Match #23

YORK UNITED FC (10-5-7) vs. VALOUR FC (6-4-12)

When: Friday, September 13th, 7 p.m. CDT
Where: York Lions Stadium, Toronto, Ont.

MATCH PREVIEW:

There’s no dancing around it any longer — it’s crunch time for Valour FC and its quest for the first-ever playoff spot in franchise history.

Valour has six matches remaining in its Canadian Premier League season and is currently in seventh place with 22 points — just four back of Vancouver FC in the fifth and final playoff spot. Positioned in between them in sixth is Pacific FC with 23 points.

The squad is playing its best football of the season currently with three wins and three draws against two losses in its last eight with that run ranking fourth best over that stretch behind Forge (6-1-1), Cavalry FC (5-2-1) and York (3-3-2).

Valour is coming off a 1-1 home draw with Atlético Ottawa in a match that was pockmarked by a botched call that led to a penalty goal by the visitors and robbed them of a potentially critical victory. Shaan Hundal headed home a perfect feed from Jordan Faria for Valour’s goal with the controversial equalizer coming in the 75th minute. For their efforts in that match, both Hundal and midfielder Raphael Ohin were named to the CPL Team of the Week.

It’s massively important now that Valour flush that ending and focus on winning in Toronto.

“I don’t want to talk any more about that. It’s something that has been talked enough about across the league,” said Valour GM and head coach Phillip Dos Santos post-match on Monday after stressing the need to improve the officiating to match the overall growth of the CPL. “I’m called here to do other things, not to be here criticizing. That’s not me, that’s not who I am. I’m going to work the team, we’ll take the point and we’re one point closer to the playoff line — that’s how I want to see it.

“The team is strong. Mentally we’re in a good place and we’ve played neck-and-neck with two of the best teams in this league (Monday’s draw preceded by a 2-2 tie in Calgary against Cavalry). I’ll remind people when we look at the amount of points accumulated by teams in that third quarter (before Monday’s draw), only Cavalry and Forge had accumulated more points than us.

“We started this last quarter with one point and we’re going to have more because the guys work for that and they are a good team. So, that’s where I want to put my focus.”

It’s worth noting that after this visit to Toronto, five of Valour’s remaining seven matches are at home.

Forward Jordi Swibel leads Valour with seven goals and Hundal’s header on Monday was his fifth of the season.  while defender Themi Antongolou leads the CPL with seven assists. Goalkeeper Jonathan Viscosi is second in the CPL with 59 saves. Valour gets promising centre back Frankie Facchineri back from yellow-card suspension, helping bolster its back line.

THE OTHER GUYS:

3 Facts about York United FC:

• York is also in full chase mode for playoff positioning, albeit further up the table than Valour. They enter Friday’s match third in the standings with 35 points, two back of Ottawa and six behind first-place Forge FC. They are coming off a 1-nil win over Vancouver on the west coast a week ago.
• York forward Brian Wright has eight goals, one back of Ottawa’s Ruben del Campo, who was the beneficiary of the iffy penalty call against Valour on Monday and scored his ninth of the season. Former Valour striker Austin Ricci continues to be a handful and has four goals in 16 appearances this season.
• The club announced earlier this week that promising midfielder suffered a season-ending knee injury during training and was placed on the inactive list for the remainder of the season after having surgery. He had made 14 appearances for York, helping set up two goals while accumulating 537 minutes of action.

VALOUR FC SPOTLIGHT:

#10, Shaan Hundal, forward: The veteran finisher has been steady up front of late and cashed in with his fifth goal of the season in Monday’s draw. Afterward Hundal spoke of the team needing to flush the controversial ending and focus on this one against York. It was Hundal that pointed out, too, how much he loves playing in his hometown (he was born in Brampton, Ont). and Valour’s roster has three other players from the area in Antonoglou (Toronto), Jordan Faria (Brampton) and Dante Campbell (Etobicoke) while Facchineri (Windsor), Jordan Haynes (Peterborough), Viscosi and Zach Sukuna (both Ottawa) are also Ontario products.

CRITICAL NUMBER

1.125

Valour has the worst goals conceded per match average in the CPL at 1.64, but has surrendered just nine goals in its last eight for an average of 1.125. That solid defending will be massive down the stretch in the chase for a playoff spot.

All-Time: Valour FC vs. York United FC

Overall: (win-draw-loss): 9-8-2

Last meeting: August 11, 2024, Princes Auto Stadium, Winnipeg — Valour FC 0 York United FC 1