Valour FC’s line of defence will look vastly different this season.
GM and head coach Phillip Dos Santos made a multitude of changes to his club this off-season and part of the makeover includes a new, veteran-heavy defender group.
“It’s about defending well and not putting the team in trouble and when you bring in this much experience it helps because they’ve seen a lot and they understand what this game requires,” said Dos Santos following Tuesday’s training session at WSF Soccer South.
Valour’s new defender group includes Roberto Alarcon, Themi Antonoglou, Charalampos Chantzopoulos, Tass Mourdoukoutas, and U-Sports draft pick Frankie Facchineri. They join veteran holdovers from last year in Abdou Samake and Jordan Haynes.
“We’ve added pieces who fit how we want to play in Tass (Mourdoukoutas), Frankie (Facchineri) and Haris (Chantzopoulos),” said Dos Santos. “We get a lot of quality in the exit with them and they’re guys who can help us in the possession phase and also win duels, to read the game, to take away the space for the opposition and win aerial duels.”
Both Alarcon and Antonoglou are expected to fill the void at fullback. Antonoglou, 22, brings Major League Soccer experience to Valour’s back end after spending the last two seasons with Toronto FC, appearing in 13 matches with the club.
Alarcon will be more familiar to Valour fans after he spent the past two seasons playing with Cavalry FC, appearing in 17 matches with the club last season. Now a member of Valour, Alarcon sees an opportunity to be a difference maker.
“I want to prove myself,” he said. “I want to show the league who I am and who we are because I think we are the underdog in this league, and we can prove something different.”
Alarcon will likely get many of opportunities to showcase his abilities. At 25, he is currently entering his prime years as a football player and recognizes he will be counted on to be one of the team leaders.
Dos Santos said this week he believes the veteran is the “best at his position in the league.”
“For me I like to lead by example,” said Alarcon. “I’m not a guy who likes to speak a whole lot, I like to show it through my play on the field. But all who want to follow me are welcome and anyone can talk to me for advice.”
One of his closest followers is Samake, who has enjoyed playing alongside Alarcon since day one of training camp eight weeks ago.
“He’s very classy,” said Samake. “You can tell he has a lot of experience. He’s composed on the ball and has that grit defensively. Playing on his right side has been a real joy to combine with him. I’m excited to get to know him more as a player.”
Samake appeared in 17 of Valour’s 28 matches last season and notched his first Canadian Premier League goal. Said Dos Santos: “We kept Abdou because we know what he means for us. He’s just that specimen, that guy you can always count on when he’s healthy.”
“It’s going well,” said Samake of working to become familiar with the many new faces on the team and, in particular, along the back line.
“We had a chance with the preseason trip (to Portugal) to get to know each other with no distractions. We’ve just done a lot of team bonding activities and we got connected that way. Now obviously when the game starts the dynamic is very different because everything is at stake but to be successful you have to stick together.”
Samake is now turning his attention to the regular season that starts this Sunday in Vancouver. Last season he enjoyed playing in front of passionate Valour fans and wants to give them more to cheer about this season.
“We want to give the fans playoffs and fight for the top position,” said Samake. “I feel like we owe them something. For me I take that to heart and want to make them proud. I want excellence for myself, for my teammates, and all of us to do things that we can be proud of. If after this season, we can come together and talk about what a year we had then we’ll all be happy.”
Valour will conclude training camp Friday before heading off on a seven-game road trip to open the 2024 CPL season. The first match goes Sunday at 6 p.m. against Vancouver FC
from Willoughby Community Park.
—
THE DEFENDERS
Abdou Samake, Jordan Haynes, Roberto Alarcon, Themi Antonoglou, Haris Chantzopoulos, Tass Mourdoukoutas, Frankie Facchineri.
Returnees: Samake and Haynes
Key Stat from ’23:
Valour ranked 6th in the CPL last season in goals against (38), with seven clean sheets.
—
Kieran Reimer is graduating journalism student at Red River Polytech.