Winnipeg Valour - CanPL - Page 9

esquire · #**161** Posted **Jun 26, 2021, 3:43 PM**

CPL season kicks off today, Valour FC's first game is tomorrow. I went for a bike ride past IG Field yesterday and it was kind of exciting to see athletes on the field again. I just hope it isn't too long before we can attend matches in person...

blueandgoldguy · #**162** Posted **Jun 28, 2021, 7:23 PM**

Valour won their first game versus the defending champion Forge.

I actually didn't realize until yesterday that all 8 teams would be playing all their games at Ig Field during the first 28 days of the season. I wonder if the players are staying at a hotel downtown or somewhere else?

esquire · #**163** Posted **Jun 28, 2021, 10:12 PM**

Very exciting news... starting July 5 tickets will go on sale for the CPL Kickoff to a max of 2,000 fans per match. First games with fans in the stands go on July 7. You will have to show proof of being fully vaccinated.

https://canpl.ca/article/ig-field-ca...tarting-july-7

This is awesome, my only regret is that I won't be two weeks out from my second dose on July 7.

blueandgoldguy · #**164** Posted **Jul 11, 2021, 8:53 PM**

Valour are off to a great start. 4 wins and 1 loss. Tied for first in the standings.

esquire · #**165** Posted **Jul 11, 2021, 9:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

Valour are off to a great start. 4 wins and 1 loss. Tied for first in the standings.

I went to my first match of the year today... it reminded me a bit of a Jets game, Forge was really setting the pace and bombarding Valour until Valour finally managed to get through the defensive wall just long enough to get one in.

Nice to see Valour on top of the table after those last two forgettable seasons.

blueandgoldguy · #**166** Posted **Jul 12, 2021, 12:54 AM**

The head coach of the Winnipeg Valour has a bad guy look to him. Like he could perfectly cast in Hollywood as the head of an elite squadron of ex-army baddies attempting to perpetrate some horrible act on the public in a tv show like 24 or an action movie.

thebasketballgeek · #**167** Posted **Jul 12, 2021, 3:37 PM**

Not a huge soccer guy but how is the level of competition compared to the MLS? Ik I’ll never see a premier league team here but I think it would be entertaining to watch guys that could maybe be good enough to compete for Canada internationally.

EndoftheBeginning · #**168** Posted **Jul 12, 2021, 4:26 PM**

As per below, no current CPLers have been called for the Canadian national team competing in the upcoming Gold Cup but a couple former players were named to the 60 man team for Canada and a couple current players were called for Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago. So the top tier players in CPL are generally good enough to get a sniff on the national teams in CONCACAF, but the level is definitely a tier below MLS in quality.

Quote:

The Canadian men’s national team, fresh off its World Cup Qualifying win over Haiti earlier this week, revealed its 60-man squad, which features a litany of familiar stars as well as a few intriguing young players. First-team regulars like Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David, and Atiba Hutchinson are on the list, as are some major contributors from March’s U-23 Olympic Qualifying side like Michael Baldisimo, Zorhan Bassong, and Theo Bair.

The most notable player missing is likely goalkeeper Milan Borjan, while Scott Arfield returns to the list after missing World Cup qualifying.

Perhaps the most intriguing names on the list are a few young dual nationals, including Sheffield United’s Daniel Jebbison, Royal Antwerp’s Jules-Anthony Vilsaint, and Arsenal FC’s Marcelo Flores. Ayo Akinola, who has recently accepted call-ups to both Canada and United States camps, appears on this roster for Canada, but he is not similarly listed for the U.S.

Former Canadian Premier League players on the list include James Pantemis and Joel Waterman; no current CPLers appear on Canada’s shortlist, but with Canada’s Gold Cup campaign beginning July 11, it makes sense for them to remain with their clubs during ‘The Kickoff,’ the league’s season-opening stanza in Winnipeg which runs until July 24. Two CPLers do appear on the list for Haiti, with HFX Wanderers FC centre-back Jems Geffrard and Valour FC defender Andrew Jean-Baptiste making the shortlist. Ryan Telfer (Atlético Ottawa), Andre Rampersad & Akeem Garcia (HFX Wanderers FC) were simillary called by Trinidad and Tobago.

https://canpl.ca/article/canmnt-name...cacaf-gold-cup

esquire · #**169** Posted **Sep 24, 2021, 1:58 PM**

Valour FC has axed its head coach and general manager Rob Gale and replaced him with Phillip Dos Santos, most recently of the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Gale seemed pretty well regarded as a coach, and he is a fixture of the Manitoba soccer scene. But Valour just couldn't get it together under his tenure despite a good start to the 2021 season.

JHikka · #**170** Posted **Sep 24, 2021, 2:01 PM**

Strange timing to let Gale go. Playoff push with plenty of games left in the season. Curious.

esquire · #**171** Posted **Sep 24, 2021, 2:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JHikka

Strange timing to let Gale go. Playoff push with plenty of games left in the season. Curious.

Reasonable take, I was wondering the same thing. But with only one win in their last 11 games, I guess the feeling was that this was the last chance to spark a change to salvage this season.

And given that the 2019 season was a bit of a disaster, I'm sure club management thought about giving him the axe as early as the infamous 8-0 loss that season.

JHikka · #**172** Posted **Sep 24, 2021, 2:18 PM**

Indeed. I never thought Gale was very much as a manager but couldn't deny the work he put in to the team and surrounding infrastructure. Will be interesting to see how Dos Santos does.

Also I watched that 8-0 match and it wassssss not great.

esquire · #**173** Posted **May 11, 2023, 1:30 PM**

I went to last week's Valour match and the crowd was very sparse. I don't know what the crowd was announced at, but there probably weren't more than 2,000 fans in there. It was like a Bison football game. The roster has completely changed, there are hardly any players I recognize from last season. And the game itself was a 0-0 defensive snorefest, Valour is even worse than the Jets for their sheer reluctance to get a shot off.

At the start of the season Wade Miller more or less threw down the gauntlet to the soccer community to keep this thing going, but I'm not sure that the interest is really there. It's been almost 5 years and in spite of a decent start in 2019, it has really only gone downhill. In some ways this feels like a make or break season for Valour, either they get it together and remain a fixture on the local scene, or the club can start winding down. I would not want to see that happen, but when fans stay away then there isn't much choice.

blueandgoldguy · #**174** Posted **May 11, 2023, 8:12 PM**

Edmonton folding last year. York owners walking away from the league. Winnipeg Valour possibly on its last legs. It's certainly not a good sign for the long-term viability of the CPL.