It's approaching now or never territory for Valour FC as they travel to Halifax on Friday evening.
For the second consecutive week, they take on a team just above the playoff line -- fifth-place Halifax Wanderers, desperate to cut into the 11-point gap separating them. Last weekend, in a 0-0 draw with fourth-place York United at home, they weren't able to make up any ground and time is now running out for any sort of charge up the table.
The Winnipeg club will need to find a way to get a result at a stadium which has not been kind to them over the years, with just one win, and four goals scored, in ten trips to the Wanderers Grounds in CPL action in club history.
The road has been rough in general for Valour, where they have won just once this season, and conceded an average of three goals per game in matches away from Winnipeg this campaign. But, starting Friday, they will need to change that narrative, especially with big trips to York, Calgary and Pacific still to come this season.
They face a Halifax squad who are just as desperate for a win, as the only club in the entire league that has not won at least once in their past six matches.
The Wanderers' last win, in fact, came against Valour FC at the Wanderers Grounds, 3-1 back on Canada Day. Having sat in second place following that result, they have since dropped to the fifth and final playoff spot. They maintained a gap of seven points over sixth-place Pacific in a 2-2 draw between the two sides this past weekend.
This difficult run of form has stretched back even longer, as the Wanderers have won just twice in their past 11 matches now in CPL action. Owing to their performances earlier in the season, they are still in an okay position in the standings, and to book a coveted home playoff match -- just three points behind third-place Cavalry. But they will need to start picking up points soon, or that gap could grow quickly.
The visitors on Friday, however, have been a fairly favourable opponent for the Wanderers over the years. They have won more matches (14) against Valour than any other opponent in club history, including both times they've met this year.
Valour will be without captain Raphael Ohin, as he picked up a yellow card accumulation suspension. They, however, will get some help across their backline with the signing of defender Diego Konincks on loan from Chicago Fire II.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
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Valour add another piece to their backline: After securing Emil Gazdov on loan last week, Valour FC continued to add to their ranks this week with another loan deal, this time adding to their defensive ranks with Diego Konincks. The 24-year-old Dutch defender, who can also play as a holding midfielder, has played 19 matches as the captain of Chicago Fire II this season in MLS Next Pro, scoring once and adding two assists. He brings a new profile to a Valour backline that will need to improve its performance if the team is to make up ground in the standings. "He's been training every day with the first team in Chicago, so he's someone that could hit the ground running and help us immediately," said Valour FC head coach Phil Dos Santos. "So for us, it's important that when you have nine games left to play, that players could come in that don't need to adapt. They could take on minutes right away and help the team."
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Crucial home stretch for the Wanderers: After a long stretch on the west coast, there will be some much-needed home cooking for the Halifax Wanderers the next two weeks as they host Valour FC on Friday, before a big match against York United on Labour Day Monday. Those are two of the teams they are directly jostling with for positioning in the table right now. Picking up maximum points during this stretch is huge, because following this two-game homestand, they head on the road for back-to-back matches in Hamilton and Calgary -- with no wins in either of those cities in club history. Halifax still very much control their own destiny, tied on points with fourth place York, and just three behind Cavalry FC in third -- and they still have a seven point gap on Pacific FC for the final playoff spot with nine games remaining. But if they can't take care of business over the next two matches at home that situation could get a whole lot more dicey.
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Can Gazdov be the answer at the back for Valour?: As Valour FC crucially look to sort out their defensive woes down the stretch, the addition of the defending CPL Goalkeeper of the Year Emil Gazdov could prove a big boost. In his first match with the club this past weekend, Gazdov made a pair of saves to keep just Valour's second clean sheet of the campaign. On Friday, he will look to continue that at a grounds, and against an opponent, against whom he has thrived. In eight matches against Halifax in his career, Gazdov has kept four clean sheets, and lost just once. That included a strong performance in the only ever CPL playoff match at the Wanderers Grounds on October 14, 2023, where he kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 victory while playing for Pacific.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Halifax Wanderers: Yesli; Timoteo, Meilleur-Giguère, Sow, Pearlman; Baï, Johnston, Callegari, Rea; Telfer, Coimbra
Valour FC: Gazdov; Facchineri, Romeo, Egwu; Twardek, Mlah, Ressurreição, Antonoglou; Morgan, Faria, Voytsekhovskyy
ALL-TIME SERIES
Halifax wins: 14 || Valour wins: 7 || Draws: 4
Last meeting:
July 1, 2025 -- Halifax Wanderers 3-1 Valour FC
KEY QUOTES
"We're being optimistic, and we've had to kind of weather the storm, and I think we're out of the storm, in my opinion, and about to get out in the sunshine." — Halifax Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar
"Look, the [playoff] line is far. So if we start looking at that point gap that's there between us and the fifth place it might look very difficult. So we have to go one game at a time. We just need to look at it and say that this is one that if we get three points, we put ourselves closer." — Valour FC head coach Phil Dos Santos
"There's no time to rest, no time to stop, especially with nine games left. Every single point matters. And that can be a minute in the game that makes a big difference in the end. Last year Pacific qualified on the last day. So it's definitely not impossible but just gotta work hard to get there."— Valour FC goalkeeper Emil Gazdov