Final Score: Valour FC 1-3 Vancouver FC |
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Match in a minute or less
Vancouver FC picked up their first victory of the 2025 season on the road in Winnipeg on Saturday night with a 3-1 victory over a nine-man Valour FC.
Vasco Fry opened the scoring for Vancouver in the 32nd minute with a stunning side-footed volley, before Alejandro Díaz doubled their lead just six minutes later.
Valour were reduced to ten men in the 65th minute when Kris Twardek was shown a second yellow card, but initially responded to the adversity quite well, with Xavier Venâncio cutting into the Vancouver lead with a stunning strike.
Another second yellow in the 85th minute to Jevontae Layne, however, and a first CPL goal for Vancouver FC's Pathe Ndiaye deep in stoppage time put the match to bed.
Vancouver are now undefeated in their past three matches, while Valour conclude the weekend as the only side in the CPL without a victory.
Three Observations
Vancouver FC hold on for first win after direct, decisive first-half gives them the lead
The story of Vancouver's past few matches had been strong starts only to see their leads taken away late in back-to-back 1-1 draws to Cavalry FC and Pacific FC, respectively.
On Saturday in Winnipeg, they were able to see out their first win of the season, a big confidence boost for a young group that continues to trend in the right direction.
Vancouver took the lead for a third consecutive match in the 32nd minute through Vasco Fry. Of vital importance was their ability to press their early advantage into a second goal, something they had not been able to do yet this season.
Vancouver took this lead through a new attacking approach that served them well, especially in the first half. Over the past few weeks, Vancouver FC's attacking moments have largely been created through intelligent pressing from their front three and taking advantage of mistakes by opposing defenders.
On the bigger pitch at Princess Auto Stadium, Vancouver instead took a more direct approach in their attack. They looked to move the ball forward quickly. using the range of passing of their backline to spray the ball either forward to Terran Campbell and Alejandro Díaz up top, or to switch the point of their attack to the opposite side of the pitch.
The team's ball-playing central defenders, David Norman Jr. and debutant Aidan O'Connor, were particularly important in this approach. Both demonstrated a good range of passing as they spearheaded attacks all over the pitch. Even when their passes did not connect, they pinned Valour deep, and sometimes led to Vancouver recovering the ball through poor clearances from the hosts.
Vancouver created several dangerous moments through balls over the top in the early going, before finally being rewarded in the 38th minute. On a lovely ball over the top from Norman Jr., Díaz took the ball down with a touch of pure class, before chipping the onrushing Jonathan Viscosi with his first touch.
For Díaz, it was yet another prolific outing at a stadium where he has always been dangerous, with his sixth goal in his seventh visit to Princess Auto Stadium.
Díaz goal was enough of a cushion to secure victory for Vancouver. The visitors were perhaps a bit fortunate that Valour caused themselves further issues by twice having players sent off in the late stages, and were unquestionably shaky at the back on a few occasions late in the match.
But what will matter to them is that they held on, even getting a third goal to put the match to bed on an outstanding effort from substitute Pathe Ndiaye, who looks to be yet another weapon for Afshin Ghotbi's attack.
Aidan O'Connor impresses in outstanding debut for Vancouver FC
Over the past few weeks, Vancouver FC have been slowly adding depth to their squad as several of their international signings integrate into the group.
The difference Nicolás Mezquida has made since he was announced at the team's season opener, for example, has been nothing short of transformational.
On Saturday, the Eagles had yet another impressive debut from an international signing that has the potential to be hugely impactful to the way they play, 23-year-old American central defender Aidan O'Connor.
On loan from the New York Red Bulls, the 12th overall pick in the 2024 MLS Draft instantly demonstrated his quality against Valour in an outstanding debut. The imposing central defender was physically dominant, winning several aerial duels and making vital clearances throughout the match. His defensive instincts were also spot on, reacting first to step in and break up multiple Valour attacks.
In the first half, he cut out Valour's best chance with an outstanding reactionary block on Diogo Ressurreição. It wasn't just O'Connor's defending that stood out, however, but also his impressive range of passing which helped the Eagles build out from the back.
"It was phenomenal, I don't think we have so many central defenders in the CPL as good as him," said Vancouver FC manager Afshin Ghotbi of O'Connor's first game. "And I saw that immediately when he came in and started training with us. I saw it in the videos before we brought him to our club, and I think he's a massive addition to our selection, and he's going to make us a lot stronger and better as a team."
With Allan Enyou still on the mend, O'Connor looks like he will be a vital piece for this Vancouver team this season and only increase the quality, competition and depth at the position for the Eagles.
Valour FC still searching for identity, as they remain the league's only winless team
After a strong off-season and a good end to the 2024 campaign, there was a lot of optimism coming into this year for Valour FC.
While the season is still just four matches old for the Winnipeg club, the early returns have not been positive.
Again on Saturday night at home against Vancouver, they are still struggling to build an identity. For a group that wants to hold onto the ball and play through the lines in possession, they haven't shown an ability to do that for extended periods in matches.
They were again unable to make an early spell of possession count for anything against Vancouver on Saturday, just as was the case against Halifax last weekend.
Usually defensively solid at home, they were exposed far too often on Saturday. Initially failing to put enough pressure on the Vancouver backline in their build-out, before then allowing too much space in behind their press on the second Vancouver goal.
The match was over an hour old before Valour even had their first shot on target. As chance would have it, of course, that shot from substitute Xavi Venâncio ripped into the top corner. But the moment of individual brilliance was an outlier in yet another disappointing attacking performance from Valour.
If there were any positives for the Winnipeg side, it did come from staying in the fight after both Kris Twardek and Jevontae Layne were sent off, with arguably their best play of the match coming late while at a man disadvantage. If they can take this sort of desperate approach and start games with it, there are signs that this team can turn things around.
Unfortunately for Valour, they lost more than just the match on Saturday night. Afterward, Phil Dos Santos said that he believes he has lost around five players through both suspension and injury. Aside from Twardek and Layne being sent off, Gianfranco Facchineri and captain Raphael Ohin were substituted at the half through apparent injury.
This looms large, especially with such a short turnaround to Valour's next match against TSS Rovers on Wednesday at home in the Canadian Championship. That competition will offer a much-needed clean slate for Valour, and perhaps an opportunity to get a positive result and to show better fight for a full 90 minutes then they did on Saturday.
What They Said
“The first goal [they scored] is off a second phase, and that ball over the top played to Díaz the gap is too big between our centre backs, and we need to deal with that a lot better. Those are normally plays that you need to make easily in the game. We don't, and we suffer. We need to learn, and we need to grow from it.” — Valour FC head coach Phil Dos Santos
“This was a massive game for us, and we've been talking a lot about maybe perfection is not possible, but we can every day, progress a bit and every game improve as a team, we will reach our target, I think we've seen in the last three games, the performance has been extremely good. The last two games, we didn't finish the game and let the opponent hang on and take some goals late in the match...So I think this was important for the team to be able to break through, score the second goal, and even late in the match being up one and score the third goal.” — Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Alejandro Díaz, Vancouver FC
Díaz led the line brilliantly for the Eagles on Saturday, scoring a brilliant match winner, and picking up an assist as well on the opener. He finished with three shots, six touches in the Valour box and two chances created.
What’s next?
Both sides are in action midweek in the Canadian Championship. Valour host TSS Rovers on Wednesday, May 7 (7 p.m. CT), before returning to league action on Saturday, May 10 in the nation's capital against Atlético Ottawa (1 p.m. CT).
Vancouver, meanwhile, face rivals Pacific in a Canadian Championship edition of the Salish Sea Derby on Tuesday, May 6 (7 p.m. PT). They aren't in action again in the league until May 17, when they host the Halifax Wanderers in CPL action on Saturday, May 17 (5 p.m. PT)
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