Ali Musse stood in front of a Valour FC backdrop — the bright lights highlighting his spiffy new maroon Valour shirt.
The moment perfectly captured a homecoming moment for Musse, first scouted by Valour head coach Rob Gale when he was just 10 years old.
The imposing midfielder grew up in Winnipeg, playing for local clubs and Manitoba provincial teams before jumping to the higher levels with WSA Winnipeg, the Vancouver Whitecaps under-18 squad and Calgary Foothills FC.
A match made in heaven? Absolutely.
But it was hardly a gimmee.
Musse’s success in Calgary with the Foothills certainly helped. He lead the squad to the 2018 PDL (USL League Two) championship, netting two goals in extra time in the final. The year before, in 2017, he scored five game-winning goals for the Foothills en route to an appearance in the final.
With he and his family now rooted in Alberta, both Cavalry FC and FC Edmonton were sniffing around, eager to get the 23-year-old’s signature ahead of the inaugural Canadian Premier League campaign.
Gale waited patiently for Musse to make his decision, and in the end, his long-time association with the striker was a major factor in his choosing Valour.
“It was tough, really,” said Musse of his decision. “I had another opportunity in Edmonton where my family is based. I had to do a lot of thinking. I just have full trust in Rob and what he is building out here. I’m looking forward to playing with him again.”
Happy to have signed my first professional contract with my hometown club @ValourFootball. Thank you to all those who’ve helped me throughout my journey. I’m grateful for this opportunity. Can’t wait to start working! ??⚽️
— Ali Musse (@Alithagreat_) February 28, 2019
Musse also heard from some fellow Winnipeggers also now wearing the Valour FC colours, which included Dylan Sacramento, Tyson Farago, Dylan Carreiro, Raphael Ohin, and Tyler Attardo.
“A couple of the guys reached out to me,” Musse said. “I’ve known these guys since I was a kid growing up here. They gave me some advice and tried to persuade me in a way. They reached out and gave me some positive messages and told me about what Rob has got going on here and gave me their insight.
“… Rob explained to me what his goals were with the team here and what he wishes to achieve. For me, I’m comfortable with him. I’ve known him, we worked together, I know some of the players on this team already. I’m home. It’s honestly just a good environment for me.”
Prodded to provide a self-scouting report, Musse described himself as “talented, exciting and skillful” with a “wow” factor. Gale has seen those traits before in and around Winnipeg but got a truly up-close look about five years ago.
“I go back to the first time I thought he was really going to turn the screw on his career, when we went to Costa Rica,” Gale recalled Thursday. “It was my first time as the under-18 national team coach. We gave Ali his debut for Canada that day and we said afterwards we needed one ball for Ali and one for everybody else. He just dominated the game. He scored two, set up two, won penalties … he just had all of the attributes of a young attacking player.
“Musse mentioned a couple of times during his introductory press conference about how amazing it will be to play pro soccer in his hometown,” Gale continued. “It’s sure to be a surreal experience pulling on the Valour FC kit and walking out onto the turf at Investors Group Field for the first home game.”
But Musse has also allowed himself to think even bigger. Asked if he and the other hometown players had thought about scoring the first goal in club history, Musse grinned.
“For sure, I’ve definitely dreamt about that,” Musse said. “Night after night. It’ll be exciting just to be out there and play and get some wins.”