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Abdul Binate celebrates his goal in Valour's 2-1 loss to Cavalry FC -- photos by Cameron Bartlett
Match Report | Valour FC 1 Cavalry FC 2
October 19, 2024
Ed Tait
by
Ed Tait

Valour FC’s desperate last-gasp shot at a Canadian Premier League playoff spot — one which needed a victory and some help on two other fronts — has officially been buried.

And with it the club’s latest attempt to grab the first-ever postseason berth in franchise history is now six feet under, too.

Despite an early goal by Abdul Binate in the seventh minute that seemed to breathe life into their playoff hopes, Valour’s 2024 CPL season officially came to an end with a 2-1 loss to Cavalry FC in front of 2,244 at Princess Auto Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Needing a victory in their game against Cavalry, a loss by Pacific FC in their match against Forge FC and for Vancouver FC not to win against Atlético Ottawa, Valour’s defeat was made moot by the Tridents 1-nil win over Forge while Vancouver played to a 0-0 draw in the nation’s capital.

All that, coupled with a 2-1 win by HFX Wanderers over York United FC means Valour doesn’t just miss out on the playoffs, but has now tumbled to the bottom of the standings with 28 points on seven wins, seven draws and 14 losses.

“We had a great start and everyone was fired up for the game but not being able to hold the lead and conceding goals later in the game and losing the game definitely really hurts,” said Binate, who scored his fourth goal of the season. “Everyone feels like we had a lot of progression and finishing the year on a note like that when everyone knows we deserve better is, for sure, is a hit on everyone’s morale.

“We had a big progression and that’s something positive for next year. The last 13-14 games there were a lot of positives to take from.”

Indeed, after starting the season 1-1-5 the club finished on a 6-6-9 run. That said, this franchise has yet to qualify for the playoffs dating back to 2019 and has finished last in 2023 and now 2024.

On Saturday Valour opened with the perfect start and Binate’s goal.

But Cavalry — which clinched second place in the standings behind Forge FC with the result — answered on a brilliant effort by Tobias Warschewski and then got the winner on a penalty in the 89th minute. Warschewski used that opportunity to score again and secure the CPL Golden Boot in that moment with his 12th of the season.

That led to some frustration near the end of the game with captain Raphael Ohin issued a yellow card for dissent and then GM and head coach Phillip Dos Santos sent off with a red for ‘foul and abusive language.’

“I’m not going to say too much about that,” Dos Santos said afterward. “You look at the first 15-20 minutes and we have three guys on a yellow card in a game that means a lot for both teams. Then you have a flashback at the amount of PKs that were awarded to the opposition and against us — some that are, many are doubtful and many I can say today that are not after rewatching them.

“I’ll say this: there’s a lot of moments in the season where your group of players expect you as a coach to step out and defend them and you don’t do it because you’r always thinking about the tomorrow. I felt that for my guys I needed to show them that I was out there with them.

“We would have all have gotten disappointed if a player would have voiced his disappointment towards a referee because they would have been sent off. Me… it doesn’t matter and at that point in time it was a release of calls that I felt that every 50-50 in so many moments seemed to have gone in the opposition’s way. It’s interpretation, I have to respect the gentleman that’s there in the middle but across the league we all have an opinion (on the officiating). It’s not important today. We’re human beings and sometimes you react and that’s what came out of the moment.”

Valour FC 1 Cavalry FC 2 

Goals

Valour FC
6:06′: Abdul Binate (assist: Jordan Faria)

Cavalry FC
55:56′: Tobias Warschewski
88:54′: Tobias Warschewski (penalty)

Card summary

Valour FC
13:32′: Roberto Alarcon (yellow, tactical foul)
21:10′: Dante Campbell (yellow, reckless offence)
32:40′: Safwane Mlah (yellow, reckless offence)
74:50′: Jordi Swibel (yellow, reckless offence)
89:30′: Raphael Ohin (yellow, dissent)

Cavalry FC
None

VALOUR STARTING XI (4-4-2)
GK – Jonathan Viscosi
D – Roberto Alarcon
D – Frankie Facchineri
D – Tass Mourdoukoutas
D – Themi Antonoglou
MF – Dante Campbell
MF – Raphael Ohin (c)
MF – Safwane Mlah
MF – Jordan Faria
F – Shaan Hundal
F – Abdul Binate

Valour substitutions
63:32’: On Diogo Ressurreição; off Tass Mourdoukoutas
63:55′: On Loic Kwemi; off Jordan Faria
78:19′: On Juan-Pablo Sanchez; off Abdul Binate