grounds: there is a lot that is going well here and moving in the right direction. There is obvious talent here. But it takes a lot of time and hard work to get to the place in this league where you are winning more matches than you are losing. And we just aren't at that place yet."
Looking beyond the performance on the pitch, perhaps the biggest news for the club was the completion of Service Stadium. Now sitting at a fully seated capacity of 25,000, the colloquially named 'Ice Box' has become an incredible environment for supporters of the club to come to on match day. "We are really glad that the renovations have come to a close" said Freezers' President Jaheem Byam during a recent press appearance. "Seeing the stands packed with excited football fans has truly been a joy, and we are incredibly happy that the community here in Whitehorse has taken to this team so wholeheartedly." When asked about future expansion plans, Byam didn't rule anything out. "It is something that we are looking into" said Byam. "I don't know if there will be more seats added this season, but renovations going forward will be small. Maybe a thousand seats at a time rather than tens of thousands."
As their inaugural season moves into its second half, FC Whitehorse Freezers and their fans have many exciting matches ahead. Their next one is later this week when they play hosts to Ontario Soccer Club.