Akio promoted from Valour FC after historic blunder

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This article was published 19/07/2022 (1487 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Not even one of the worst misses in professional soccer history could stop former Valour FC forward William Akio from moving on to bigger things.

It was July 10 at IG Field against the visiting HFX Wanderers. The net was wide open and the ball was trickling past the goal line. But Akio wanted to put an emphasis on it by hammering the ball into the back of the net, so, he sprinted towards it and hoofed it. Somehow, someway, the ball caught the inside of his big toe and it sailed wide of the net.

Fortunately for Akio, Valour still went on to win 1-0. But the video of the mistake went viral as it has 10.6 million views on Twitter and has been shared all over social media.

“We came away with three points so we moved on past it, but we busted his chops about it a little bit,” said Valour defender Andrew-Jean Baptiste.

“With these things, you have to laugh and move on.”

Akio is now laughing and moving on as it was announced on Sunday that the 23-year-old from Calgary has been transferred to Scottish Premiership club Ross County FC for an undisclosed fee. It’s an incredible accomplishment for Akio, who was born in a refugee camp in Kenya to his South Sudanese parents, as he was playing NCAA soccer at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley less than 18 months ago.

He’s the first player in Valour history to be sold to a European club.

Akio was in the final year of his contract and turned down an extension to test out free agency. His younger brother Victor Loturi also plays for Ross County.

“As soon as his agent came to us and said ‘Look, there’s this opportunity. Would you be open to it?’ I said ‘For the right price, we’d be open to it,’” Valour head coach and general manager Phillip Dos Santos told the Free Press on Monday.

“… We came to an agreement and it was good for us, good for them, and good for Willy. We were able to get something for a player that we didn’t know if we were going to be able to keep as he was probably going to test free agency. This is just the nature of the sport. We had to make a decision and we considered a lot. I’ve always said I won’t hold players back if a good opportunity comes to them.”

The Canadian Premier League was designed to develop young Canadian talent like Akio and help them take the next step in their careers. But it still stings for Valour as Akio was one of their top scoring threats and arguably their most exciting player.

“There’s no one that’s irreplaceable. The door opens for someone else,” Dos Santos said.

“You saw flashes of what a guy like (Colombian winger) Daniel Ascanio can look like. We’re also in the market to bring in someone for the position in the next few days. So, we’re looking at it as an opportunity for the club to move on as well. For everything Willy brought to us, we’re grateful and I think we helped him progress his career and he helped us progress as a club to where we are now.”

Akio had two goals and an assist in 12 matches this season and led Valour with 1,116 minutes played. As a rookie in 2021, Akio had eight goals and three assists in 28 appearances. His strong play for Valour earned him four caps for South Sudan’s national team.

When Jean-Baptiste was asked to share his favourite memory of playing with Akio, he couldn’t help but crack up as he told the story. Akio was new to the pro game, and Winnipeg, and it was after one of the team’s first training sessions in 2021. Jean-Baptiste and Akio lived in the same apartment building on Corydon and the veteran gave the rookie a ride to IG Field. Akio ended up having to stay late so he told Jean-Baptiste to head home without him.

“He was like ‘Don’t worry. I got it. I’ll walk home.’ And I looked at him and said ‘I know it’s less than a 10 minute drive, but it’s not that close.’ And he goes ‘No, no, no, I got it.’ So I said ‘Sure, no problem, bud. Go ahead.’ It happened to be one of the hottest days last summer and it took him two hours to get home,” Jean-Baptiste said with a laugh.

“He was wearing Crocs and a hoodie, but by the time he got to the house, the sweater was off and he was just drenched in sweat.”

TOUGH WEEK FOR VALOUR

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Valour was supposed to play a road match this past Sunday but it was postponed as Atlético Ottawa has been hit with a COVID-19 outbreak.

They now play in Ottawa on Wednesday and will have to quickly regroup to head to Hamilton for Saturday afternoon’s match against Forge FC.

Valour has won three straight matches and sit just outside the league’s fourth and final playoff spot with a 5-4-4 record.

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.