Valour rewarded for efforts

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This article was published 06/10/2019 (2511 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the grand scheme of things, Valour FC doesn’t have much to play for at the moment.

The clock is ticking on the Canadian Premier League’s inaugural season, and it’s already been determined that Forge FC will meet Cavalry FC in the championship series at the end of this month.

But if you took in Saturday’s contest at IG Field between Valour and FC Edmonton, you would’ve thought Winnipeg’s professional soccer team was still in the race to become the league’s first champion. Valour’s effort was there for the full 90 minutes and they were rewarded with a 3-1 win over the visitors in front of 4,776 fans. Valour tied their season-high for goals in a home match, as they scored three times in a victory over Edmonton at IG Field on Aug. 19.

With the win, Valour improves to 5-7-4 and now sits in third place in the CPL fall standings with 19 points. Edmonton drops to 3-7-6.

“We want to finish as high as we can,” said Valour attacking midfielder Marco Bustos, who scored on a penalty kick in the 72nd minute to make it a 3-1 game. “That was the theme in our locker room the last few weeks, to get as many points as we can to finish as high as we can. We knew we couldn’t get into the championship game, so we’re fighting for something and that’s for third place.”

Valour’s hometown kids had their fingerprints all over the team’s scoring outburst.

Forward Ali Musse snuck behind the Edmonton defence to score two minutes into the game, but it was waved off as he was called offside. Ten minutes later, Musse would orchestrate a goal that would stay on the scoreboard, as he made a beautiful lob pass that would find fellow Winnipegger Dylan Carreiro in the box. Carreiro made no mistake as he drilled a shot past Edmonton keeper Dylon Powley to open the scoring. It was Carreiro’s first goal since his game-winner in Valour’s season opener on May 1 against Pacific FC. Saturday also marked the first time Carreiro wore the captain’s armband for Valour.

“It’s special. It was special wearing the captain’s armband,” said Carreiro, who also has two assists this year. “It was an honour and I’m grateful to get the goal. But it was a great team performance and team victory overall.”

Valour head coach Rob Gale wanted Carreiro, who is of Portuguese descent, to wear the armband on Saturday as it was Portuguese Fan Appreciation Day at the stadium. Gale also had a gut feeling Carreiro would find the back of the net.

“I gave him the armband just before kickoff and I said ‘You’re going to score today. You’re going to get one today,’” Gale told the media postgame.

“It’s Portuguese Day, the Winnipeg boy, so, I was delighted for him. I thought he was the man of the match. He was outstanding (on) both sides of the ball. He used the ball well, rarely gave it away and he got his reward with the first goal. It was a great goal.”

In the 40th minute, Toronto native Michael Petrasso set up Michele Paolucci in front of the net and the Italian striker capitalized to make it 2-0 lead heading into the break. Edmonton would make things interesting in the second half as they got a goal from Easton Ongaro in the 56th minute.

That would be as close as they’d get, as Bustos was tackled in the box and awarded a penalty in the 72nd minute to increase the Valour lead to 3-1. Bustos, a Winnipeg native, now has seven goals in 23 CPL games.

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“Our plan was to go full out and attack them as much as we could, and I think that’s what we did,” Bustos said. “We executed the game plan. From some of the losses that we’ve had, it’s because we haven’t executed the game plan. So, it’s good on the guys that we came out and did what we had to do.”

It’s been an impressive turnaround for Valour — a team that finished the spring season in dead last. Gale said the team never believed they deserved such a poor finish and they’re on a mission to end this season on a high note. They have two games left on the schedule, as Valour will play their final home match on Oct. 16 when they host York9 FC before closing out the season on the road on Oct. 19 against Pacific FC.

“We’ve come a long way,” Gale said. “It’s been a rollercoaster of a first year. We want to finish as high as we can and today was a step in the right direction.”

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.