New Valour FC players winging it

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This article was published 08/04/2020 (2242 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If anyone is itching to get back on the pitch, it’s Valour FC’s Stefan Cebara.

It’s been more than a year since the former Canadian men’s national team winger suited up in a professional soccer match. At the end of the 2018 season with Serbian club Vojvodina Novi Sad, Cebara had another year left on his contract, but he decided to terminate his deal as a new regime was taking over the team. The Windsor, Ont., native had another club interested in his services, but the deal fell through at the last minute and Cebara was left without a dance partner for all of 2019.

“The last year was the toughest year of my life in terms of a lot of things. Once you’re out of the game for a few months, agents stop returning your phone calls, clubs don’t think you’re fit and nobody wants to take a chance on you,” said Cebara, who signed with Winnipeg’s Canadian Premier League (CPL) club last week.

“It was very, very hard to get an opportunity, especially after a few months out the game. You’re overlooked for sure because teams are signing players that are coming off of a season. I’m really lucky to get an opportunity (with Valour) and I’m glad that I did.”

The 28-year-old Cebara, who made five appearances for the Canadian national team in 2013 and played alongside greats such as Julian de Guzman and Dwayne De Rosario, didn’t get much of a chance to build chemistry with his new Valour teammates. After earning his contract the hard way last month as a training camp invitee, the CPL shut down all team activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season was supposed to kick off this weekend, but the CPL schedule has been postponed indefinitely.

Cebara, who was born in Croatia but fled the country with his family and moved to Canada when he was six, is extremely disappointed his return to game action has been delayed. But he’s still hopeful there will be a season.

This was supposed to be a homecoming for Cebara, who has played overseas throughout his nine-year professional career for clubs in Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia and Lithuania.

“That’s life. There’s a lot of ups and downs and you can’t get everything you want at the time you want it. You just got to stay positive and hope things get back to normal soon. But, everyone’s health is the first priority, for sure,” said Cebara, who had eight goals in 15 matches with the Canadian under-20 squad in 2011.

Last week, Valour also announced the signing of attacking midfielder Masta Kacher. Unlike Cebara, the 24-year-old Montreal product wasn’t able to catch a glimpse of his new team. Two days before he was supposed to fly to Winnipeg for training camp, CPL play was suspended.

“It’s frustrating, but in this type of situation, it’s worldwide. We can’t be selfish,” said Kacher, who spent the past five seasons in the USL Championship, most recently with Saint Louis FC, where he scored twice in 16 appearances.

“There are people losing their jobs, losing their lives and there are people saving lives as well. We can’t be selfish as soccer players. We have to all try to do our best, follow the rules and hopefully, this will all end soon.”

Since Cebara and Kacher can’t get familiar with their teammates in person, they’ve been relying on Zoom, a video conferencing app, and group chats.

“It’s a pretty weird way to meet each other, but like I said, we can’t be selfish. Right now, it’s the best way to do it. We’d rather do that than sit at home and have nothing to do, and not even get to know the guys or chat with them,” said Kacher, who grew up in Algeria and immigrated to Montreal with his family at the age of seven.

“Now we can at least see each other, talk about the game and what we’re looking forward to or fitness. It’s probably not the best way to do it, but for now, it’s the way to do it.”

The players might be at their respective homes, but Valour head coach and general manager Rob Gale is still putting them to work and keeping them busy. The team does a fitness session together on Zoom three times a week, followed by a group tactical film review. Homework is assigned as players are asked to do presentations on Fridays about what they learned in their video reviews throughout the week. In addition, players are required to go out for runs six days a week. They’ve all downloaded an app that records their runs so the club can track their fitness levels.

“You’d be surprised how quickly you can fill up a week with a solid schedule,” Gale said.

Like the rest of the sports world, it’s difficult to predict what 2020 will look like for the CPL. Gale was asked if it’s hard to not have it in the back of his mind that all the video calls could be for nothing if the season ends up being cancelled.

“No, because I’m an eternal optimist. I always look on the positive side of life. I wake up and the glass is half full. With everything going on, we have to be thankful for our health, our families and be grateful for everyone who’s out there on the front line. We need to be mindful that there are a lot of people suffering and the least we can do is get up, seize the day and see where it takes us,” said Gale.

 

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31