Resolutions Revisited: How did Pacific FC's players fare against expectations in 2021? (Part 3)
On Kunle Dada-Luke's emergence, Lukas MacNaughton's case for the MLS, and Manny Aparicio's under-appreciated importance to PFC
Back in May, I wrote resolutions for each PFC player. Find them below:
Here’s the third in a five-part series looking at how the players have performed against pre-season expectations. Find the first two below:
Part 1: Abdou Samake, Alejandro Díaz, Alessandro Hojabrpour, and Callum Irving
Part 2: Christopher Lee, Gianni dos Santos, Jamar Dixon, Jordan Haynes, and Josh Heard
DF - Kadin Chung (2021 CPL stats: 25 games played, 1 goal, 1 assist, 59.4% tackles won, 87.8% passes completed | 2020 CPL stats: 9 games played, 1 assist, 75% tackles won, 81.7% passes completed)
Preseason Resolution: Rumble, young man, rumble.
Key Quote: “Chung’s a gifted passer, and getting into the mix on the offensive end can help create more potent opportunities for his club off the counter-attack.”
The downside of being consistently good is that it starts to feel ordinary—even unremarkable. Kadin Chung had a solid season for Pacific—and yet, it feels… expected. He is the San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan on a soccer pitch, putting up 20 and 10 every night. He will patrol the backfield, burn defenders on the counterattack, and send crosses into good positions. Rinse, repeat.
What makes Chung’s 87.8% pass completion rate more impressive is the fact that he ranks third on his club in crosses and corners attempted—two notoriously low-percentage passes. Much of this is mitigated by Pa-Modou Kah’s playing style, emphasizing quick, give-and-go passing over 30-yard ‘Hail Marys.’ Not a single Pacific player ranks anywhere close to the top of the CPL in crosses attempted. (Ollie Bassett leads PFC with 19. FC Edmonton’s Fraser Aird leads the league with 74.)
At 23 years old, Chung is good enough—and consistent enough—to have hopes of moving onward to a higher level of competition—be it in the MLS or elsewhere.
But will it happen this offseason? That part is less clear.
He is still among the best three-to-four fullbacks in the Canadian Premier League—alongside Mo Farsi, Diyaeddine Abzi, and Kwame Awuah.1 2021 saw him earn four league-wide Team of the Week nods, along with a spot on the Gatorade Team of the Year. But watching Chung, you get the sense that there’s still untapped potential. If Pacific want to see him reach that next level, they might be wise to explore loan opportunities in the offseason.
DF - Kunle Dada-Luke (2021 CPL stats: 20 games played, 1 goal*, 2 assists, 81% passes completed, 56.7% tackles won | 2020 CPL stats: N/A)
Preseason Resolution: Be ready.
Key Quote: “Two seasons removed from in-game action, what Dada-Luke needs above all else is meaningful minutes.”
2021 has been good to Kunle Dada-Luke—and not merely for his semifinal heroics. After spending 2019 on the bench in Denmark and missing out on the 2020 Island Games due to an ankle injury, the Mississauga native has found what he needed most: a chance to play. What started somewhat shakily with Pacific—not entirely unsurprising, given the prolonged spell since his last competitive match—turned around into a sneakily good season. Brought in mostly as a second-half substitution (and occasionally given the starting right-back role), the 21-year-old impressed, contributing a goal and two assists—and one moment of Finals lore—while averaging 47 minutes per game.
Dada-Luke is not necessarily a floor-raiser in the same way that Marco Bustos commands a wing or Kadin Chung patrols the flank, but he lifts a club’s ceiling. Much like Josh Heard, he is a sparkplug; an agent of change: bring him onto the pitch and something is going to happen.
It’s not entirely clear yet whether Dada-Luke is better deployed as a right-back or on the right wing, but that’s a good problem for Kah to have—and one you wouldn’t mind Kah having for another season or more.
*Dada-Luke’s goal was officially marked as an own goal for Marco Carducci, but I’m choosing to give him the credit here. Let the man have his flowers.