May 16, 2025
Valour FC has breathed life into their young Canadian Premier League season in a dramatic and thrilling fashion.
And their timing couldn't have been more perfect.
Entering the night as the CPL's only winless side, Valour secured its first victory of the campaign with two second-half goals in a gritty 2-1 decision over York United FC on an absolutely miserable windy and rain-swept night in front of 1,591 faithful at Princess Auto Stadium. The result improves Valour to one win and a draw against four losses and comes in the wake of last weekend's 5-2 loss to Atlético Ottawa and a match that was filled with flaws.
"We say the first one (win) is important," said Valour FC GM and head coach Phillip Dos Santos in his post-match media conference. "The longer you drag that first win in a season the more difficult it becomes or you get those ghosts -- 'when is it going to come?' And then you're down 1-0 at home and so doing it the way we did shows the character of the team.
"It's one win. We have to make sure we build on this, that we keep doing the small things right. That's our philosophy. I asked the guys, 'Just do the little things right and you'll see them pile up and at the end you'll get more positive than negative. Don't over-think things.' The most-difficult thing for a coach is you can have all the ideas in your head, you can train all you want, but the guys need to understand that out there they need to be a team. They need to play together, they need to fight together. Today, we had that.
"Now we have the blueprint. We need to keep going. We need to keep pushing."
Valour was on the front foot from the get-go Friday night and a blatant missed hand-ball by York's Julian Altobelli in the 27th minute was then compounded by the home side conceding the first goal when Gabriel Bitar buried a rebound from in tight in the 42nd minute.
That set up a thrilling second half that saw Kris Twardek even the score in the 51st minute with a left-footed howitzer into the top half of the net before Kelsey Egwu scored the winner in the 84th minute with a bit of magic after Themi Antonoglou put a dangerous ball into the box on a free kick from distance.
"It builds our confidence, first of all, because we've been working so hard in training," said Egwu, the young centre back. "We've been waiting for this moment so now we've got to keep going, keep moving things, keep going higher and higher every game to reach our objective of making playoffs. So, it starts now.
"We came inside at halftime and were talking about how we can be better, more aggressive and more patient in the final third and take our chances when we had them and not wasting them. The boys came back out amped up for the second half and everyone was ready to fight and we fought on the field as you can see. We're happy with the win."
The moment was especially important for Egwu and his teammates after conceding the five goals against Ottawa last weekend.
"Kelsey is young still," said Dos Santos. "His upside is so big. You look at his mind and where he's at and his maturity. When you come from a setback like we had with five goals conceded you have a choice as a coach: are you going to make changes and try to move things around? For us it was about trusting the guys that were there. We worked with them, we chose to stick with them and they responded well.
"Kelsey is a player that has a massive upside. He needs to keep growing. He's going to make mistakes. We need to keep working with him. He has all the tools to succeed in this league and beyond."
The turnaround is now quick for Valour FC, who play MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps Tuesday night at Princess Auto Stadium in the first leg of the Canadian Championship quarter-final, which the second match going July 9th in B.C.
"We're playing arguably the best team in Concacaf on Tuesday," said Dos Santos. "I told the guys, 'Give me the game against the York.' The Whitecaps, it's a bit of a gala. We get the privilege to play that team at this point of the season and we'll fight. The game has 90 minutes and we're going to play. We're 11 guys going on the field and having to play a very good team. It's better to do it and work the team when the atmosphere is a bit lighter and the group is coming from a positive result.
"We're giving the guys a day off that they deserve tomorrow and then we have two days to prepare for a game that is uncommon. You don't know what type of team they're going to bring here. We know they play (Saturday) on the road and Salt Lake the following weekend. All we know is we'll play a very strong team and against a very motivated group that aspires to win everything and to beat everyone they're going to meet in their way.
"We need to prepare for that and make sure our mentality is the right one. Respect them, but at the end of the day they're 11 guys, we're 11 guys and let's not be afraid. Let's enjoy it. When you go to a gala, you might as well dance and that's what we're going to do."
‘V’ NOTES:
-Valour's victory was the first after conceding the opening goal since August 18th of last year against HFX Wanderers. It also marked the first time they had rallied after trailing at halftime since August 12th, 2023 against Cavalry FC.
-York United has now lost 14 points from winning positions, more than any other CPL squad.
Valour FC 2 York United FC 1
Goals
Valour FC
50:47': Kris Twardek (assist: Bruno Figueiredo)
83:16': Kelsey Egwu
York United FC
41:44': Gabriel Bitar
Card summary
Valour FC
36:45′: Rocco Romeo (yellow, dissent)
42:45': Kelsey Egwu (yellow, reckless offence)
York United FC
20:35': Riley Ferrazzo (yellow, tactical foul)
44:35': Julian Altobelli (yellow, reckless offence)
46:54': Elijah Adekugbe (yellow, tactical foul)
47:24': Kembo Kibato (yellow, reckless offence)
81:20': Jose Lima da Silva (yellow, dissent)
VALOUR STARTING XI
GK – Eleias Himaras
D – Zach Fernandez
D – Rocco Romeo
D – Kelsey Egwu
D – Themi Antonoglou
MF – Raphael Ohin ©
MF – Xavier Venancio
MF – Bruno Figueiredo
FW – Diogo Ressurreicao
FW – Kris Twardek
F – Jevontae Layne
—
Valour substitutions
64:42’: On Shaan Hundal; off Jevontae Layne
64:50': On Jordan Faria; off Xavier Venancio
74:09': On Safwane Mlah; off Bruno Figueiredo