Valour Embracing ‘Shift Of Confidence’ Ahead Of Four-Game Homestead

It’s been a tough season for Winnipeg’s Canadian Premier League side Valour FC, but they put on an absolute clinic against the 2021 CPL champions in enemy territory over the weekend.

Valour stormed to a three-nil win out on Vancouver Isle, with head coach Phillip Dos Santos hoping to see the side continue to put in more ninety-minute performances in the back half of the season. That task been a continual theme in a season with more losses than wins, but with a four-game homestand approaching the winds of change might just be whispering.

A Shifting Tide?

Valour’s attack has started clicking of late, with their last three matches seeing them find the back of the net six times. After suffering a loss to Halifax, they drew league-leaders Atletico Ottawa before last weekend’s big win our west. Dos Santos said there’s been some struggles along the way, but building up a results lately has seen a noticeable shift within the squad.

“Our message has been one where they’re good players: they have to believe in their ability to go out and executive throughout 90 minutes. I think that if there’s a shift, it’s maybe the guys having a bit more belief in themselves and their teammates, and working together,” said the club boss.

Valour had moments where they had to weather storms against Pacific too, but the team kept their composure and, crucially, recorded their first clean since a one-nil win over York United last month. Dos Santos likes what he’s seen of the centre-back partnership of Mourdoukoutas and Facchineri, which has cut down minutes for Chantzopoulous of late. Antoniglou has been a club highlight on the flank, with Dante slotting well in the backline too.

“I look at defending as a collective action, and I think that the team has been more compact, defended more together. I think the guys understood a bit better the references in which we decide to press the opposition, and it has been good for us. I think the last two games were probably the two best defensive performances of the team.”

Shaking Starlight

The emphatic win for Valour was, let’s say, a little personal for Phillip Dos Santos. Valour had not found success at the venue since 2019, which is well before his time with the team – but there was a certain cup game there in 2021 that cost Phillip Dos Santos and his brother Marc their spots on the Whitecaps coaching staff.

“I got sacked here, so you know…I have that ghost that I have to get rid of, and now it’s done,” reflect Dos Santos after the match.

Flashback: Marc Dos Santos Tells Us He Left The Whitecaps In A Very Good Place

Valour’s only preceding victory at Starlight Stadium came during the club’s first-ever match on May 1, 2019, when it was still known as Westhills Stadium. The club’s first goal came from Stephen Hoyle, with Dylan Carreiro nabbing the winner later on. Since Raphael Ohin didn’t travel for that match, there are no players on the team who knew what victory at Starlight felt like for Winnipeg.

As pointed out by CanPL.ca‘s Alexandre Gangue-Ruzic, Valour’s next ten visits to Langford afterwards saw the visitors lose nine of them before this past weekend, so it’s safe to say this was a win that will feel good – or, at least, help erase some bad mojo.

‘”So, I don’t need to think about that anymore” concludes Dos Santos about his previous painful memories at Starlight.

Both Ends Clicking At Crucial Time

The defensive line is finding some footing and the attackers are proving potent, though Dos Santos downplays that as a surprise.

“I think that the team has shown they can score from many different ways since the beginning of the season,” he says. “I never doubted our ability to find goals, I think we have that in us.”

The statistics do back him up: Valour’s eighteen goals thus far are more than Halifax, Cavalry, and Pacific, though only one of those teams currently lies in a playoff position. Valour’s 28 goals concede, however, is a league-worst, though Vancouver FC has only conceded one less.

With a four-game homestand coming up, a favourable wind could strike the club as it attempts to claw itself up to that aforementioned playoff spot through the back half of the season. Dos Santos, however, isn’t going to bank points in a home stretch that has yet to unfold.

“We still have a lot of work to do. Let’s learn to win, let’s enjoy the wins, everyone is talking about the set of home games that we have, but the truth is that we still have to play those games, and we have to win them, and we have to compete, so there’s a lot of work. But, what I like to see is that the team was able to put back-to-back performances, and I think that is a first.”

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Valour’s next four matches all take place at home. They’ll start with some high-up-the-table opponents in Forge and York United, but some key battles will take place against Halifax and Vancouver afterwards, too. If the Winnipeg-based side can grab key results there, it’ll go a long way for an unlikely – but not impossible – push for playoff contention.

Header Image Photo Credit: Canadian Premier League