2022 CPL Regular Season — Match #24
Valour FC vs. York United
May 15, 2022 at 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET
IG Field in Winnipeg, Manitoba
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For the first time since the bubble in 2021, York United are headed to Winnipeg this weekend, as they close out Matchweek 6 with a match against Valour FC. Martin Nash’s Nine Stripes travel to Manitoba in good spirits, riding a five-game unbeaten streak in all competitions. On Tuesday night, they advanced to the Canadian Championship quarterfinals with a thrilling eight-round penalty shootout win over Atlético Ottawa, and the Friday before that they claimed bragging rights in the 905 Derby with a 1-0 win at York Lions Stadium. As it stands, York are second in the CPL standings with a 2-2-1 record and eight points. Since losing to HFX Wanderers to begin the season, Nash’s side have not suffered another defeat as they continue to improve under the new head coach. Unfortunately, they remain somewhat shorthanded at the moment, with key players like Max Ferrari and Michael Petrasso — as well as Austin Ricci, who was substituted off just a few minutes after entering Tuesday’s match off the bench — still injured. Captain Roger Thompson resumed training this week, but he may not quite be ready for Sunday either. However, York’s squad will be bolstered by a few newly-available players, including Mateo Hernández returning from suspension and Lisandro Cabrera, who’s now eligible to play after some visa issues. The hosts for this encounter, Valour, have their sights focused solely on delivering a strong performance at home on Sunday. Their home opener last weekend was a frustrating 0-0 draw with the Wanderers, so Phil Dos Santos’ side are eager to score their first goal in front of the Trench in 2022. With four games played, Valour are sixth in the league table at 1-2-1. Their one win, however, is solely responsible for them having the best goal differential in the league — the 6-1 triumph at Atlético Ottawa three weeks ago accounts for six of the nine league goals the Winnipeg club have scored in 2022. Heading into Sunday’s home game, Valour will hope to rebound from their midweek Canadian Championship tie, which saw them eliminated by MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place in an intense contest for Dos Santos and co. The Valour gaffer explained that there was plenty for him and his side to learn and contemplate after that game. “As a coach your’e always thinking about, how can we better the team? What are our biggest weaknesses in our structure or the way we’re playing, and how can we minimize those weaknesses, and we do the same thing with our strengths — are we optimizing our players? “Both games that were most difficult for us this season when it comes to performance and result were our only two losses this season, at Pacific and now in Vancouver. We want to be a team that’s on the front foot, but if we’re not able to condition the opposition with our pressing, what happens is teams that will stretch you a lot in width, you get a little bit more exposed, so how can we minimize that? … It’s like a blanket, you try to cover the head, your feet get exposed and vice versa. We need to make sure that we balance things in a way where we’ll be a bit more optimal as a team.” Dos Santos added that his side continues to deal with a couple of injuries; Andrew Jean-Baptiste remains out as he works back from a hamstring injury, though he’s close to a return — Dos Santos explained he’d rather play it safe than rush the defender back. Jonathan Esparza and Brett Levis are dealing with knocks as well. The historical series between these teams has been fairly evenly split, although York has a slight edge — four wins to Valour’s three, with a draw as well. Their most recent meeting was a 2-1 York win last September in Dos Santos’ first game in charge of the Winnipeg side, as a second-half brace from Lowell Wright erased Valour’s early lead to hand victory to the Nine Stripes.
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3 THINGS TO WATCH
- Which midfield trio works best for York? So far, Martin Nash has juggled his lineup a little bit from game to game, rotating different personnel through the three midfield positions he’s established in their 4-2-3-1 formation. On Tuesday against Ottawa, it was Noah Verhoeven and Cédric Toussaint as a double-pivot with Sebastian Gutiérrez further upfield, but Nash has at times gone with Isaiah Johnston as the number 10 and Jordan Wilson alongside Verhoeven — or even Johnston in that pairing ahead of the backline. With Wilson playing centre-back recently due to an injury to Roger Thompson, it seems likely that Gutiérrez will remain in the 10 spot, perhaps with Johnston further back alongside Verhoeven; either way, York have done well to establish a midfield system where multiple players can fill several roles. “Right now it’s the structure we want to build from,” Nash said of his midfield. “We’ve kind of kept them under wraps a little bit, maybe more than I’d like right now just to have stability but it also allows our fullbacks to join the attack more and it’s been working well. We’re gonna slowly add layers as the season goes, but I think we’re in a good place right now and we have a good structure to build from.” * **Valour can strike in transition via Akio: **York will be well aware of the threat that William Akio can pose for Valour on the right wing, especially when he finds an opportunity to stretch the pitch on a transitional play or counter-attack. The South Sudan international has had a blistering start to the season, and he was the main conductor behind Valour’s 6-1 win in Ottawa (though he didn’t get official assist credit for any of the three goals he created). York left-back Diyaeddine Abzi likes to get high up the pitch and join the attack, but he’ll have to be wary of the threat Akio can pose if he’s allowed in behind. Perhaps Valour can limit York’s threat from the left side by forcing them to remain vigilant of Akio on that side. * Fullback battle takes prime importance: Both these sides typically like to deploy their fullbacks quite high up the pitch — Federico Peña and Brett Levis for Valour often find themselves deep in the attacking half, while Abzi (as previously mentioned) sometimes plays almost as an overlapping winger from left-back for York, with the other three defenders sliding over to cover him. With both teams so keen on getting up the pitch with those aggressive fullbacks, this game could well be won or lost depending on who is able to create more from those wide areas and get their fullbacks into space for crosses into the box. Of course, when playing with wide defenders so high up, there’s an inherent danger as well; Valour learned as much against the Whitecaps, when Peña was caught out of position a few times to allow Vancouver to get in behind him. It’ll be important for both sides to remain vigilant when making those wide runs forward, especially considering the attacking talent both teams boast on the wings.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Valour wins: 3 || York United wins: 4 || Draws: 1
Previous match:
September 26, 2021 — York United 2-1 Valour
KEY QUOTES
“The most difficult games for us were (vs. Vancouver) and the Pacific game. The two times, we kind of suffered with similar dynamics, which is when we play in a 4-4-2 it can be better to sustain pressure for what’s in front of you, but more difficult to sustain the movements of the opposition in wide areas. It’s something we need to look at and address; sometimes the changes are structural, sometimes it’s dynamics. We’ll look at all of that.” — Valour FC head coach Phil Dos Santos “We’ve had our fair share of injuries and guys are going to be in and out all year, so we’re going to need the whole squad. We don’t have massive squads in this league, so we need the whole squad going forward, and to find out how and where we can use everyone.” — York United head coach Martin Nash