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Photo Credit: John Jacquews
Valour Winger Binate Upbeat On Playoff Chase: ‘We’re A Team To Watch’
By Through all active Canadian Premier League launch teams, only one can tout the unwanted record of never having appeared in postseason play: Valour FC.
The Winnipeg-based side has been on a steep rise in form in the final third of the season, however, with Valour long ago shedding the skin of the club which kicked off its season with five straight losses and endured a 7-0 knockout in the cup.
They haven’t let that rough start define them. The club now finds itself unbeaten in five and just two points away from the fifth and final playoff spot, having risen to be one of the better-performing teams in the latter half of the season.
“We’ve shown we can cope with any team. We’re not afraid of anyone,”, Abdul Binate told Quentin Parisis in a French-speaking interview this week, pointing out that the club was third on points amassed in the second half of the campaign.
“We believe in ourselves and approach every game like a final. There’s a rush as we approach each game.”
Binate has appeared in almost every match for the Winnipeggers, albeit mostly from the bench. As a late game substitute he’s tallied three goals while nabbing an assist in one of his rare starts.
“Valour has had a tough time, but we’re a team to watch, because we’ve improved a lot, for the playoffs, for next year, and for the future,” states the midfielder.
You have to stretch back six matches to see their last defeat, when Vancouver stole a win with a 97th minute winner. The last five matches, while leaving the club undefeated, also saw some controversial results: of the four draws, two saw the opponent level things in the 77th or 89th minute respectively.
If those were wins, they’d be in the fifth playoff spot right now, but there’s nothing one can change about the past.
“There’s a certain amount of frustration involved in a string of draws, but we can’t afford to feel sorry for ourselves after every game,” adds Binate. “We have to look ahead and prepare for the next one.”
The former CF Montreal youth prospect recently crossed the thousand minute threshold with Valour this season, which is a remarkable jump up from the 35 minutes he saw with Pacific. Abdul was highly-touted when he came to the league back in 2022, but injury setbacks meant it would take over a year for him to play for Pacific – and even then, he only generated a little over half an hour on the pitch, and a handful more than that in League1 BC with Nautsa’mawt FC.
Valour boss Phillip Dos Santos saw the potential in him, though, bringing the 21-year-old into camp this February.
“I spoke with the coach and it was the right project for me,” Binate said of the move. “It was clear that I had to earn my minutes, that it was up to me to prove. I came here to work, with the idea of taking every possible minute.”
He’s now grabbed 1,093 minutes this year, and a few goals too. His first came against Forge, his next would come as a statement shot in a three-nil routing of his former side Pacific, and his most recent goal rescued a hard-fought point in a draw against Cavalry.
It’s been an individual triumph, with Binate describing this season as his first real one as a professional.
“I had to adapt, understand this level, reach it, and even surpass it. In short, to stand out from the crowd. I feel I’ve made good progress this year compared with my two years at Pacific,” he says.
“I’m surrounded by a good staff and good players, so it’s been easy to reach certain objectives and pass certain milestones. I’ve achieved the number of minutes I set myself when I arrived. As for the number of goals, I had set myself five, so I’m not far off.”
Adding to his goal tally in the club’s final three matches would be the perfect ending for his individual gains – and one that could rocket Valour to postseason bliss. Interestingly, he’s already scored against two of the three clubs they close the season against: Forge and Cavalry are next up and last respectively, with fellow playoff hopefuls Vancouver FC wedged in between.
Binate and his team will be hosting Forge FC this Sunday at 2:00PM EST. Fans hoping to tune in can do so on OneSoccer, fuboTV, or Telus Optik TV.
Source: Canadian Premier League – Quentin Parisis
Header Image Photo Credit: John Jacques
