jonovision

Very interested to see what happens in this one. A Valour win would create some distance at the top and bottom of the table, depending partly on what happens between Ottawa and Edmonton. Valour may struggle in their first full game without Jean-Baptiste, though they managed alright after we went off last match and Halifax (3 goals from 7 matches) may not threaten as much as other opponents.

Not what I said. Failing to at least make the semis would make me less than hopeful heading into WCQ. Obviously the quality of opponent and, should we lose, how competitive we are in the loss, should factor in. But in beating Martinique and Haiti and losing to USA and Costa Rica, we will have learned nothing positive about our team.

It seems like there's been an epidemic of CB injuries. Half the teams in the league seem to be missing their top 2 or 3 guys.

I think it's too soon to say that we've performed well in this year's Gold Cup, if that makes you feel any better. A loss to Costa Rica and this tournament has been a minor failure, imo.

Maybe I don't know the 2021 Forge roster very well, but were they missing anyone significant other than at CB?

https://valourfc.canpl.ca/article/i-want-to-help-make-sure-the-team-still-has-in-sight-the-mission-at-hand-im-not-leaving-my-team-because-of-this-andrew-jean-baptiste-will-miss-remainder-of-season I think this was obvious to anyone who saw his reaction to the injury live, but Andrew Jean-Baptiste is out for the season with a left ACL tear. This is a huge blow to Valour, losing their MVP and arguably the best player in the league during the bubble. The rest of the back line to date has been made up of guys playing out of position, so we'll see how long they can hold up. Word is another CB is about to arrive in town, but we'll see.

One of the few non-Valour games I've paid attention to, and an entertaining one. Ottawa are up 2-1, but down a man and have been on the short end of a few referee decisions. Not the red card, IMO, but had a great chance whistled for a wrong offside call, and Pacific were awarded a penalty that was probably legit, but for the clear offside in the build-up. Mista frustrated with this and sent off for complaining.

There are more goals in this game. Pacific have had some good chances, and Ottawa had a player in clear on goal whistled for offside when he clearly wasn't.

Another for Shaw. Like the first, looked as if the forward could have been whistled for a foul on the play, but really it was a case of him simply being stronger than the central defenders.

2 minutes, not 3 (90:25 injury, 92:30 ball back in play), and the referee allowed an additional minute and 15 seconds on top of the 5 minutes of announced injury time. Hardly egregious. It's worth noting that the delay was almost certainly made longer by TFC players being pissy and getting in the face of the referee and the New York players.

Eddies in 5th all of a sudden. An Ottawa win in the next match would compress the middle of the table even further.

Finally some decent soccer playing weather in Winnipeg, just in time for the end of the bubble.

The Valour-Atletico cup match is in Ottawa, no?

Valour have had more than a bit of good fortune in some of their earlier wins, but York were comprehensively beaten. It will interesting to see how things go if AJB is out long term. York may be in trouble.