Valour lets lead slip late in opener

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This article was published 10/04/2022 (1511 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Valour FC was seconds away from opening the 2022 Canadian Premier League season with three points.

They deserved a win, too, as Winnipeg’s professional soccer club outplayed FC Edmonton Sunday afternoon at Clarke Stadium for the majority of the match.

But Valour threw two points out the window with a costly mistake in the 95th minute. The visitors were holding on to a 1-0 advantage before Edmonton found the back of the net late to end the contest in a 1-1 draw.

“It’s tough. It feels like a loss, to be honest,” said Valour defender Stefan Cebara. “Not coming away with the three points today is heartbreaking. I think we controlled most of the game and had the better chances… It’s heartbreaking, but we have to move forward.”

The game-tying goal was a beauty. Forward Tobias Warschewski of Germany had a brilliant finish on a bicycle kick to stun Valour goalie Jonathan Sirois and his teammates.

“It was one hell of a goal,” Cebara said. “I don’t know what we could’ve done better. Maybe if we stepped up and tried to block it with our heads. But he scored a pretty nice goal and it’s heartbreaking. We all feel in the locker room that we allowed that to happen.”

As for Edmonton, the draw feels more like a win. The club is coming off a rough 2021 campaign where they finished in seventh place in the eight-team league with a 6-10-12 record.

“To see our team and supporters get rewarded, I mean, that’s probably going to be the goal of the season and it’s right away in the first week,” said Edmonton head coach Alan Koch.

“It’s pretty gratifying. I’m very happy for Toby and the guys. They kept going and pushing until the end.”

Valour won the possession battle at 62 per cent and outshot the Eddies 15-7 on the day. Edmonton had a stellar chance to tie the match in the 71st minute but striker Julian Ulbricht’s header missed a wide open net. Outside of the Ulbricht chance, Valour’s defence stifled Edmonton for the most part.

“This is football. You can’t sleep. You can’t drop your guard and we did on that last play of the game. I can’t beat the guys up because if that play hadn’t happened and we came back to the locker room with three points, we would all be celebrating and everyone would say it was a solid road performance,” said Valour head coach and general manager Phillip Dos Santos.

“… We needed a second goal. The second goal didn’t come and you’re always at the mercy of one play when you don’t score that second goal.”

The wind played a big factor in the contest. Players would put the ball down for a corner kick and it would begin to roll away. With the wind at their backs in the first half, Valour dominated and didn’t allow Edmonton to register a single shot. Right before the first half whistle, Valour defender Andy Baquero made the home side pay for a failed clearing attempt by putting one past Edmonton goalkeeper Andreas Vaikla with a left-footed shot from outside the box to open the scoring in the 46th minute. Baquero, a 27-year-old from Cuba, had one goal in 23 appearances last year with Valour.

The maroon, black, and gold didn’t get much going in the second half as they were playing into the blast.

“The conditions were extremely difficult,” Dos Santos said.

“I actually said to my staff ‘Were we that much better than them in the first half or did the wind play a big role?’”

It ended up being a game of two halves. It’s also a game not worth watching twice as the conditions kept both sides from playing pretty football.

“But we had to deal with it and I thought we dealt with it until the end,” said Dos Santos.

“That last play made it that it wasn’t (a complete performance). It wasn’t perfect. We knew we were facing a team that would be hungry, a team that had some pieces that if you let them play and express themselves, they could hurt you.”

Rookie midfielder Jacob Carlos, a 20-year-old product of Ryerson University that signed with the club after experienced midfielder Raphael Ohin tore his ACL in training camp, came off the bench in the 73rd minute to make his debut.

“I feel he came in well and fought hard. Where Jacob needs to grow is his tactical understanding of the game,” said Dos Santos.

“When to step in certain areas of the field, when to stay and provide balance and security to the team. But that’s natural. He’s a first-year pro and he’s going to grow.”

Valour will have a chance to bounce back next Sunday in Victoria, B.C., in a meeting with the defending champions, Pacific FC. They’ll head out east the week after that to play Atlético Ottawa on April 24 before returning to Winnipeg for their home opener May 1 at IG Field against Forge FC.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31