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Valour midfielder Dante Campbell in action in the win over Pacific FC -- photos by Cameron Bartlett
Match Preview | Valour FC vs. Forge FC
October 5, 2024
Ed Tait
by
Ed Tait

Match #26

VALOUR FC (7-6-12) vs. FORGE FC (14-5-6)

When: Sunday, October 6th, 1 p.m. CDT
Where: Princess Auto Stadium
Tickets: Info can be found here.
Match theme: Portuguese night. More details:

MATCH PREVIEW:

The regular-season finish line is just around the bend for Valour FC and with a big spurt in their last three matches — and the continuation of a recent run of late — Winnipeg’s professional soccer side could secure a coveted goal.

A playoff spot.

Valour FC got some help from their Canadian Premier League compadres on Saturday, as HFX Wanderers and Vancouver FC played to a 1-1 draw, while Cavalry FC knocked off Pacific FC 4-1.

Those two results in the uber-competitive fight for the fifth and final playoff spot means a Valour win Sunday against league-leading Forge FC would allow them to leap-frog both Pacific and Vancouver into the final playoff spot.

A draw, meanwhile, would mean each of the three clubs sit at 28 points, one point ahead of Wanderers, with two matches remaining.

Valour GM and head coach Phillip Dos Santos

“The season is a marathon,” said Valour GM and head coach Phillip Dos Santos. “I said at the start of the season the race is not won or lost at the beginning. The important thing is to stay in the pack. That’s what you want to do in a marathon or in a distance race — you need to stay in the pack. Then it’s about catching that second wind that will allow you to finish strong.

“That’s been my message to the guys: we put ourselves in a position where we’ve stayed with the pack. Now we just need to finish strong. We need that second wind and push harder. Hopefully that’s going to be us.

“Right now I think our group is capable of that. It’s resilient. It’s together. It’s strong and it has accepted the identity we’ve built and embraced in the last couple months.”

Valour is coming off a 1-nil win over Pacific last weekend, is unbeaten in five (1-4-0) and is a solid 4-5-2 in its last 11 to push them into the playoff discussion. They have two of their last three at home, with Sunday’s match against Forge followed by a critical date in Vancouver next weekend and then the regular-season finale at Princess Auto Stadium against Cavalry FC on October 19th.

“We stay the course,” said Dos Santos. “It’s been the state of mind for the team for the last month, month and a half. With where we were at a certain point of the season we feel as if we’ve been playing finals for a while now because our margin of error has been small for a long time. During that time there’s been only two teams that have accumulated more points than us. That gives us reassurance.

“It’s one thing to go on a run for five-six games. It’s another to be able to sustain it for 11 matches and close to the second half the season. So, again, right now it’s about staying the course and see where this is going to take us.

“We have confidence and when you get results you don’t second-guess what you’re doing. You work on the areas that need improvement and it’s done in a much lighter environment during the week and with a lot of belief.”

THE OTHER GUYS:

3 Facts about Forge FC:

  • A Forge win or tie or loss by Atlético Ottawa means the Hamilton-based squad would clinch the CPL Shield and earn them a berth in the Concacaf Champions Cup for the third time in four years.
  • Forge has 44 goals in 25 contests this year, for a goals-per-match average of 1.76 — tops in the CPL. Valour, by comparison, is at 1.16 GPM, sixth in the league. Tristan Borges leads Forge FC with eight goals (as does Kwasi Poku, who had eight in 17 matches before being sold to Belgian club RWD Molenbeek).
  • Czech keeper Jassem Koleiat has six clean sheets in just 12 appearances, ranking him third in the league behind Cavalry’s Marco Carducci (8) and Pacific’s Emil Gazdov (7).

VALOUR FC SPOTLIGHT:

#25, Loic Kwemi, attacker: Was impressive in his start last week against Pacific, serving as a constant attacking threat and a handful inside the opponent’s box. That offensive aggression often leads to defensive mistakes and can create space for Kwemi and his teammates.

CRITICAL NUMBER

1-0-6

Forge has been the CPL’s dominant side since the league’s inception in 2019, but they’ve found frustration in their visits to Winnipeg where the club has just one win against six losses in seven matches at Princess Auto Stadium/IG Field.

That run includes a 2-1 loss to Valour in early August of this year.

All-Time: Valour FC vs. Forge FC

Overall: (win-draw-loss): 8-11-2

Last meeting: August 4th, 2024, Princess Auto Stadium, Winnipeg — Valour FC 2 Forge FC 1