Final Score: Vancouver FC 0-0 Valour FC
Goalscorers: N/A
Game of the 2023 season: 72
CPL match: 439
Match in a minute or less
In a crucial matchup of the bottom two teams in the Canadian Premier League table, Vancouver FC hosted Valour FC at Langley’s Willoughby Community Park on Sunday.
Arguably a must-win game given both teams’ recent form, that ended up manifesting itself in the pace of the game, as both teams came out with all sorts of intensity from the get-go. As a result, time and space would be hard to come by on the ball, making for a cagey clash.
At the same time, both teams did well to generate good looks at goal throughout the game. Walter Ponce had an excellent chance for Valour that he hit off the post right before half time, before Vancouver’s Shaan Hundal and Alejandro Díaz forced a great double save out of Valour’s Rayane Yesli in the 49th minute.
Then, things got interesting at the end, as Valour had a goal ruled out for offside late in the second half, before Vancouver’s Rocco Romeo was denied by a fantastic stop from Yesli deep into added time.
Yet, despite those opportunities, however, goals would remain elusive on the day, leaving both teams to share the points in a 0-0 draw in the end.
Three Observations
Space in central areas hard to come by in cagey clash:
With both teams entering this game in desperate need of a win, both to stay afloat in the playoff race and to snap winless runs, this match was always going to be cagey.
Especially given that both teams have struggled to score this season, with Valour sitting eight and Vancouver sitting seventh in the league in goals for entering this match, this had the potential to be a game where defenders would shine.
As a result, it’d be unsurprising that this game would start out with both sides defending well, putting emphasis on maintaining a solid defensive structure off the ball.
In particular, both sides would hone in on one area, specifically – in midfield. Two areas where both sides are well stocked, neither seemed intent on wanting to lose that battle, knowing that it could lead to the other potentially gaining an advantage elsewhere on the pitch.
That’s reflected in both teams’ starting formations, too.
On one side, Vancouver came out in a 4-2-3-1 with new central midfield signing, Vasco Fry, slotting in as one of the wingers. Therefore, what was supposed to be a three-player midfield sometimes became a four, especially off the ball, where Fry dropped in alongside Elliot Simmons, Renan Garcia and Gabriel Bitar in the middle.
Meanwhile, for Valour, they elected to go with a true 4-3-3, after experimenting with a 4-2-3-1 in recent weeks. Thanks to the return of captain Diego Gutiérrez, that allowed head coach Phil Dos Santos to employ a trio of him, Marcello Polisi and Dante Campbell together, which is a group certainly not short on defensive acumen.
Because of that, it left little room to maneuver in the middle of the pitch for both teams. With the high amount of congestion in that area, most entries there were met with tackles, as space was at a premium.
That ended up really disrupting the flow of both teams, as they were unable to patch together extended sequences of possession.
The numbers back that up, too – Vancouver finished with a pass accuracy of 79.4%, including just 65.9% in the opposing half, while Valour’s pass accuracy was 73.6%, with a completion rate of just 60.1% in the opposing half.
Therefore, it’s safe to say that both midfield groups did their job, with Vancouver perhaps gaining a slight edge, an assessment that Dos Santos also shares.
“There were good moments,” Dos Santos said. “But I think that in the second half, we defended a bit too open, and our midfield got a bit too stretched out.”
Yet, that’s a huge positive for Vancouver, who might’ve otherwise struggled in this battle earlier in the year. Now, thanks to some key signings in midfield, they feel that they can go up against most teams in the league in that area, and that they were able to frustrate a solid Valour group the way they did in this game only backs that up.
The next step will be to get more from that group offensively, especially in terms of goals and assists, but the defensive improvement is a step in the right direction, giving them the foundation that they’ve lacked at times this year.
That’s key, as it’s hard to win games without a clear defensive shape, so they’ll hope that this recent improvement can help them find some more wins in the weeks to come.
“The midfield got into a good scrap today,” Vancouver forward, Shaan Hundal said afterwards. “That left a lot of space in the flanks, and I feel like if we got on the flanks more we could’ve created a lot more chances, but in the second half it worked out (well).”
“I’m excited about the next 10 games, to really see what we can do as a team now.”
James Cameron steals the show as Vancouver’s full backs are up to the task against speedy Valour wingers:
It’s never an easy day to be a full back when facing Valour. Thanks to their speed on the flanks, they can make life tough for defenders, as they like to stretch the field and get in behind opposing backlines.
Therefore, it was intriguing to see how Vancouver would match up against them in this game, as Valour returned to more of a natural front three set-up, one that saw Kian Williams shift out to left wing after playing as more of a #10, joining striker Walter Ponce and right winger Pacifique Niyongabire in that trident.
On the right side, Vancouver will have felt confident – Ibrahim Bakare is more of a natural centre back, so he’s typically had no issue this year in handling opposing threats from that right back position.
At left back, however, Ghotbi handed another start to 18-year-old James Cameron, who after playing right back for most of the start of his professional career, had been shifted to the left in recent games.
Despite that, he’s not looked out of place, however. Even though he wasn’t even a defender before, he’s quickly looked adept at handling 1v1 duels, and isn’t intimated by facing quick or speedy wingers.
Therefore, it was going to be intriguing to see how he handled a threat like Niyongabire’s, given that the Valour winger has gotten the better of a lot of full backs across the league this season, thanks to his combination of speed and creativity.
In this game, however, he wouldn’t add Cameron to that list. Despite having 38 touches and attempting eight dribbles, he’d complete just four of those dribbles (50% success), failing to generate any chances and completing just 7/12 (58%) of his passes on the game.
Usually a player who likes to get into a rhythm on the flanks, Niyongabire could do anything but in this game, as he constantly had to deal with Cameron every time he received the ball, a battle that seemed to get the better of him.
“Our backline did really well in defending,” Hundal said. “James Cameron was going up against Pacifique Niyongabire, and he did well to lock him up, and it gave us success on that left flank.”
Thanks to that, it took away a key threat for Valour, as Niyongabire can often be a key threat in his team’s attack.
Along with a solid showing from Bakare on the other flank, that proved to be key for Vancouver, as they did well to nullify a big source of offence for Valour, marking a solid defensive performance.
Yes, it wasn’t a perfect defensive showing for Vancouver – Valour did still have some good chances, including one where Williams managed to drift between lines and set up Ponce for a great chance (one worth 0.71 xG), but for the most part, those best looks came from dead ball situations.
That’s thanks to the work that they did in open play, and Cameron’s performance was emblematic of that, as he continued a strong debut campaign for Vancouver on the day.
“For me, James’s play is not a surprise,” Vancouver head coach, Afshin Ghotbi, said afterwards. “He’s usually the first at training, and the last to leave, he’s a student of the game and we see it as week after week he just keeps getting better.”
“Defensively, that was an area of his weakness, because he was not a defender before, but he’s converted nicely. I see him as an international-calibre defender, I can see him one day wearing a Canadian (National Team) shirt because he embodies what every coach is looking for in wide defenders.”
Scoring woes continue to haunt Valour:
At this stage of the season, Valour must be wondering what they’ll need to do in order to score more goals.
Sitting last in the CPL with just 13 goals from 18 games, they just can’t seem to buy a goal right now, having scored just two goals in their last six games.
Not only that, but they had some great opportunities to score, too. Walter Ponce struck the post in the first half, Abdou Samaké had a great look off a second-half corner, while Pacifique Niyongabire actually had a goal ruled out, but in the end, none of them was able to breach the target on the day.
“It’s frustrating to have a good team performance like this, and then not get all three points on the day,” Yesli mused afterwards.
At the same time, while they’ll be frustrated that they got shut out for the eighth time this season in this game, this has been a battle they’ve faced all season long.
Having entered this game as the team in the CPL with the biggest negative difference between their xG and goals scored, a lead they extended quite significantly with this performance, finishing (or a lack thereof) has been the story of their season.
Despite doing a solid job of getting the ball into the right areas, as they did in this game, they just continue to let themselves down in those key moments. Be it a lack of concentration, nerves or something else, it’s been a problem that won’t go away, either.
That’s proven costly, too. For most of the year, they’ve been one of the top defensive teams in the league, having conceded just 20 goals in 18 games (including just 10 in their first 12 of the year), which is quite impressive.
Because of that, one can only imagine what their place in the standings would look like if they’d been finishing chances on a more regular basis, as they’ve been in most games thanks to that strong defensive play.
In a congested CPL table, a swing of five or six goals could’ve been the difference between Valour sitting where they are today and them being in a playoff spot, which has to be frustrating for them.
Especially given that it’s been hard to fully diagnose Valour’s offensive issues, at least beyond the idea that they need to finish more and make more happen centrally, that only adds to those woes.
Therefore, it feels like the solution to this problem lies in Valour’s hands. Had this been a stretch of five to 10 games of bad finishing, you could call it bad luck, but 18 games worth is more than a trend at this stage of the campaign.
Right now, it’s the story of Valour’s season, and if they don’t find a way to change it quickly, missed opportunities like the one that they left on the table in this match will loom large if they indeed miss the playoffs.
Because of that, the message is simple from Dos Santos. Be it to those who started up front today, to the other forwards that Valour has at their disposal, there’s no better time to put these woes behind them than the present, and to start going with the flow, as they now get set to tackle the last 10 games of their regular season campaign.
“It’s the story of our season, right?” Dos Santos mused after the game. “That’s the thing, you show your quality in games (over time), so when you miss, but then it happens once, twice or three times, you can’t say it’s bad luck, as it’s the story of our season so far.”
“We have to question our guys, as when they get in some areas, they need to give us a little bit more. There are two ways to go about it, yes, the players are getting there, but now we have to work with them, we have to build their confidence, we have to build their trust in front of goal, and we have to make sure that when they get into those positions, they go without thinking, that they go with the flow.”
“They have enough quality to repeat those situations in training over and over and score, so is it the occasion in games? I don’t believe so. So we have to keep working with the guys, and make sure that they get to a point where those moments are going to flow naturally for them.”
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Rayane Yesli, Valour FC
In a game without goals, it figures that a goalkeeper stood out on the day, as Yesli was excellent in this game. It wasn’t his busiest performance of the season with five saves, but what he didn’t have in quantity, he made up for in quality, as his stops were all of the dangerous variety.
From a dramatic double save early in the second half, to a big goal-line stand in the dying moments of the game, Yesli was a big reason why his team was able to see the one point over the line, earning player of the match honours for his troubles.
What’s next?
Vancouver FC will head out on the road for their next match, as they get set to travel to Nova Scotia for a clash against the Halifax Wanderers at Wanderers Grounds on Saturday, August 12th (12:00 p.m. PT/4:00 p.m. ET). Meanwhile, Valour will head back to Manitoba, as they get to host Cavalry at Winnipeg’s IG Field on Friday, August 11th (6:00 p.m. MT/7:00 p.m. CT).
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