Petrasso hopes to stay injury-free for Valour

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This article was published 03/08/2019 (2612 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IF only he could stay healthy.

That’s often what you hear when people talk about the talent of Valour FC midfielder Michael Petrasso.

When Petrasso’s on the pitch — like he was on Wednesday night at IG Field for the final 33 minutes of Valour’s 2-2 tie against Pacific FC after missing eight weeks with a groin injury — he’s a difference-maker.

The 24-year-old Toronto native can be surrounded by defenders, yet he’ll somehow make a Houdini-like escape and still have the ball. And when Valour scores, chances are he had something to do with it, as he is good for nearly a point per game. In five Canadian Premier League matches, Petrasso has two goals and two assists.

But there lies the problem: Petrasso has only played in five out of 14 league matches. He went down with a groin injury against Cavalry FC on May 8, came back two weeks later to play in the team’s second-round Canadian Championship series against HFX Wanderers FC, but reinjured the groin in the second leg at home on June 12 and was diagnosed with a Grade 3 groin tear.

“This one here was a bit of a blow because I started off the season strong,” Petrasso told the Free Press on Friday. “It was one of those injuries where the doctor told me it was very rare. And I was like, ‘Oh, another one of these,’ where you don’t expect it and it just happens. This season I came in — and you can ask anybody on the coaching staff — I trained every day in the pre-season and I got really fit. And it’s just one of those things where I couldn’t prevent it because I came out at full force and it happened, which is a bit unlucky, I would say.”

It was a massive loss for Valour, as they were not the same team without him. In the nine matches Petrasso was sidelined, the team went 1-6-2 and was outscored 15-6. Petrasso didn’t make his return until Wednesday night, as he came off the bench in the second half for Tyler Attardo and played the role of the hero as he scored on a penalty kick in the 90th minute to tie the game.

But Petrasso isn’t new to injuries, as last year was a similar story for the 2014 U20 Canadian player of the year. He made 14 appearances with the Montreal Impact of Major League Soccer before the club loaned him to the Ottawa Fury of the United Soccer League. But Petrasso never suited up in Ottawa. After two training sessions with the Fury, he needed surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back. With back-to-back seasons of battling injuries, Petrasso is beginning to garner the reputation of a player who just can’t seem to stay healthy.

“My goal is to go day-to-day and play as well as possible and just show my worth and ability. At the end of the season, I’ll just take it from there.”– Michael Petrasso

“You know, I’ve always worked hard, so it’s not that I’m slacking and that’s why I’m unhealthy. It’s just kind of how my body is working at the moment,” Petrasso said.

“But you know, I need to change things obviously and I’m starting to change things again. And you know right now, I just need to remain healthy and keep proving I am up there with the best in the league. There’s still a lot of games and I haven’t missed that many games, and if I can stay healthy, we have 14 games for the rest of the season, which is a lot for one season. So, I’m just focusing on that. You know, a lot of people talk, but the way you play is what you show and if I can remain healthy and play the way I am, I’m pretty sure people will forget the statements they’ve been making.”

When Petrasso entered the game on Wednesday night, he looked as good as ever. You’d never know he only had one training session leading up to the game. And if there’s anyone who knows what Petrasso brings to the table, it’s Valour midfielder Louis Béland-Goyette. The 23-year-old from Pointe-Claire, Que., is the only other Valour player to play in the MLS — he was Petrasso’s teammate in Montreal last season.

“I think we’re a more dangerous team when he’s on,” said Béland-Goyette, who made 20 appearances for the Impact from 2014-18.

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“Obviously, he’s a quality player. I don’t want to say we depend on him because I think we have some good wingers when he’s not there, but he just brings a different type of play that maybe we didn’t have. He’s very attacking-minded. His job is based a lot on attacking and I think that’s what we’re missing right now, a guy that just wants to keep attacking and going at teams and keep trying to find ways to attack a defence. It’s very positive for us to have him back.”

Valour is getting arguably their best player back at the perfect time, as they can make up a lot of ground in the CPL standings this month with six matches in 24 days. Petrasso said he isn’t sure if Valour — currently in last place in the fall season with a 0-1-3 record — will ease him back into the lineup when they kick off their gruelling August schedule on Monday night in Halifax. He also isn’t sure what his plans will be after this season, as he’s only signed to the Winnipeg club for one year. But for right now, he’s focused on proving he can stay healthy and help Valour get back into the win column.

“My goal is to go day-to-day and play as well as possible and just show my worth and ability. At the end of the season, I’ll just take it from there,” he said. “At the beginning of the season, I came in and wanted to bounce back. But right now, I just need to focus on myself and show everybody what I’m worth.”

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.