Musse ready for kicks with Valour FC

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This article was published 28/02/2019 (2423 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If Valour FC can score goals at the same rate it has been scoring local talent, the team will be a force to be reckoned with in the inaugural season of the Canadian Premier League.

The soccer club announced the signing of Winnipeg native Ali Musse to a multi-year contract on Thursday at Investors Group Field.

The 23-year-old midfielder becomes the sixth local player to sign with the Winnipeg-based squad, joining midfielders Dylan Sacramento, Dylan Carreiro and Raphael Ohin, forward Tyler Attardo and goalkeeper Tyson Farago. The club now has 16 players under contract and has room to add four more.

“It’s massive,” Valour FC head coach and general manager Rob Gale said on the importance of having local players on the roster. “We said it from Day 1 that this will be a team with Manitobans, right? And I’ve repeated that time and time again because we’re a team for the whole of Manitoba. It’s going to inspire the next generation.”

Musse returns to Winnipeg with an impressive resumé. He spent the past two seasons with the Calgary Foothills FC of the Premier Development League (PDL), where he scored five game-winning goals and was a crucial part of the team winning the 2018 PDL championship. In the championship game against Reading United, Musse scored two goals in extra time to clinch the title. Musse has also spent time with the Vancouver Whitecaps of the MLS, as he was a part of their residency program in 2014 when he played with the under-18 squad.

“It’s just exciting, really,” Musse said of signing with Valour FC. “It’s something you obviously grow up dreaming about, playing professional soccer. But to do it in your hometown is something amazing.”

Valour FC wasn’t the only CPL team interested in Musse, as Cavalry FC and FC Edmonton also reached out to him. Musse’s familiarity with Gale, who coached him during his time in the Canadian youth program, and encouragement from fellow Winnipeggers already on the roster, helped Musse decide on joining the home side, despite the fact his family now lives in Edmonton. Musse won’t have to wait long to show FC Edmonton what it’s missing out on, as Valour FC will host Edmonton in its May 4 home opener at IGF.

“Rob explained to me what his goals are with the team here and what he wishes to achieve,” Musse said. “Like I said, for me, it’s just (about being comfortable). I’ve known him, we’ve worked together, I know some of the players on this team already, I’m home, so it’s honestly just a good environment for me to be in, I think.”

With the way Musse describes his game, Valour FC fans should be excited he made the decision to come home.

“I’d say talented, exciting, skillfull, the wow factor.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31