Valour FC hope to end spring season on a high note

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This article was published 28/06/2019 (2607 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

No, Valour FC’s Canada Day match won’t go down in franchise history as one of their most important games.

Monday’s contest will mark the end of the 10-game spring season, as Valour FC (3-6-0) welcomes another struggling club, York9 FC (1-3-5), to IG Field with kickoff scheduled for noon.

The inaugural Canadian Premier League season hasn’t gone according to plan for either side, and both will be eager to start fresh in the 18-game fall season that begins next weekend. Cavalry FC (8-1-0) clinched the spring title with a 2-0 win over York9 on Thursday.

But Valour head coach and general manager Rob Gale — whose team has dropped five straight, including their two losses in the Canadian Championship — said there’s still something to play for on Monday.

“I mean, winning is lovely, right?” Gale said on Friday morning at IG Field. “The sun shines that much brighter. You sleep the next two days instead of tossing and turning all night and analyzing everything and reviewing everything. And I know the players are the same, just trying to find those answers. Number one, we want to do it for the supporters. They’ve been so good, absolutely magnificent. It’s going to be a great crowd again on Canada Day and we want to give them a win. They deserve a win.”

Valour is coming off another frustrating defeat at the hands of the HFX Wanderers, who have beaten the Winnipeg team three out of four times this year, including their Canadian Championship second-round matchup. Valour dropped Thursday’s match in Halifax 2-0, despite outplaying the home team for the majority of the first half. A reckless tackle in the box by defender Martin Arguiñarena gave the Wanderers a penalty kick minutes before the first-half whistle and they took advantage, with attacker Mohamed Kourouma stepping up and scoring. Valour never recovered, and Halifax added another tally in the 85th minute.

“Look, we had a great conversation and heart-to-heart after the game,” Gale said. “No yelling and no screaming, so there’s no story for the newspaper, unfortunately. But we sat down and said, ‘Look, it’s time to draw a line here. Talent takes you so far. Now, we have to apply it collectively.’”

Midfielder Nico Galvis said that despite the disappointing spring campaign, the club is still confident they’ll be a threat in the fall.

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“It’s fine. We’re all strong. We’re all men. There’s nothing really to dwell on,” Galvis said.

“We have to think forward, and I think everybody on the team has the same mentality. We have to think about the next game. And I mean, now it’s only one game left for the spring season, so thinking about this game, and then after that putting it all behind us and focus on the fall season. It’s what’s important to us, and I know that with the team we have, we will be able to turn this table.”

Injury update: once again, Valour FC will be missing a few key pieces. Gale confirmed on Friday that midfielder Michael Petrasso will miss his fourth straight game and defender Diego Gutiérrez will sit out for the second game in a row due to injury.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31

Taylor Allen
Reporter

Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.

Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.