Valour keeper Sirois feels no pressure on PKs

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This article was published 20/04/2022 (1588 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You often hear people say goalies don’t stand a chance when it comes to penalty kicks.

It’s a pretty accurate statement considering roughly 75 per cent of attempts at the men’s professional level find the back of the net.

But those numbers don’t mean a thing to Jonathan Sirois because the Valour FC goalkeeper is defying the odds.

Literally.

After stonewalling Pacific FC star attacking midfielder Marco Bustos at the end of the first half in Sunday’s 3-2 loss in Langford, B.C., Sirois has now stopped three out of the four penalty shots in his 26-game career in the Canadian Premier League.

“I take pleasure in penalty kicks because I don’t feel any pressure,” Sirois told the Free Press after Wednesday’s training session at WSF Soccer South.

“I think most of the pressure is on the player. I actually find it fun. I just try to play mind games with the player and it’s been working pretty well for me.”

His latest clutch save was a big one. Valour was short a player for most of the match as defender Tony Mikhael was sent off with a red card. Valour trailed 2-1 by the time Bustos stepped into the box to face Sirois, a 20-year-old on loan from MLS side CF Montreal. It didn’t pay off in the end, but the keeper’s effort kept Valour’s slim hopes alive heading into the final 45 minutes.

“It’s a rush of adrenaline, happiness, and excitement and you let everything out. Usually I scream after I save one because it’s such a rush,” said Sirois.

“… But I don’t pay too much attention to the stats. I’m at a point in my career where I’m just starting. I’ve only faced four which isn’t a lot.”

Small sample size or not, it’s still extremely impressive. Head coach and general manager Phillip Dos Santos loves what he’s seen from his goalie, but he’s quick to point out that Sirois — last season’s CPL goalkeeper of year award winner — isn’t doing it by himself.

“Look, I think some credit goes to (goalie coach Patrick Di Stefani)… It’s a bit of a guessing game when there’s a PK, but Patrick does his homework, discusses it with (Sirois) and (Sirois) goes in with a little head start,” Dos Santos said.

“But then, there’s the flare of the moment and the capacity that Jonathan has to read the moment. You can know that a guy has gone to a certain spot three out of four times, but you still need to adjust to the moment.”

The Beast is ready

Bad news: Valour FC has started the season 0-1-1.

Good news: They will be receiving a massive boost, potentially as early as this weekend in a road match with Atlético Ottawa, soon from one of the best defenders in the league, Andrew Jean-Baptiste.

After missing the majority of last season with a torn ACL, the 29-year-old former MLS pro from New York spent the winter in Winnipeg rehabbing. In training camp, Dos Santos said the club was aiming to have Jean-Baptiste, arguably their most talented player, back in time for their home opener on May 1 against Forge FC. But the timeline as changed as Jean-Baptiste is now a full participant at practice and looking like his old self. Dos Santos said Jean-Baptiste could play some minutes on Sunday afternoon in Ottawa.

“For the first time, he sat with me and said ‘Coach, I’m ready. It’s been two weeks without my brace. I’m at your disposition.’ So right now, it’s figuring out how to integrate him knowing that he’s still a player that hasn’t played a game in nine months,” Dos Santos said.

Pacific owns Valour

After Sunday’s defeat, Valour is officially 1-1-10 all-time against Pacific. Valour beat Pacific in their first match in franchise history back on May 1, 2019, but it’s been all downhill from there.

“I’m not the type of guy to make up excuses and figure out why we haven’t won, but it’s a team we definitely have to beat this year if we want to go forward and compete for a championship,” said third-year Valour defender Stefan Cebara.

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The story of Valour’s latest loss was Bustos — a Winnipeg native who starred for his hometown club in the inaugural CPL season before heading out West — as he assisted all three of Pacific’s goals. Pacific won the CPL championship in 2021 and currently sits at the top of the table with a 2-0-0 record.

“I mean, he’s a great player. Just an informed player playing at home against a team down a man,” said Valour rookie midfielder Jacob Carlos.

“Maybe if we didn’t have a man down, things could’ve been different, but he’s a good player. A great player.”

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.