Valour FC 2020 Season Preview

Arrivals and Departures

Where to start with Valour? Calling last season a disappointment would be an understatement, and cryptic quotes from outgoing players and the coach along with an inability to retain their best players point to some behind-the-scenes issues. With that said we’re not as pessimistic around the Winnipeg club as some in CanPL circles.

Among the significant departures are last season’s four top scorers: wingers Marco Bustos and Michael Petrasso, and strikers Tyler Attardo and Michele Paolucci. Altogether, that’s 22 league goals to replace. Add to this more starters from last season including central midfielder Louis Béland-Goyette, attacking mids Dylan Sacramento and Josip Golubar, defenders Skylar Thomas, Jordan Murrell (of table-kicking fame), Martín Arguiñarena and the limited Adam Mitter, forward Ali Musse, and both goalkeepers - Canadian Tyson Farago and Belgian youngster Mathias Janssens. In addition to these first teamers, bit-part players Nicolás Galvis and Glenn Muenkat (good riddance to a player not up to CanPL level) also left.

With all these departures, there were plenty of holes to fill this off-season, and Rob Gale and co. have been busy doing so. Taking a different approach to many teams, experience was the name of the game for Valour’s off-season signings - understandable given the issues around professionalism last year that have surfaced. Leading the way were a number of internationals: Northern Irishman Daryl Fordyce of FC Edmonton 1.0 fame from Sligo Rovers, Haitian international centreback Alex Jean-Baptiste from Swedish third tier (now second tier) side Umeå FC, New Zealander Moses Dyer from Norwegian side Florø, young Ghanaian winger Solomon Kojo Antwi, and in a coup for the league, Congolese leftback Arnold Bouka Moutou from Ligue 1 side Dijon. Panamanian centreback Amir Soto was also signed, but was unable to join the club for the Island Games due to the pandemic.

In addition to the international signings, Valour made some impressive domestic signings, including enigmatic fullback/winger Fraser Aird (most recently at Scottish 4th tier side Cove Rangers), leftback/winger Brett Levis from the Whitecaps, talented winger Masta Kacher from Saint Louis of USL, former international winger Stefan Cebara, centreback Chakhib Hocine, keeper Matt Silva, and young strikers Shaan Hundal and Austin Ricci. Gale was also active in the loan market, adding keeper James Pantemis from l’Impact, as well as centreback Julian Dunn and midfielder Dante Campbell from Toronto FC.

Basically, with just 7 returnees in the whole squad, Valour are starting over from square one.

Projected Lineup

Expect Valour to line up in a 4-5-1 formation, although we’ll likely see a 4-4-2 at times as well. There are a few options to lead the line, but we think former Eddie Fordyce will get the first opportunity, after a fairly productive season in Ireland last year. Brett Levis should get an opportunity to play further up the park than he did with Vancouver on the left side, and Kacher should join him on the right side.

In the centre of the park, we see a trio of returnees starting: Dylan Carreiro and José Galán will sit in front of tough-tackling anchorman Raphael Ohin, although Dyer should slot in regularly as well.

The back line is pretty much a blank slate after last season, and theoretically should be much more solid than last year. Jean-Baptiste should be the leader at the back, and will likely be joined by young Yohan Le Bourhis who joined midway through last season. On the left, the league’s most surprising off-season signing Bouka Moutou will start, and Fraser Aird should be the first name at rightback.

In net, Valour will likely continue to split duties like last year, albeit with two new names rotating. Expect on-loan Pantemis to see at least 4 starts in the round robin, and Silva will take care of the rest.

The Big Questions

Will whatever the hell happened last year carry over?

Details are sparse on what exactly took place in Winnipeg last year that led to such turnover, but comments from Bustos in interviews and former third string keeper Svyatyk Artemenko and the completely ineffective Muenkat of all people on Instagram point to a general lack of unity in the squad and possible disgruntlement with management. Questions have been asked of manager Rob Gale, deservedly so, but egos in the locker room likely played a big part in last year’s discord as well. Whether or not this has been addressed coming in to PEI will be a big question.

Experience or old age?

More than other teams, and probably to address issues mentioned above, Valour brought in a contingent of players 28 and older - relative old-timers in this league. This includes Silva, Jean-Baptiste, Hocine, Cebara, Fordyce and Bouka Moutou - the latter two joining Galán as the squad’s over-30 contingent. Other blogs have suggested that a lot of these moves are bringing in last chance journeymen and so on, but there’s something to be said about a few experienced players to mentor the younger guys. Fordyce and Bouka Moutou in particular come from high levels, but they’ll be put to the test in a compressed tournament against teams of mostly younger players.

Is Gale the right man for the job?

This question has been discussed ad nauseum on CanPL Twitter and Reddit, but between the performances last year and the off-season turnover, it’s a question worth asking. Ownership clearly had enough faith to both keep him on for a second season, and finance a number of significant acquisitions, but there’ll be a close eye on Gale in Charlottetown. One benefit of a shortened season - even if they’re shit, he’ll likely survive through to the end!

The Main Lads

Brett Levis

He may have only made 24 MLS appearances over four seasons in Vancouver, mostly at leftback, but that’s still a rare pedigree in CanPL. A Saskatchewan native, he should be relatively at home in Winnipeg (expecting grief for that comment), but that won’t have much effect this season. With Valour, Levis should be mostly deployed further up the pitch in his more comfortable left wing position, which could lead to him flying under the radar as an offensive threat after earning a reputation as a tough-tackling fullback in Vancouver. With a lengthy injury history, whether or not he can stay healthy will be key.

Arnold Bouka Moutou

Staying on the left side (look out opposing rightbacks!), it’s impossible to overlook Bouka Moutou’s pedigree. Sure, he’s only played 42 Ligue 1 games since 2015, but by my rough estimation that’s 42 more than any other player in the league (I welcome corrections). He also hasn’t played since spring 2019, meaning it’s been an even longer layoff than for most players. Therein lies the issue - we’ve clearly got a player that’s played at a high level for most of his career, but he hasn’t played much at those levels for the last few years. And *why* did he sign with Valour of all clubs? Either way, from what we’ve seen he looks like the real deal, at least at the CanPL level.

Andrew Jean-Baptiste

If you read our Halifax preview, you already know that Jean-Baptiste was half of Haiti’s centreback pairing during their defeat of Canada at the last Gold Cup (who would have figured both would now be playing in CanPL?). Despite toiling at relatively low levels for the last few years, he also has some MLS experience, though not since 2014. A former US youth international, Jean-Baptiste looks to be exactly the kind of centreback Valour needed after last year’s gongshow: some ball skills, but still a no-nonsense defender (though not in the table-kicking sense) capable of marshalling his defensie partners. He’s right up with David Edgar for centreback experience at a high level in this league, and that’s quite something for Valour.

X-factor

Masta Kacher

Take a look at this golazo Kacher scored in USL a few years back, and you’ll see why we think he’s one of the more unheralded arrivals in CanPL this year. Replacing the flair of Bustos and Petrasso won’t be an easy task, and it won’t all fall on Kacher, but he brings some of that confidence that left with those two. Often operating on the left, we see him slotting in more on the right with Valour, but given a role with a considerable amount of freedom to move around the pitch as he see fits. Calling it now that he scores Valour’s first goal in the Island Games.

Disgruntled Thought

Can’t get over Muenkat - you were so brutal last year that Valour didn’t want you back!

Prediction

We’re not as hard on Valour as most, but they’re still far from a top-tier side at this point. The midfield in particular is lacking, as much as I see Ohin as a CanPL version of my idol Lee Cattermole. In any case, we’re not expecting Valour to be embarrassed in PEI, and look for them to scrape a win over at least one team moving on. It won’t be enough, but should be a building block for next year.

Round-robin prediction: 6th