Match Thread: September 2, 2023 - Pacific v Valour

[narduch]

Game is at 1pm PT (3pm CT) on One Soccer and Fubo 

[Aird25]

It’s time to right the ship

[K Edgar]

"Not only are three players — Amer Didić, Georges Mukumbilwa and Djenairo Daniels — suspended, but so too is head coach James Merriman"

"Darlington Murasiranwa will make his Valour debut in goal, with usual starter Rayane Yesli unavailable due to illness. Abdou Samaké will also miss out after suffering an injury in Halifax last week."

https://canpl.ca/article/preview-pacific-fc-vs-valour-fc-2023-match-86

Interested to see who is the backup GK for Valour, Barker?  Cela and Pianelli only healthy Valour CB's.  Williams still out?

[jonovision]

At some point I will go through the match reports to check how frequently each CB pairing started a match together. Can't imagine any pair has more than 4 or 5 games together.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Why does the Pacific timezone game start before the one in Ottawa in the Eastern timezone? Seems a bit odd in scheduling terms.

[jonovision]

1pm and 7pm local are both pretty normal start times. I personally prefer attending the evening matches but afternoons often get better attendance.

[davey_twelve]

Murasiranwa getting his first start and two CBs who haven't played a lot together...go opportunity for Ongaro or Reid to have a strong outing. If Gazdov and Amedume both start Pacific will be less than 90 minutes away from their U21 quota.

[Big_M]

[jonovision]

WTF? Campbell at RB (he sucks in the back line) with Baquero and Mzoughi both available, just to keep the team's worst regular, Polisi, in the line up?

White flag of an XI here from DosSantosOut.

At least Williams is back.

Edited September 2 by jonovision

[K Edgar]

Valour backup GK is Evan Ince 6'2", 23 - currently with Altitute FC, formerly with California Baptist University and Whitecaps

https://altitudefc.ca/player/evan-ince/

https://cbulancers.com/sports/mens-soccer/roster/evan-ince/9027

https://www.whitecapsfc.com/players/evan-ince/

[K Edgar]

7 minutes ago, jonovision said:

WTF? Campbell at RB (he sucks in the back line) with Baquero and Mzoughi both available, just to keep the team's worst regular, Polisi, in the line up?

White flag of an XI here from DosSantosOut.

At least Williams is back.

And Haynes is out of the lineup, and against his former side.  Novak also not in lineup.

[jonovision]

6 minutes ago, K Edgar said:

And Haynes is out of the lineup, and against his former side.  Novak also not in lineup.

Small blessings.

[jonovision]

Checklist item #1: make it to 10 minutes without getting scored on.

[SpursFlu]

Reid has to be one of the more underrated players in the league

[jonovision]

Cela and Polisi are simply unplayable. 

Players that probably should never see another CPL minute after this season (definitely no chance at making another roster) that are starting this match: Murinsawa, Cela, Pianelli, Polisi, Ulloa.

Not a recipe for winning a match.

Worst 45 minutes of Valour's season, probably one of the worst in 5 seasons.

Edited September 2 by jonovision

[K Edgar]

Valour thoroughly 2nd best throughout the 1st half.  Fortunate not to give up a PK on de Brienne's hand ball and a goal on de Brienne goal line clearance.  Look like a team that completely lacks confidence.  Murasiranwa may prefer his old FCE team of cast offs.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

19 minutes ago, jonovision said:

...Worst 45 minutes of Valour's season, probably one of the worst in 5 seasons.

Not as bad as the 8-1 game against the Cavalry in 2019 but Phil Dos Santos knows when to park the bus for damage limitation unlike the clown who was the Valour coach in year one whose name I am struggling to remember, Rob Gale? Kind of desperate though to be putting 10 behind the ball like that in a salary cap league.

Edited September 2 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[jonovision]

1 minute ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Not as bad as the 8-1 game against the Cavalry in 2019 but Phil Dos Santos knows when to park the bus for damage limitation unlike the clown who was the Valour coach in year one whose name I am struggling to remember, Rob Gale? Kind of desperate though to be putting 10 behind the ball like that in a salary cap league.

What is there to be gained by parking the bus in this match? Losing 2-0 is no better than losing 8-0. Dos Santos has them lined up to play cowardly today. There are many players on Valour that aren't at the standard of any of the other CPL teams, probably half of their roster, but they shouldn't be this bad.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

1 minute ago, jonovision said:

What is there to be gained by parking the bus in this match? ...

You almost got the opening goal and then could have tried to hold the lead. Now though they need to open up a bit to chase the points needed to go after a playoff spot.

[jonovision]

1 minute ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

You almost got the opening goal and then could have tried to hold the lead. Now though they need to open up a bit to chase the points needed to go after a playoff spot.

Valour could go 7-0 and would still likely miss the playoffs. Show your team you actually believe in them.

Anyway, good positive substitutions, but the fact Polisi remains on the pitch is madness.

[Wippersuna]

Valour scores? What is this?

[K Edgar]

Just now, Wippersuna said:

Valour scores? What is this?

Much better 2nd half from Valour.  de Brienne nice finish!!!

[jonovision]

Edited to be more polite:

I hate Pacific so so much

 

But that is a goal this keeper absolutely needs to stop. Not a difficult one.

Edited September 2 by jonovision

[Wippersuna]

Don’t worry guys it’s Rendon time.

Formally known as Pena time.

 

Niyongabire just absolutely allergic to scoring.

Edited September 2 by Wippersuna

[Big_M]

dos santos loses to the pacific assistant and valour could be last by the end of the match week...could it get worse than that?