Valour FC ‘can’t wait’ for delayed home-opener

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This article was published 04/05/2022 (1281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There will be no last minute change of plans this time.

Valour FC will play in front of its home crowd Saturday — one week after its original home opener date got pushed back owing to roster concerns. Valour (1-1-1) hosts HFX Wanderers FC (2-0-2) at IG Field at 2 p.m.

“We can’t wait. We haven’t seen our fans in so long,” said veteran midfielder Daryl Fordyce.

Valour was forced to be extra patient as its roster was in a shambles last week. Their injury ward was piling up and the locker room was hit with a COVID-19 outbreak, leaving the team with close to zero subs for last Sunday’s scheduled match with visiting Forge FC. Before the Hamilton side set foot on a plane for Winnipeg, the Canadian Premier League made the decision to postpone the contest. Valour only had three players and two coaches test positive, but there was a possibility that more cases were going to pop up, leading to Winnipeg’s professional soccer club potentially not having the bodies to field a starting 11.

Valour took the weekend off to recover, but returned to the pitch Tuesday to prepare for the new home opener opponent, the Wanderers.

Valour hasn’t played since April 24 when it stomped Atlético Ottawa 6-1.

“We feel Halifax will be one of the contenders, just like us, so we feel we need to get these points,” said Valour head coach and general manager Phillip Dos Santos.

“We know we’ve had a tough week and it’s been a challenging week with guys returning in bits… We haven’t had a chance to work as a full team yet this week so we’re trying to put all the pieces together and make sure that they get all the tools they need to get in order to step on the field on Saturday and play at their maximum potential.”

Under these circumstances, it’s hard to envision Valour coming out with a 90-minute masterpiece on Saturday.

“Look, I have to believe that we can get close to that because if not, I’m allowing the guys to have an excuse,” said Dos Santos. “We need to grind and push and make sure the guys that are on the field are the healthiest ones.”

Valour could desperately use a boost from Colombian midfielder José Daniel Ascanio and Chilean attacker Walter Ponce, but don’t count on that happening anytime soon. Valour’s imports remain abroad as they continue to have issues securing their Canadian work visas.

“I’ll tell you right now, it’s been a challenging one for us. It’s been challenging because it’s unpredictable. They give us a window and then it ends up being longer,” said Dos Santos.

“It’s hard. I don’t know what to tell you. We’re hopeful it could be any day now, but we’ve been saying this for a month or two.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31