‘The floodgates are going to open’

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This article was published 31/07/2019 (2429 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The monkey on Valour FC’s back has grown to be the size of King Kong.

In its past 14 matches, the Winnipeg soccer club has failed to score more than a single goal in a game.

It’s the annoying stat that gets mentioned every match. But yet, it’s worth repeating as Valour still can’t seem to break out on offence and put an end to the madness.

The last time, and only time, they found the back of the net more than once in 90 minutes was a 2-1 win on May 1 in their spring-season opener on the road against Pacific FC.

The Canadian Premier League has now shifted to the 18-game fall campaign and Valour have gotten off to a 0-1-2 start. They’ll look to improve on that tonight, when they welcome Pacific FC to IG Field for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

“One of these days it’s going to come and the floodgates are going to open,” Valour head coach Rob Gale told the media prior to Tuesday afternoon’s training session at IG Field.

“I’m hoping we win 6-0, not 6-2, because I don’t want it that exciting. But, one of these days, they’re going to find their scoring boots and the chances created will come for us. I’m sure of that.”

Valour have 10 goals in their 13 CPL games between the two seasons, and only had one tally in their two Canadian Championship tournament matches against HFX Wanderers FC. Pacific, on the other hand, are red-hot on offence. In four fall-season games, Pacific already have eight goals, which is the same amount of goals Valour had in the 10-game spring season. However, the goals haven’t led to wins yet, as they’re currently 1-3-0 in fall action.

The lack of scoring hasn’t made life easy on Valour goalie Tyson Farago. The 28-year-old Winnipegger hasn’t won a game for Valour since the May 1 game, and his overall CPL record is 1-6-2. Farago hasn’t had any room for error as Valour only has six goals in his nine starts.

“I think that’s one thing I’ve just sort of kept my mind focused on is what I can contribute to the team,” Farago said. “And, yeah, it’s just keeping yourself focused throughout the game, and no matter what the score is, continue to keep the ball out of the net.”

There’s a good chance Farago will need plenty of scoring help tonight, as Pacific have two of the top goal scorers in the league. Pacific midfielder Terran Campbell’s seven goals is tied with Forge FC’s Tristan Borges for the most in the CPL. They also have Spanish midfielder Victor Blasco, who’s not too far behind with five. Valour’s leading scorer is 17-year-old Winnipeger Tyler Attardo, who has three. The duo of Campbell and Blasco have stepped up big time with the loss of Pacific captain Marcus Haber — who hasn’t played yet in the fall due to injury. The 27-year-old Haber has 27 caps for the Canadian senior men’s national team in his career.

“I know Terran well from his time with the national youth teams and seen him develop into a young lad. He’s got great physical strength. His shoulders are four times the size of mine,” Gale said of Pacific’s dangerous goal scorer.

“He’s got great stature, but he’s got good technical quality, too. He’s always had that. He’s had the ability to score goals. He’s direct. He’s strong. He’s got all the attributes you look for in a striker. I think, maybe early on in the season, they were relying on Marcus Haber a little bit. Going a bit more direct. And now they’re starting to find their rhythm and their football and what they’re about. The same as most of us. Terran has done well, but let’s hope he doesn’t tomorrow night.”

Pacific’s last match was a 3-1 win over Halifax on July 20. Valour will also head into tonight’s tilt on a positive note as they tied the mighty Cavalry FC — the CPL spring-season champs — 1-1 on Saturday at home.

“We went into that game focused on ourselves and it showed,” Valour midfielder Dylan Sacramento said. “We had lots of chances to win that game, and it’s just like Rob said, it’s just a matter of time until those goals go in and I think it’s starting to open up for us.”

The goals likely would’ve started to pour in earlier if two of Valour’s best scoring threats — Michael Petrasso and Ali Musse — could stay healthy. Neither player has played in the fall thus far as they’re both nursing injuries. Goalie Mathias Janssens has also been out for Valour’s first three fall games, but Gale wouldn’t confirm if any of the three will be ready to play today.

“I will definitely rule two out of the three out for tomorrow,” said Gale, without mentioning any names.

And while Saturday’s draw was a step in the right direction, the other negative stat stuck to Valour is their inability to win at home. Their lone victory at IG Field was May 11, when they beat Halifax 1-0. Sacramento said it’s time to put an end to that.

“The fans have been crazy,” he said. “And even when we do go down in games, no one’s booing us. They just keep singing and pushing us along and it’s about time we pay them back for that, so let’s start with that tomorrow.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31