| Final Score: York United FC 1-0 Valour FC Goalscorers: Altobelli 44' Game of the 2025 season: 99 CPL Match: 694 |
|---|
Match in a minute or less
York United are headed to the CPL Playoffs for a third straight season, as they beat Valour FC 1-0 at York Lions Stadium on Sunday to become the league's fifth team to clinch a spot.
Despite a few aggressive chances from Valour in the first half, York struck just before the interval as Julian Altobelli capped off an excellent passing sequence through midfield.
After that, neither side troubled the other's goal much, but York did well to suffocate their opponents with possession and see out a clean sheet victory.
With three points, York made sure they'll be in the postseason, but still have three matches left to fight for a higher spot in the table. Valour, meanwhile, have now been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.
Three Observations
York book postseason place as Altobelli returns to form
Mauro Eustáquio might've wanted to see his team score a few more in this game, but other than that it's hard to imagine a much more positive outing for York United.
They got the three points they. needed, they kept a clean sheet with an adjusted backline, and — perhaps most importantly — Julian Altobelli got back on the scoresheet.
York's leading scorer had been in something of a rut; entering Sunday's match, Altobelli hadn't scored for eight consecutive matches. He hadn't been in the starting XI for the previous five, and last weekend in Vancouver he was kept out of the team entirely with a minor injury.
All that is forgiven now, because Altobelli got back in the starting lineup on Sunday and scored with a trademark quick finish.
"[Altobelli] is a very natural finisher inside the box," Eustáquio said of his striker. "Those opportunities, I know when he does get them, nine times out of 10, he'll put it in the back of the net. He's been working hard on and off the field to maintain his body fitness. He needs a run of games or run of minutes to go into the playoffs in a good manner; Shaan [Hundal]'s fit, Alto's fit, and I'm going to need both of them."
As Eustáquio pointed out, in a playoff run he's likely to need contributions from both Altobelli and Shaan Hundal, who had been getting more of the minutes lately with Altobelli injured.
However, at the end of the day, Altobelli is the likely starting striker for York in a playoff game. He has now scored 10 in the CPL season and 14 in all competitions this season (the latter number a new club record), and he's one of the most lethal finishers in the league this season.
York need a couple more big performances from Altobelli this year — starting with next weekend against Halifax — if they're to get a home playoff game, which now has to be their number one priority.
The Nine Stripes are 7-3-3 at York Lions Stadium this year, so ensuring they get to play a postseason match there is essential.
Familiar story for Valour as playoff hopes disappear
This isn't the first time this year — nor even the first time at York Lions Stadium this year — that Valour have seen a positive first start ruined by conceding just before halftime.
The goal they allowed on Sunday was the 14th they have given up in the 15 minutes before halftime this season. Last time they played at York, they scored first, only to concede in the first and fourth minutes of first-half stoppage time en route to a 3-2 loss.
Ultimately, Valour now officially know they once again won't be in the playoffs this year, and the story of their season might be how they've been unable to turn positive performances into results.
"You never want to concede right before the half, and then go into the second half with a bit of catching up to do," Valour goalkeeper Eleias Himaras said.
"I think the effort was there, I think the energy was there. It's a difficult one, but overall I think we did well; we knew how important it was for us to stay in the race for the playoffs. But this is football, at the end of the day."
Again, Sunday was a match where Valour weren't dominated by any means, and had the same number of shots as their opponents (10), but just one on target to five for York might paint the picture.
The Winnipeg side went offside five times, and had just 17 touches in the box, with a number of their ventures into the attacking half leading to low-percentage crosses or ambitious shots from distance that didn't challenge the goalkeeper.
Now, Valour have two home games left plus a trip to Victoria to end the season. The key thing for them will be, much like Pacific's Kadin Chung said yesterday about his side, showing some fight, for themselves and for their fans.
Positivity at the back for York as new back four gets the job done
Sunday was just the second time this year (after a game in Ottawa two weeks ago) that York United have played in a 4-3-3 formation with two centre-backs and a trio of central midfielders, and it offered very positive signs for them heading into the playoffs.
York have been forced to adapt at the back and make the best possible use of their personnel available. With Oswaldo León suspended until the end of the season they were already one man down, plus Nyal Higgins and Luke Singh were both out with injury for this game. Mauro Eustáquio thus turned to Elijah Adekugbe to partner Frank Sturing; Adekugbe, a natural midfielder, has played plenty of minutes in a central defensive role this year, but always in a back three rather than a four.
This was a fairly different assignment for Adekugbe, who did well distributing the ball out of the back with a perfect 100 per cent passing accuracy (on 49 attempts).
Although it was by necessity that York went with the 4-3-3 rather than their typical 3-4-3, the new formation offers a lot of benefits for York going forward. With the midseason arrival of Leonel López, Eustáquio has found himself with a wealth of options in midfield, and this system allows him to play López with both Steffen Yeates and Kembo Kibato — all of whom were outstanding in this game in terms of controlling the middle of the pitch and preventing Valour from finding any kind of space.
Eustáquio explained postmatch that the patterns of their possessional play don't change much with the 4-3-3, but having three men in midfield is a big help off the ball.
York deserve a lot of credit for how they've adapted defensively this year. Earlier in the season, they dropped a lot of points from winning positions, scoring early but allowing teams back into games.
On Sunday, it felt like they could've played for another hour and Valour still might not have scored. Eustáquio credited how his team has matured over the season.
"Looking back now, [the start of the season] had a lot of positive things for us; we learned a lot of lessons in that time," Eustáquio said. "I'm extremely happy with the guys, how they've matured and the confidence of playing at home."
What They Said
"In the first half it was a very good performance. I thought we were extremely good on the ball. There was a couple things we were just a little bit too sloppy with, but we found pockets really well. ... We need to be a little bit more hungry in the final third, a lot more shots, more finishes. It was a good performance, the guys put in a shift, showed some attitude, and the number one objective was to clinch, and we did that." — York United head coach Mauro Eustáquio
"I don't think we played a very good game. I think we fought, because again we needed to show up, we knew that, but the execution needs to be there too. I don't think it was there today." — Valour FC head coach Phillip Dos Santos
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Julian Altobelli, York United
Altobelli was lively up front for York, producing six shots — his second-highest total of the year. He managed to turn six touches in the box into five shots, plus one from outside the area; he was also effective at dropping when necessary to help York's build-up, and had an excellent off-ball workrate to put pressure on Valour.
What’s next?
York head out on the road next weekend to play the Halifax Wanderers on Saturday, Oct. 4 (2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT). Valour, meanwhile, are back at home the following day, when they'll host Atlético Ottawa (3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT).
Watch all CPL and Canadian Championship matches live on OneSoccer. In addition to its website and app, OneSoccer is now available on TELUS channel 980 and on Fubo TV. Call your local cable provider to ask for OneSoccer today.
