Sometimes, the highs of a big victory or strong game can be hard to maintain for a young team, showing how difficult it can be to win at the professional level.
Vancouver unfortunately got a taste of that reality, as after a huge victory over Forge in midweek, they just couldn’t find a way to follow it up with another win as Valour FC continued their dominance at home on Sunday June 25, as downing Vancouver 1-0 at IG Field in Winnipeg, to extend their home unbeaten run to 13 games.
Despite a deliberately slow start, Valour had several opportunities in the first half, only finding themselves kept at bay by some big saves from Vancouver’s Callum Irving.
In the second half, however, they would not be denied, as they finally won a penalty through Dante Campbell in the 57th minute. There, Diego Gutiérrez stepped up to take it, and to slot it home to make it 1-0.
From there, Vancouver did nearly snatch a draw at the death, as Nicky Gyimah was denied by Rayane Yesli, but in the end, Valour did enough to grab all three points on the day.
Instead of coming out in top gear and risking burning out over the course of the 90, Valour slowly worked their way up the gears, knowing that they could wear out Vancouver, who just couldn’t find the same energy they had in midweek.
“We’re a young team,” Vancouver’s Gael Sandoval said afterwards. “And sometimes that’s the growing process of a young team.”
READ ALSO: VIDEO: ‘Historic’ first home win for Vancouver FC
The loss came after Vancouver FC recorded their first-ever home victory in club history on Tuesday night, June 20, striking twice in quick succession to down three-time CPL champions Forge FC in front of supporters at Langley’s Willoughby Community Park.
READ ALSO: VIDEO: Vancouver FC’s very first home game ends with a tie
Vancouver was also hampered Sunday by their growing absentee list, both due to suspensions and injuries.
“I think of football almost like a table, one with 11 legs,” Vancouver coach Afshin Ghotbi said. “If one leg is maybe not even with the others, if one piece is not 100 per cent, the table will wobble regardless if you have gold on the other legs of the table.”
“So when you lose certain players in a team, you can lose the connection, the coordination and the synchronization in the group.”
“We need to keep the ball more,” Sandoval said. “We need to think more about where the ball is, and what our positioning looks like, and then be patient with our creation.”
“It’s a part of the game that we have to work more on.”
Next, Vancouver will host York United at Langley’s Willoughby Community Park on Sunday, July 2nd. Game starts at 1:30 p.m.
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