| Halifax Wanderers vs. Inter Toronto May 23 at 3 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT Wanderers Grounds in Halifax, N.S. Watch Live: OneSoccer, TSN Tickets available here |
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The Halifax Wanderers are back at home this weekend, hoping to bank three points at the Wanderers Grounds for the first time in 2026.
Standing in their way is an undefeated Inter Toronto team, who head east with an eye on a third straight league win. Mauro Eustáquio's side has been steadily improving over the first few weeks of the season, and now they sit in third place with a 3-2-0 record.
Toronto spent the last weekend on the West Coast, where they beat Pacific FC 1-0 thanks to Sebastian Gonzales' first goal for the club.
Things haven't been going quite as smoothly for the Wanderers, though. Vanni Sartini's Halifax side has just one win in 2026, which came in Vancouver back in Matchweek 1.
They're 1-2-3 after six games, and have now lost four straight in all competitions (including a 4-0 loss to Forge in the Canadian Championship).
The Wanderers Grounds have traditionally been a fortress for Halifax, and it'll be very important to the club to turn things around at home.
These sides have met once already this season; Toronto's home opener at York Lions Stadium saw Julian Altobelli put the hosts in the lead twice, but Halifax fought back both times, taking a point thanks to a late Tavio Ciccarelli equalizer.
That match was one of the Wanderers' stronger performances this year, but their head coach Sartini said this week that he has a lot of respect for the way Inter Toronto have been playing.
"In terms of developing their game offensively, it's the team that I like the most in the league," he said. "I think they play really good football, and they play very fluid with a lot of players bringing up attacking, players that know what to do. They're really hard to contain, so we need to play a very good defensive game."
Sartini will be challenging his team to be much more clinical in attack when they do create chances, knowing that Toronto have the capacity to punish them for missed opportunities.
NEWS & NOTES
- The only major absence for Halifax is defender Thomas Meilleur-Giguère. He remains out with an injury to his meniscus; Vanni Sartini said Friday that he had surgery this week, and is targeting a return in "mid-summer," or as early as July.
- Inter Toronto remain without defender Frank Sturing, who has returned to training. Tomasz Skublak, who missed last week's game with a minor knock, is fit and available once again.
- Two Inter Toronto players received international call-ups this week. Gabriel Bitar will be joining Lebanon for their AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Yemen in early June, while Shola Jimoh got the call to the Canadian U-20 side for their upcoming Maurice Revello Tournament. Both players will likely leave following this weekend's match.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Halifax Wanderers: Carducci; Alphonse, Linder, Sow; Godinho, Johnston, Callegari, Telfer; Bahamboula, Akinwale, Arilla
Inter Toronto: Urtiaga; López, Guzmán, León; Ferrari, Yeates, Córdova, Almagro; Badibanga, Gonzales, Altobelli
KEY QUOTES
"We need to play well, we need to be on top of them, and the result is going to take care of itself if we play well. I don't want to put pressure on 'We must win, we must win,' because it's putting pressure on things that we can't control, but we need to put pressure on the things that we can control." - Halifax Wanderers head coach Vanni Sartini
"It's never easy to go into Halifax. They're a team that is also desperate to grab some points, and those type of teams are extremely dangerous." - Inter Toronto head coach Mauro Eustáquio
