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Valour FC win 1-0 at FC Edmonton

EDMONTON Alta. (June 1, 2019) – It might not have been pretty, but Valour FC win by putting in a good enough shift on the road Sunday morning against FC Edmonton at Clarke Stadium. Ali Musse scored the only goal, a 79th minute tap-in to close the deal for the Winnipeg side.

Valour FC win 1-0 at FC Edmonton

Goalkeeper Mathias Janssens did enough in goal to post a clean sheet for Valour, his second of the Spring season. The result sees Valour improve to a 3-3-0 record in the Spring Season, which vaults Valour FC into third place. The loss sees FC Edmonton stay in sixth place as they fall to 1-3-1.

Sloppy Start

The match today was rescheduled for 10:30 am local time, as the CPL officials deemed the air conditions were not suitable for the match to be played on Saturday, due to forest fires in the area. The first half was quite an uneventful one, with physicality being at the forefront.

Three yellow cards were shown in just the first 20 minutes of the match. FC Edmonton piled up the set pieces early in Valour’s end, but the backline of Valour did not break. As the half wore on, you could see Valour start to control the game a little more. Michael Petrasso showed his quality with a beautiful attacking run that eventually led to a corner kick for Valour.

The first half ended with a little bit of a scare for the Winnipeg side, as Diego Gutierrez suffered an injury and had to be substituted off in the dying moments of the second half. Valour FC are already without Midfielder Josip Golubar for the remainder of the season, and losing Gutierrez is not something that Valour FC need.

Valour Finish Strong

The second 45 minutes saw the match start to open up a little bit, which favoured Valour. Valour had eight shots with four of them being on target in the second half as opposed to FC Edmonton’s four shots, one on target. The Winnipegger, Ali Musse scored the lone goal of the match in the 79th minute.

Musse came on in the 55th minute as a substitute, and shortly after, delivered the goal for Valour. Michael Petrasso deserves a lot of the credit for the goal, as the Canadian international stripped Edmonton’s Yong-Chan Son with ease out on the right wing. Petrasso then proceeded to put a good ball in at the back post, and it resulted in an easy tap-in for Ali Musse.

Marco Bustos had a wonderful opportunity to get Valour a second goal, but FC Edmonton goalkeeper Connor James stopped him. Bustos won’t get much of a better chance than this to score his first CPL goal.

FC Edmonton’s goalless streak continues

With the shutout today, the Eddies goalless streak now sits at four straight matches. Edmonton’s last goal came in the 75th minute of their inaugural match, a goal from Oumar Diouck to secure a 2-1 victory over Valour. Since then, they have gone 375 minutes without a goal, something that Manager Jeff Paulus did not have in mind to begin Edmonton’s inaugural CPL season.

Mathias Janssens posts another clean sheet

Janssens was good in net once again for Valour. Janssens has been perfect in both of his two starts this season, keeping both HFX Wanderers and now FC Edmonton off the score sheet. Two clean sheets from two is any keepers dream to begin his time with a new club. The shutout leaves Valour FC Manager Rob Gale with an important decision to make between the sticks.

Marcus Velado-Tsegaye makes an impact

The young 17-year-old came on as a substitute for Edmonton and made his presence felt. The graduate of the FC Edmonton Academy had Edmonton’s only shot on target in the second half.

After a decent bit of dribbling, he found himself in some space and forced Janssens to make a save. Just prior to that, Velado-Tsegaye tested his luck from outside the box, and wasn’t far off. He was clearly Edmonton’s biggest hope going forward in the second half, which is a great sign for the youngster early on in his professional career.

Man of the Match: Michael Petrasso

Petrasso was excellent today, as the former member of the Montreal Impact not only created the goal, but played a big part in most of Valour’s attacking moves today. Petrasso found himself back into the starting eleven for this one, after having to sit out the last two games due to injury. At full fitness today, Petrasso was a step above everybody else. With his assist today he now has one goal and two assists through his first four matches in CPL.

CONCACAF League Implications

Since the Canadian Premier League does not have a defending champion, the league’s three founding members are in the midst of a mini tournament adjacent to league play to see who will play for Canada in this year’s CONCACAF League.

This Valour FC win was an absolute must, as Valour faced elimination with anything other than a win today. Valour now sit on three points through three matches in the competition, as do FC Edmonton.  Forge FC lead the way with six points through two matches. With this result, Forge FC now just need one point in their two upcoming matches to secure qualification.

What’s Next?

Valour FC head out east on a quick turnaround for a Wednesday clash against HFX Wanderers in the Canadian Championship. On June 12th, Valour will play its first home game in nearly a month in the second leg against Halifax.

FC Edmonton face off against on York 9 FC on Wednesday in the Canadian Championship. Edmonton will be back home on the 12th for the second leg against York 9 FC.

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