Valour FC were knocked out of the Canadian Championship on Wednesday by HFX Wanderers, while struggling with the same issues that have plagued them all season long.

It was a must-win fixture for Valour FC on Wednesday, as HFX Wanderers strolled into IG Field off the back of a 2-1 win at home last week in round 2 of the Canadian Championship. While Rob Gale’s side possesses plenty of attacking quality from an individual sense, they have struggled to find the back of the net all season long – that narrative continued in the 2nd leg, as the team created many chances but couldn’t quite find a way to score yet again. HFX on the other hand, continued the trend of sides succeeding against Valour when sitting back and staying disciplined positionally, as they move on with a 4-1 aggregate win to face Ottawa Fury in the next round.

Valour reverted to a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Raphael Ohin adding some much needed bite to the midfield. Adam Mitter returned from injury, and Stephen Hoyle also returned from a lengthy spell on the bench.

For a 2nd straight trip to IG Field, HFX were without their 2 natural strikers in Skublak and Perea, and were forced to start Garcia there instead. Other than that, their regular 4-2-3-1 was on display once more.

Valour dominated the possession throughout the match, but once again struggled to find the back of the net.

It was an extremely lopsided opening 15 minutes or so in this fixture, as the home side looked to score their required goal early on and take a stranglehold of the match. Marco Bustos was lively during this period, scuttling from left to right to receive the ball in the half-spaces and combine with his wider teammates and outnumber the HFX fullbacks. His role was very much that of a free-roaming 10.

Bustos continued his excellent horizontal movement throughout the match, and HFX found it difficult to keep him quiet.

Another game, another 90 minutes of agonizingly frustrating play in the final third though. While for a string of games prior to this one, Valour were failing to create clear-cut chances, in this fixture they managed to conjure up plenty of those – only this time, nobody was pulling the trigger.

The pressure Valour puts on their opposition is immense every match, and plenty of that comes from the ball-playing qualities of the full-backs, Martin Arguinarena and Diego Gutierrez. Ali Musse and Michael Petrasso, the wingers, stuck to the touchline throughout the match, vacating the half-spaces for the full-backs to drive into.

This suffocates the opposition and creates overloads in wide areas, but it also leaves them susceptible to counter-attacks.

Valour’s full-backs taking up advanced positions allows them to create tons of passing options and suffocate the opposition. Marco Bustos acts as the key here, shuttling from left to right.

The introduction of Raphael Ohin was a welcomed one, as he added the grit and fire that the Valour midfield has been missing all season long. While Louis Beland-Goyette excels when dictating the tempo in possession, he has struggled mightily all season when his side loses the ball. In Ohin, he had a midfield partner who was given the license to press the opposition ball-carriers in midfield, and win the ball back for his team.

While Valour did find some joy out wide during parts of the match, it usually came when either the full-back, Bustos, or both, were able to join the play and combine with Petrasso or Musse on their flanks. When the 2 were isolated with the ball however, they struggled to create anything of note.

While Petrasso went off at halftime with a groin injury, Musse was largely frustrating throughout the match, hesitating with his decision-making in the final 3rd on far too many occasions. This of course was an issue for Valour all game long – while Bustos was excellent in fashioning chances for his teammates, Musse was too wasteful and Hoyle was hardly noticeable in the match.

Both Ferguson and Hoyle have had trouble in finding their groove this season, and it’s starting to seem like their lack of mobility is a bit of a hindrance in this current tactical setup.

It’s no secret that Rob Gale’s side is filled to the brim with nimble technical quality, but the worrying lack of size and even speed in the team has played a part in their struggles in the final third, as they don’t quite have a so-called ‘plan B’.

Either way, the first touches inside the box weren’t good enough from Valour yet again in this match, and it cost them mightily, as HFX move on to play a dream matchup against Ottawa Fury.

HFX Wanderers played yet another disciplined defensive game, and took their chances well.

On paper, it’s hard to deny that Valour are a better side than HFX Wanderers – but don’t tell Stephen Hart that. His side plays with determination, discipline, and grit, which has ultimately gotten them through to the 3rd round of the Canadian Championship despite hardly getting past a semi-pro team in the 1st round.

HFX didn’t get the chance to dictate much of the play in the whole of the first half, and had to resort to quick counter-attacks to threaten the opposition. Luckily for them, Valour love to commit themselves forward in possession, which leaves plenty of gaps at the back.

When one of the 2 Valour full-backs pushed up to join the buildup play, the other 3 defenders tended to shift to whichever side the vacated full-back position was, in order to fill in the gaps. While this gave their full-back the license to roam forward, it allowed Akeem Garcia many channels to run into.

For example, whenever Diego Gutierrez would get forward, Mitter, Murrell and Arguinarena would shift to the right, but when HFX won the ball back, Garcia would instantly be on his horse, running in between 2 of the defenders – most often between Mitter and Murrell. He would then use his pace and his strong core to win the ball.

Gutierrez pushes forward to join the buildup

The rest of the defenders push to the right to fill in the gap he vacated

HFX win the ball back, and Garcia makes a run in between the defenders.

Akeem Garcia wasn’t the only one doing this however. Throughout the match, HFX’s forwards were looking for the inside channel on the Valour centre-backs, most notably on the slower Adam Mitter.

Kodai Iida started out on the right wing, but as we quickly saw, he dropped inwards in possession to wreak havoc between the lines with his exceptional technical skills. This allowed Andre Bona to bomb forward, and Vincent Lamy to peel out wide, giving the Valour defence something to think about with so many moving pieces in front of them.

HFX also pressed from the front very effectively, aiming to trap the Valour defenders in corners and make it difficult for them to execute their usual passing out from the back.

Elliot Simmons was once against a standout for the Wanderers, as his qualities on and off the ball have been immense all season long.

In possession, he acts as the anchor for his team, often dropping in between the centre-backs and kickstarting moves with his pinpoint short passing. We see plenty of players like this, Valour had one of their own on the other side in Louis Beland-Goyette, but it’s the bite that Simmons offers off-the-ball which sets him apart, as he has the tenacity to win the ball back in midfield on the regular.

If you need stats to back it up, Simmons completed 90% of his passes while winning 5 tackles – 2nd most in the match only to Langwa, who had a jaw-dropping 12. On top of that, Simmons also created 2 chances, further proving the completeness of his game, and the potential he possesses.

In defence, Stephen Hart’s side used their size advantage to stifle the opposition – the same approach that so many other sides have successfully taken against Valour this season.

Mohamed Kourouma’s goal turned out to be the difference on the day, and it was an individual moment of brilliance that sent Valour packing. While the foul probably shouldn’t have been given, Kourouma knew exactly what he wanted to do and stepped up confidently to fire the ball in from a sharp angle. After that goal, the Wanderers dropped into more of a 4-4-1-1, further stifling Rob Gale’s side, and ensuring victory.

Valour FC Player Ratings:

Tyson Farago – 7 – Couldn’t do much about the goal and didn’t have much to do other than that. Diego Gutierrez – 7 – Put in his usual good shift but didn’t stand out too much. Adam Mitter – 7.5 – Won plenty of duels and passed the ball around well. Jordan Murrell – 7.5 – Had a good game on both sides of the ball. Martin Arguinarena – 7 – Pretty quiet by his standards, but still didn’t put a foot wrong. Louis Beland-Goyette – 7.5 – Had less dirty work to do with Ohin next to him, and kept up his excellent tempo-keeping. Raphael Ohin – 8 – Brought some much needed fire to the Valour midfield and won plenty of 50/50’s. Michael Petrasso – 7 – Went off at halftime with an injury and couldn’t do much when isolated in the 1st half. Marco Bustos – 8 – Fashioned plenty of chances for his teammates, moved around the pitch well, and looked dangerous throughout. Ali Musse – 6.5 – Took far too long with his decisions in the final third and couldn’t do much 1v1. Stephen Hoyle – 6.5 – Couldn’t win any loose balls and had a pretty quiet game. SUB – Glenn Muenkat – 6 – Shocking performance under the circumstances. Completed less than half of his passes in 45 minutes with his team having 62% possession. SUB – Tyler Attardo – 6.5 – Couldn’t quite get into the match after coming on. SUB – Dylan Sacramento – 6.5 – Wasn’t at his usual best when coming on – only completed 50% of his passes, and embarrassingly skied an excellent free-kick chance late in the game.

HFX Wanderers Player Ratings:

Jan-Michael Williams – 7 – Had a solid game and dealt with the pressure well. Andre Bona – 7 – Offered a lot going forward but could have defended better. Peter Schaale – 7 – Quiet match, good defensively but needs plenty of work on the ball. Matthew Arnone – 7.5 – Led the team well from the back and was defensively solid throughout. Ndzemdzela Langwa – 7 – Won over twice as many tackles as the next best player and dealt with Petrasso extremely well, but was horrific when passing out from the back. Elton John – 7 – Quiet, average performance, not much can be said. Elliot Simmons – 8.5 – Superb performance on both sides of the ball, looks to be a gem at this level. Kodai Iida – 7 – Not at his brilliant best, but still caused headaches for the opposition. Vincent Lamy – 6.5 – Pretty quiet match, wasn’t able to assert himself properly. Mohamed Kourouma – 8 – The goal was well taken, and helped round out a pretty good performance. Akeem Garcia – 7.5 – Caused Valour problems throughout the match when running into the channels, and played well despite being isolated. SUB – Zachary Sukunda – 7 – Pressed the opposition well when coming on but didn’t see enough of the ball in possession. SUB – Kouame Outtara – N/A – Not enough minutes.

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Mahith Gamage Website An avid football fan right from his first experiences with the sport, Mahith Gamage has been dabbling in football journalism for a few years now, creating his own world football blog and podcast, freeflow football, whilst featuring frequently on many other football media outlets, covering European football. With the start of the Canadian Premier League in 2019, Mahith began coverage of his hometown club, Valour FC, through NSXI. He enjoys spreading his knowledge and opinions of the beautiful game to fellow football fanatics in Canada and throughout the world, using articles and tweets, thriving particularly on tactical analysis and player scouting. You can find him tweeting about world football day and night, at @mahithgamage.

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