They can come in all shapes and sizes, and with all sorts of skillsets.

But every football manager on the planet wants the same thing from the men up front: a finishing touch.

Valour FC will begin the Canadian Premier League’s 2020 ‘Island Games’ with new faces at the attacker/striker/forward position, continuing what had been a revolving door at the spots from a year ago.

And so as we begin the second instalment of our Valour positional previews, a look at the forwards which introduces us to new faces again.

Gone are Stephen Hoyle, who scored the first goal in Valour FC franchise history but was released by the summer, along with Winnipeg phenom Tyler Attardo, who turned his six goals for the club last year into a new contract from Fernandez Vial in Chile and interest from Europe.

In their place are two Canadians in Shaan Hundal, formerly of Toronto FC II, and Austin Ricci, who played nine games last year with York9.

“We’ve got two lads who have a point to prove in the centre-forward position,” said Valour FC GM and head coach Rob Gale. “They’re different strikers and they offer different characteristics. They’ve both got that hunger, but they show it in different ways.

“They’re quick, they’re strong and they’ve both got a bit of technical quality that you wouldn’t necessarily recognize unless you work with them closely. I’m excited and I hope that we’ve found the right fit for them to prove their quality.”

The club also has an intriguing prospect in Solomon Kojo Antwi of Ghana, who has already shown much of the same potential as Attardo did last season.

“He’s of similar age to Tyler Attardo and is very dynamic and technically excellent,” said Gale. “He’ll have a role to play similar to Tyler where he might be a weapon off the bench for us. We’ll monitor his minutes and the expectations and use him in the right way to showcase his talent.”

Also figuring into the picture, at least from a potential goal-scoring perspective, are attacking midfielders like Moses Dyer, Daryl Fordyce and Masta Kacher.

“What we’ve tried to do is add the ability to score from different positions,” Gale explained. “Moses Dyer strikes the ball beautifully. Daryl Fordyce has a proven track record of goal-scoring. Masta Kacher is very talented, with a (Marco) Bustos-esque style of play where he likes to get touches on the ball.

“We’ve got a good collection. Now we’ll see if the lads can get the job done in the tournament.”

THE FORWARDS

Shaan Hundal

Ht: 5-11. Born: 7-14-99

Nationality: Canada

Valour FC GM and head coach Rob Gale on Hundal:

“Shaan’s a really good, clever, technical striker. He’s different from most Number 9s in that he’s deceptively strong and quick, which you wouldn’t necessarily think when you’re looking at him. He’s very laid-back in his personality, so people might take that as disinterested some times. But he’s not at all like that. When you get to know him – and I’ve known him many times with the national team and youth teams – he’s got a clever way about him. He can turn on a dime and bring a ball out of the air. He’s got a really good technical capacity and ability to finish in smart ways. He’s a smart, versatile striker that can give us a different option in attacking.”

Masta Kacher

Ht: 5-11. Born: 11/8/95

Nationality: Canada

Gale on Kacher:

“He’s a little Mozart out on the field for us in that he likes to conduct plays and likes to get on the ball. He’s almost like an artist painting a canvas when he plays. He’s very technical, he’s busy, he can finish. He loves to play in combinations and he’s a dynamic attacking player. He gives you different options when he’s out there.”

Austin Ricci

Ht: 5-10. Born: 4/8/96

Nationality: Canada

Gale on Ricci:

“Good character. I really like working with Austin. He’s hungry to prove himself. Very powerful, very strong. He hits the ball as hard as anyone I’ve ever seen in my many years in the game. He can hit a thump shot. Where he is refining his game now is just sometimes knowing when to pass the ball into the goal or refine his cleverness around the goal. He does have that in his locker, too. He’s fast, he’s direct an, he’s very strong.

“He’s a completely different striker look to Shaan, which is what we like. They’re two completely different players which gives you good options to play them alongside each other or as a tandem.”

Solomon Kojo Antwi

Ht: 5-11. Born: 9/25/2000

Nationality: Ghana

Gale on Antwi:

“It’s hard to judge Solomon yet because we’ve had such a short amount of time to train with him. We’ve only just recently got into contact training, but the flashes that he has shown have shown he’s pacey, he’s direct, he’s got good 1v1 ability and he’s got the ability to hit a strike.

“For Solomon, the key now is his tactical learning and development of what he needs to do within our game models and structure of play or build out. If he can just do his job within that, where we see him in the tournament is how we used Tyler Attardo last year. We’ll have to manage his minutes and use him wisely. He could be someone who could be very dynamic in later stages of our games.”

Valour FC preview series:

Previous:
The Midfielders
The Defenders
The Goalkeepers