Putting in the hard yards

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This article was published 01/04/2019 (2658 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Valour FC will end the week with a trip to the beautiful, sunny Dominican Republic, but the start to their week wasn’t so glamorous.

Valour FC head coach and general manager Rob Gale put his squad’s conditioning to the test first thing Monday morning. Winnipeg’s newest professional soccer team went through two hours of fitness testing at the Subway South Soccer Complex, as players performed sprints, agility drills and the dreaded Yo-Yo Endurance Test — a more advanced version of the beep test, where you must run from one line to another before a timed beep. Midfielder Diego Gutiérrez was the last man running in the test; he outlasted the rest of the team and made it to level 28.

“There’s no fat on Diego whatsoever,” Gale said after Monday’s session. “He’s the Roadrunner. He can go all day long. He was doing the meep, meep himself there, I think.”

Gutiérrez and his teammates will want their fitness levels to be on point heading into the weekend, as on Saturday, they fly to the Dominican Republic for a weeklong trip, where they will get a chance to play two exhibition games against local teams. All seven Canadian Premier League teams will be making the trip and playing against Dominican Republic clubs, but no official schedule has been released. Currently, the friendlies in the Dominican are the only scheduled pre-season games Valour FC will play before their season begins May 1 on the road in Victoria, B.C., against Pacific FC.

Valour FC midfielder Michael Petrasso said the trip will be crucial in helping them prepare for the real season.

“Obviously, going into the Dominican, it will be a change of atmosphere,” said the 23-year-old Petrasso, who made 14 appearances in Major League Soccer in 2018 for the Montreal Impact.

“I think, hopefully, we can play a competitive team and we can see where our team is at. Obviously, we need tough competition for our first game to check where everybody’s at and see what the boys are like, and get a real good feel for it. Obviously, you don’t want to go into the first game of the season without having a strong competitive game ’cause then you go in with surprises. I think we want to go in and focus on the two games and get our tactics right. I think by now, after a month, a lot of the boys are up and running fitness-wise. I think now, it’s more about focusing on tactics and players finishing off. I think that’s what we’re looking for in the Dominican.”

According to Gale, one thing Valour is not looking to do in the Dominican is solidify their starting 11. Gale said he won’t put much weight on the games when it comes to deciding who his starters will be for the team’s inaugural match on May 1. He said fitness-building, working on some tactical things on the field and culture-building will be their biggest priorities next week.

“It’s a chance for us more to connect in some of the team-building and identity pieces as the culture of the club continues to evolve, and getting these guys’ identity and what they want it to look like and build within our bigger-picture values and that kind of stuff,” Gale said. “It’s easier in a way when you’re in a bit of a bubble with no distractions and (get to) be with each other 24-7. The chance for meetings, and hotel rooms, and league meetings and other things. For us, that’s going to be as important as also getting two friendly games down there.”

Petrasso agreed with Gale’s sentiment, as he said there’s still too much time before the regular season kicks off to decide where players will fit in the lineup.

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“I don’t think you can solidify a starting 11 until maybe a couple days before the start of the season because you don’t know where your players are at,” said Petrasso, a Toronto native.

“Obviously, there’s still a month of pre-season and a lot of time for players to impress and earn a spot. I think that’s what the Dominican is about, we’re going to go there and get minutes under our belts. I think it’s a chance for players to show their qualities and build as a team. Hopefully, everybody stays healthy and we can improve together and come out of that. I think there are very good players here that can earn starting positions or even earn positions where they come off the bench and show themselves. There’s a lot of competition on the team and I think that’s good and healthy for this squad.”

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.