Cavalry came calling, Valour blown away

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This article was published 03/09/2019 (2441 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There have been some ugly moments in Valour FC’s first year.

Winnipeg’s professional soccer team finished the inaugural Canadian Premier League’s spring campaign dead last at 3-7-0. They had 14 games between May 1 and July 31 where they failed to score more than once in a match. They also had a brutal stretch where they went over three months without getting a win at home.

But Monday afternoon’s disaster — and that’s putting it nicely — at IG Field takes the cake. Cavalry FC, the CPL’s spring-season champions, blasted Valour 8-0 in front of 4,566 fans. It’s by far the worst result in Valour’s young franchise history, as it was the first time they lost a match by more than two scores. The eight goals are also the most surrendered by a CPL team in a single match. The beatdown drops Valour’s fall-season record to 3-5-3, while Cavalry improves to 5-1-4.

“What are you gonna do? Shout and scream and holler at them? They need to have a good look at themselves individually,” Valour head coach Rob Gale said post-game. “It’s hard to stand here and defend them. I’ve defended them all season. I know the boys and the quality they got. But, you don’t lose by that margin in amateur sports, let alone professional sports. It’s not good enough. We can only just apologize to the fans and make sure the work that we do between now and the next game is intense and we respond in the right way. It’s all you can do.”

The Calgary-based team outplayed Valour all afternoon, as they outshot the home team 12-2. To put the beating into perspective, Cavalry scored so many times that the scoreboard at IG Field ran out of room to list all of the goals. When Valour captain Louis Béland-Goyette was asked what went wrong in the match, he responded by saying “everything.”

“It’s kind of like a slap in the face. It’s the biggest defeat I think most of us have ever faced,” Béland-Goyette said. “It’s just to learn from the mistakes. Maybe it’s a slap we needed to move forward, hopefully, because I don’t think it can get worse than that.”

The match got off to a rough start for Valour as midfielder José Galán was called on a questionable penalty in the box only 12 minutes into the game. Cavalry took advantage of the penalty kick as captain Nik Ledgerwood stepped up and beat Valour goalie Mathias Janssens to open the scoring. Nico Pasquotti would add to the lead in the 39th minute, but the nightmare of a first half was capped off by Valour midfielder Raphael Ohin being charged with an own goal in the 42nd minute to give Cavalry a 3-0 lead after 45 minutes.

Valour didn’t put up any fight in the second half, as they looked like a group that had thrown in the towel.

Arguably the lowest moment of the match was Janssens saving a Julian Buscher penalty kick in the 79th minute, only for Buscher to jump on the rebound and score to make it 6-0. Cavalry would keep their foot on the gas, as they would score two more goals in the final three minutes of the match. Forward Oliver Minatel scored two out of Cavalry’s five second-half goals. Even referee Fabrizio Stasolla had seen enough, as he didn’t call for any stoppage time after 90 minutes of play.

“They got manhandled and bullied today,” Gale said of his players. “And it’s gonna be a big lesson and a big learning curve for them. And there’s going to be a ton of video work and a ton of review with each and every player out there.”

The disappointing result seemed to come out of nowhere for Valour, as they entered the match having won two of their past three games, with both victories coming at home. They also played the Calgary side tough in their previous meeting, as they had a 1-1 draw at IG Field on July 27.

“Very frustrating. I always say the biggest test (for) this team is to win two games in a row,” Béland-Goyette said.

“That just shows maybe we’re not consistent. We have a good performance, then we have a bad one, then we bounce back.”

Gale was asked if he believes the team quit in the second half, but said he will need to re-watch the match.

He added that goalie Janssens had some words of encouragement in the locker room post-game.

“(Janssens) said afterward, ‘It’s better to lose 8-0 than (to lose eight matches) 1-0,’” Gale said.

“I think you just have to write it off. I’ve never been in a game like that with that scoreline. It’s absolutely ridiculous to me that is the scoreline.”

Valour has seven matches left, with their next contest coming on Sept. 12 at home against Forge FC (5-1-1).

Valour will need to quickly forget Monday’s massacre to even have a chance at being a threat for the fall title.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31