2023 CPL Regular Season — Match #72
Vancouver FC vs. Valour FC
August 6, 2023 at 2 p.m. PT/4 p.m. CT
Willoughby Community Park in Langley, British Columbia
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here

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With the end of the CPL season rapidly approaching, it’s crunch time for several teams.

Two of those sides? Seventh-place Valour and eighth-place Vancouver, who find themselves in an uphill battle to make the playoffs, with Valour now sitting eight points out of the CPL’s fifth and final playoff spot, while Vancouver now sits 11 points behind that coveted postseason berth.

Not only that, but they’ve both been trending in the wrong direction as of late, too, as Vancouver has just one win in their last six games, while Valour sits with one victory in their last seven.

With that in mind, it gives an idea of why this weekend is so crucial for both teams, as they both get set to do battle at Langley’s Willoughby Community Park on Sunday, in what could be a season-defining matchup for both sides.

If either side is able to nab a win, that could keep their respective playoff hopes alive, whereas a loss or draw could ultimately be fatal for them, especially if the teams in front of them remain in good form, as many of them have.

Despite their respective struggles, however, both sides remain confident heading into this game.

For Vancouver, they feel that they’ve put up some good performances as of late, but have let themselves down in key moments. Therefore, despite having lost their last three games by a combined score of 10-2, they feel that isn’t a fair reflection of how they’ve played over that stretch.

At the same time, they know that they’ll always be judged on their results, so while they’ll look to build on those performances, they’re ready to grind out a win at all costs.

“I think pressure is very good, especially if players can handle the pressure,” Vancouver’s head coach, Afshin Ghotbi, said this week. “I feel that we have the players from Calum Irving (in goal) all the way up to Alejandro Díaz (up front), we have players that have been under pressure before, they know how to handle the pressure, and they will perform well under pressure.”

As for Valour, they enter this game eager to hit the reset button. Mired in a five-game winless run, positives have been hard to come by for them as of late, with slow starts, a lack of goals and a defensive regression standing out as key themes across those matches.

After a positive start to the season, it’s been a summer to forget for Valour, who must now put that all behind them, quickly.

The good news? Around this time last year, they really captured form, doing well to finish the season strong and make a push to the playoffs.

Of course, this is a different team, and the league around them has changed, but if they can find a way to replicate that, it’d be huge for them.

It’s a tall ask, no doubt, but the potential is there, and now they just find a way to put their recent performances behind them and find a way to harness that energy going forward.

“For us, this week was about challenging the guys to make sure that they understood what are the non-negotiables that we need to absolutely commit to if we want to be successful as a team,” Valour’s head coach, Phil Dos Santos, said this week. “So maybe it made it for maybe a week that was lived a little bit on the edge, but I think these are moments where there can be growth for a team, so we’ll see how they respond.”

‘I think that we have the character in our individuals to respond in a game like this one, so that’s what we expect from them.”

All CPL matches are available to stream on OneSoccer, or on TELUS Optik TV Channel 980.

3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Will goals be on the menu? If either team is to grab a win in this game, goals are going to be huge, as they typically always are in this sport. Yet, in this instance, that isn’t hyperbole to say that both teams need to score, given the importance of this game. Despite that, it might not be that straightforward for them – entering this game, Valour sits last in the CPL in goals for with 13, while Vancouver sits just ahead of them in second-last with 15, as goals have been hard to come by for both sides all season long. That’s manifested itself in the first two meetings between these sides this year, too, where there’s been just one combined goal, total, which came via the penalty spot. Therefore, it’ll be intriguing to see if they can buck that trend in this game, especially in open play. Vancouver certainly has the firepower to do so up front, between the likes of Alejandro Díaz and Shaan Hundal alone, while Valour continues to generate chances from sources such as Pacifique Niyongabire and Kian Williams, so both sides have the players to do it. Now, they must make the most of it, because if not, a 0-0 draw could loom large, a result that could prove to be fatal for both teams given their current situations.

•  Vancouver continuing to push new signings to gel: It’s been a busy transfer window for Vancouver, as they’ve done well to reinforce their side with signings such as Díaz, Mikaël Cantave, Renan Garcia and most recently, Vasco Fry. As a result, they’re a far different side to the one that they were at the beginning of the year, having done well to address some key weaknesses in the squad. Despite that, however, they haven’t been able to turn that into wins as of late. They’ve turned in some strong performances, with the new players playing a key role in that, but the results have eluded them despite that. Of course, that’s only reasonable – this is a first-year team, and a lot of these players have had to come together as of late despite not having a preseason – but they’ll want to put that behind them quickly as they chase a win. Therefore, look for them to chase a complete performance in this game. Fresh off a game against Forge where they felt they played well for 70 minutes on the road, they know that they’ve got more in them than what the results indicate, and their recent performances would certainly back that up.

• Can Valour turn patience in possession into chances? Despite Valour’s difficulties in front of goal, it’s not for a lack of trying – they’re currently underperforming their Expected Goals (xG) by over five goals on the season, indicating that they’ve been unlucky to not finish more of their chances. Not only that, but they’ve also done a good job of holding the ball, too – they sit third in the league with an average of 53% of possession per game, showing that they’re doing well to control the rhythm in a lot of games. Yet, for all of the control of the ball that they’ve had, they haven’t been able to turn it into as many chances as they could’ve, as they’ve sometimes found it tough to break down opposing defences. In particular, they haven’t been able to create as much centrally as they would’ve liked, as a lot of their success has usually come down the flanks. Because of that, they’ll look to change that in this game. They’ve certainly been trying – a recent shift from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 has given them more of a central presence thanks to the insertion of Kian Williams at the #10, but they’ve now got to use him as more of a reference point to get more offence going in the middle. From there, that could allow them to better link up with their strikers, be it Anthony Novak, Jaime Siaj or Ahinga Selemani, while also offering more support to the wingers, who have often shouldered a lot of the creative load in the attack. Either way, it feels like a solution is in Valour’s hands, especially given that they do a good job of holding the ball, but they’ve now got to make the most of it, which can sometimes be the hardest thing to do in modern soccer.

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Valour FC: Yesli; Baquero, Cela, Samaké, Haynes; Campbell, Polisi; Niyongabire, Williams, Ponce; Selemani (4-2-3-1)

Vancouver FC: Irving; Cameron, Romeo, White, Crawford; Simmons, Garcia; Cantave, Bitar; Díaz, Hundal (4-2-2-2)

ALL-TIME SERIES

Valour FC wins: 1 || Vancouver FC wins: 0 || Draws: 1

Last meeting:

June 25, 2023 – Valour FC 1-0 Vancouver FC

KEY QUOTES

“I think we will see longer stretches of good football from us, we saw it against Forge for 70 minutes, but I think 70 minutes is not enough to get maximum points or any points against quality teams like Forge, so a lot of lessons have been learned from that. It’s not too late, we feel that we have a lot of games ahead of us, and there are a lot of points (up for grabs), and hopefully game-by-game we keep growing as a team.” — Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi. 

“This weekend, it’s a win-or-die game, we’re very excited, the group is excited about it. So yeah, we’re going for the win.” — Vancouver FC midfielder, Vasco Fry. 

“I don’t want them to step on a field thinking that it’s a do-or-die game. Sometimes, that might be good, but if you put that pressure on them with 11 games left, you could have an immediate result, but unless the process is right, it becomes unsustainable. So I want us to play well, because I feel that in the last few games, we haven’t been ourselves, and we haven’t played well. I want us to go back to being a team that is very hard to play against, that plays well and find those references again, and I think that if we do that, points will come.” — Valour FC head coach Phil Dos Santos.