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Match Recap vs York United
April 16, 2023
Ed Tait
by
Ed Tait

It’s the smallest of sample sizes – one match in the marathon that is the Canadian Premier League season – but Valour FC’s revamped lineup checked a ton of boxes in its 2023 debut.

Winnipeg’s professional soccer side kicked off the fifth year of its existence with a sold 2-nil road win over York United FC at York Lions Stadium in Toronto Sunday afternoon in a match that answered many of the questions swirling about the side as the curtain lifted on a new season.

First and foremost: just how would a made-over squad that saw 16 players from last year’s squad move on come together in the first real action of ’23?

The answer: pretty damn well.

“It reassures you. It reassures the team,” said Valour GM and head coach Phillip Dos Santos of Sunday’s result. “There’s the win and there’s the way you achieved the win. And then, when you get such a high number of new players coming in the first question is: are they willing to pay the price for each other? Are they willing to work with each other? Today there was no doubt that the guys worked for each other out there. They worked as a team, they committed to what we had proposed as a gameplan.

 

“I have to rewatch the game and there’s things we have to grow in there. But just seeing them come together – not so much on the football side, because that takes time – and in the way they worked for and with each other… that, for me, was most important.”

Valour was full credit for the victory and, after a scoreless first half, put a stranglehold on the match with two goals in a span of three minutes and 27 seconds. The club opened the scoring in the 51st minute as midfielder Raphael Ohin — playing in his first game since the 2021 regular-season finale after suffering a knee injury in camp last year – rocketed a shot toward the York net that was inadvertently headed past goalkeeper Nik Giantsopoulos for an own goal.

It was an emotional return to action for Ohin, who has been with Valour since Day 1, but lost all of last year due to the injury.

“It kicked in a little bit last night,” Ohin said. “Going to bed I was thinking about the game the whole time. It felt a little bit unreal. I was in my feelings a little bit, thinking about what I’ve been through with the 11 months of rehab.

“The last thing I said to myself before going to bed was, ‘You know what? I did it.’ I’m grateful to God and my faith and I woke up this morning with a good feeling that I’m going out to the game to ball out.

“And just before the ref blew the whistle it was little bit unreal. Again, I said to myself, ‘Raph, you’re back again on this field, a CPL game after a year.’ After that, I was back to my normal self and just enjoying myself out there.”

Moments later two Valour newcomers teamed up for a brilliant goal, as winger Pacifique Niyongabire – nicknamed ‘Wazii’ — used speed on the wing to race by a defender before playing perfect ball into CPL veteran Anthony Novak, who one-touch redirected it into the net.

Valour managed 16 shots, six on the York United goal, while limiting the home shot to 14 shots in total, but only two on net. Goalkeeper Rayane Yesli earned the clean sheet in the win.

There is little time to celebrate the season opening win. Valour will fly from Toronto to Vancouver Monday for Wednesday’s Canadian Championship opening round match against TSS Rovers of League1 British Columbia. They then return home for Saturday’s home opener against Atlético Ottawa at IG Field, with a 6 p.m. start time.

“Today it was good,” said Dos Santos. “Nothing will matter if we’re not able to repeat the performance. A lot of people talk about the 22 points lost when we had a lead, or the fact we couldn’t find consistency (last season). Those are answers we’ll see through time.

“Today, we have to be very happy with the way our guys approached the game, very happy with the way we committed. But, again, if we can’t repeat it, it doesn’t mean much.

“It’s a long journey. It’s a marathon. So, we have to stay grounded and keep pushing.”

‘V’ NOTES:

-Yesli’s clean sheet was his fifth in just 10 CPL starts for the second-year keeper.

-Novak’s goal was his 13th in CPL action – eight with Forge FC, four with Cavalry FC – and that places him in the Top 10 in goals in league history.

YORK UNITED FC 0 FC VALOUR FC 2

GOALS:

Valour FC

50:01’: York United FC own goal

53:28’: Anthony Novak (assist: Pacifique Niyongabire)

CARD SUMMARY

Valour FC:

24:54’: Raphael Ohin (persistent infringement)

30:32’: Andy Bauero (foul, reckless offence)

82:24’: Dante Campbell (time wasting)

91:37’: Rayane Yesli (time wasting)

York United FC

15:55’: Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé (foul, reckless offence)

46:00’: Max Ferrai (foul, reckless offence)

65:05’: Jonathan Grant (foul, reckless offence)

79:50’: Brian Wright (foul, reckless offence)

VALOUR STARTING XI (4-3-3)

GK Rayane Yesli

D Andy Baquero

D Guillaume Pianelli

D Abdou Samake

D Matteo de Brienne

MF Diego Gutiérrez (C)

MF Dante Campbell

MF Raphael Ohin

FW Kian Williams

FW Pacifique Niyongabire

F Anthony Novak

Valour substitutions:

68:28’: on Jared Ulloa; off Kian Williams

68:29’: on Jaime Siaj; off Anthony Novak

78:11’: on Juan-Pablo Sanchez; off Raphael Ohin

82:46’: on Matthew Chandler; off Dante Campbell