AGR's High Press: Valour's hunt for 1st win of 2024 continues | Lucas Dias shines for Cavalry
Week 5 of the Canadian Premier League’s 2024 season ended up being a tight one, as three of the four games ended up as a draw, which was a big change after just two of the first 15 games of the season had ended up with both teams splitting the spoils.
Yet, it’s a sign of the continued growth of teams, who are starting to find their feet and discover their tactical identities.
That was shown this past weekend, as it was hard to split most matchups, often leaving the draw as a deserved result in those closely contested games.
And things may only get tighter from here. Nearing the end of the first round of games, which will mean most teams will have played each other at least once, the second, third and fourth rounds of games will be where the contenders separate from the pretenders.
Good teams may be able to escape round one with a good record, but being able to maintain success as those around them grow and get more familiar with your play? That’s the challenge, one that is rapidly approaching for these teams.
Before looking too far ahead, however, here’s a look at what stood out from this past matchday, in this week’s ‘High Press’.
Valour’s ongoing battle with concentration:
For 65 minutes, it looked like Valour were on track to get their first win of 2024, putting a slow start to the year behind them with an impressive road win over York.
Up 1-0 after Dante Campbell found the back of the net on a corner in the 15th minute, they’d done well to hold on for the next 50 minutes, putting them in the position to grind out a much-needed win.
And then, it all fell apart. Goals from York in the 68th and 74th minute quickly turned the game around, and then York put the game out of reach with an insurance marker in the 91st minute, allowing them to grab their second win of the year.
As for Valour, that’s pushed them to a league-record five games without a point to start the year, leaving them as the only CPL team yet to get on the board in 2024 after the Halifax Wanderers picked up a draw this weekend to give them their first point of the season in their fourth match.
More frustratingly, will be how Valour ended up losing this game, too. It would’ve been one thing had York picked them apart and scored three well-worked goals - that can happen.
Instead, they made mistakes they’ll want to forget on each goal.
First, they let York whip a corner right into a dangerous area on the first goal, as goalkeeper Darlington Murasiranwa or his defenders were unable to clear the danger, allowing York to score a scrappy marker from in close.
GOAL👑@yorkutdfc have found their equalizer, as Noah Abatneh bundles home his 1st #CanPL goal off a Mo Babouli corner to tie things up at 1-1 vs. Valour
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 11, 2024
🔴Watch #CanPL LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/B7WWTt7bHV
Especially given that they almost allowed a similar goal earlier, one that was only ruled out for a foul, that’s even more frustrating, as York had been putting them under pressure with those sorts of set-pieces all game, making the one goal they gave up feel more frustrating.
NO GOAL❌@yorkutdfc appeared to put the ball in the net for an equalizer vs Valour off a corner, but the goal is ruled off for a foul in the box👀
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 10, 2024
🔴Watch #CanPL LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/qIcudGH5HU
Then, the second goal was the big one. With the game still 1-1, Valour could’ve grinded out a draw or regained their lead and snatched a win.
Instead, they gave up a goal to forget, as Charalampos Chantzopoulos didn’t put enough power on a routine back pass, gifting York’s Brian Wright with a breakaway, one he wasn’t going to miss, slotting home what eventually stood as the winner.
GOAL👑👑@yorkutdfc have grabbed the lead, as Brian Wright capitalizes on a big defensive mix-up from Valour to make it 2-1😬
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 11, 2024
🔴Watch #CanPL LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/XeyaTdXxRD
From there, York’s insurance marker was just adding insult to injury, as York were able to carve through them with direct play, marking the end of a good comeback.
GOAL👑👑👑@yorkutdfc have all but secured the win in the 500th #CanPL game, as Mo Babouli scores after a brilliant run from Kadin Martin-Pereux to make it 3-1 over Valour late
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 11, 2024
🔴Watch #CanPL LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/vyVRmpwHBH
Yet, it shows the big battle that Valour faces right now - themselves. Certainly, they’ve got room for growth in their team, sitting last in Expected Goals (xG) for and against, while sitting second-last in actual goals for and last in goals against (per WyScout), showing that they’ll have to tighten things up at both ends.
Perhaps a formation change might be considered, with a return to the 4-3-3 Phil Dos Santos used last year sitting as an option after he’s experimented with a 3-4-2-1 to begin 2024, while some lineup tweaks could be in order to help facilitate such changes.
At the same time, when looking back at a game like this, those sorts of issues wouldn’t have fixed the main problem Valour suffered - concentration, especially at the back. It may seem simple, but it was clear on the goals they allowed, in which they just seemed to switch off, making errors that you’ll get punished for at this level.
Despite what the numbers showed, they’ve been close in most games by the eye test, but they’ve been left frustrated by some of the goals they’ve conceded, as well as by some of the chances they’ve missed, showing that this wasn’t a new phenomenon.
So while they’ll have other factors to turn to if they are to turn things around, such as a return home (they’ve got two away games left on their marathon seven-game road trip to start 2024), or a tweak in tactics and personnel, concentrating on the small details in matches will be just as important.
This York game is a perfect example of that, as they had a crucial win right there in front of them, but they were unable to take advantage of it, leaving them searching for answers instead. 
Pacific and Forge… don’t teach us a whole lot at all in draw:
On paper, it was a tasty matchup - the defensively sound Pacific, who had set a CPL record with four-straight clean sheets to begin their season, facing off against a red-hot Forge, who was seemingly scoring for fun en route to becoming just the fourth CPL team to start a year with three straight wins, in a match that seemed to foreshadow fireworks.
Or so we thought.
Instead, both teams ended cancelling each other out in a gritty 0-0 draw to extend Pacific’s streak to five straight clean sheets in CPL play, in a game where chances were at a premium, with shots finishing 10-10, with Forge narrowly winning the xG battle 1.06 to 0.72 (per Opta).
In a sense, that shouldn’t be too surprising, as Pacific’s been excellent defensively to start the year, allowing just 4.49 xG (per WyScout) across five CPL games after this match, including a league-low 0.075 xG per shot, while Forge hasn’t been too bad either, sitting with just 4.82 xG against in four games after this match. 
Because of that, both teams ended up cancelling each other out in this game, with there being just one big chance generated between both, coming from Forge. Certainly, that was impressive for Pacific, who became the first team to keep Forge off the board this year (a task even CF Montréal couldn’t do), although Forge won’t be too frustrated given that they were on the road and had played in midweek (as had Pacific).
Yet, that’s likely the big factor that slowed down this matchup, as both teams had hard-fought leg one quarter-final Canadian Championship matchups in midweek, with Pacific facing Atlético Ottawa in Ottawa, while Forge hosted CF Montréal.
As a result, look for Forge and Pacific to bounce back this weekend, having had the chance to rest with no midweek matches. Ideally, they would’ve traded more blows than they did in this match, leading to the sort of entertaining matchup they can provide, but this didn’t end up being the match for that.
That can sometimes be the challenge of competing at the top of the table while balancing other competitions, and that manifested itself first-hand in this one.
Despite that, there were some excellent individual performances - Daniel Parra was once again excellent for Forge at left back, while Adonijah Reid had a great showing for Pacific at left wing, but that wasn’t enough to break open this match, leaving a draw as a fair result.
Temperature starting to rise across the CPL:
The deeper we get into the CPL season, the more feisty games can get, as opponents get used to playing teams as many as six, seven or even eight times when other competitions come into play.
And while round one of matches are yet to finish, with each team yet to play each other twice unless they’ve faced off in the Canadian Championship, those tensions seemed to build this weekend.
It started with Valour’s matchup with York, in which eight yellow cards were handed out, a total matched in Halifax’s clash with Cavalry, with crunching tackles certainly on the menu in both games.
Things then slowed down in Pacific’s clash with Forge as there were only three yellow cards, although that was balanced out by a red card to Pacific’s Reon Moore, but then picked up by the last match of the weekend, a battle between Vancouver FC and Atlético Ottawa that produced nine yellow cards.
RED CARD 🔴
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 11, 2024
Reon Moore is sent off after... We're not too sure either 😳@Pacificfccpl will play with 10 men for a few minutes.
Watch #CanPL on OneSoccer 🔴 pic.twitter.com/782YMetrXD
Yet, it shows what kind of weekend it was - all eight teams didn’t want to give an inch and were willing to battle for territory on the field as they chased a win. 
That’s something to keep an eye on, for different reasons.
First, there’s matchups themselves, which can change when the physicality is ramped up. For example, that can change the tactics of a match, forcing teams to tweak their style to try and overcome the physical play, which can also lead teams to make more mistakes.
Then, there’s the fact that the game can slow down, leading to a lot more set-pieces, which can be a key advantage in which prepared teams can take over the game, with those dead-ball scenarios always an important source of offence at this level.
Lastly, there’s the factor that will show up later down the road - suspensions, especially those for yellow card accumulation. Throughout a season, those suspensions can stretch out a squad, forcing teams to tweak their teams for key matches out of necessity.
RED CA– oh, wait..
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 11, 2024
Carly Shaw-Maclaren accidentally handed Tiago Coimbra a red card before quickly correcting it to a yellow 😅
🔴 Watch #CanPL on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/eGCMiCrwpC
Therefore, keep an eye out to see if this physical play maintains itself in the weeks to come. As long as it doesn’t cross the line into dangerous territory, teams that stray the line between getting an edge without getting into trouble can help themselves out, which is why it can’t be ignored, as any advantage can be huge in a league where teams are so familiar with each other.
Who caught my eye? Lucas Dias
Despite the physicality of their matchup with Halifax, Dias was able to shine with his ability to glide on the pitch with the ball at his feet, doing well to find space for himself to create.
Through that, he was able to break open a cagey matchup, with his perfectly weighted cross to William Akio for his team’s opening goal an example of the sort of magic he provided to help open things up.
Yet, it shows why Dias is a name to watch going forward, especially when Cavalry gets fully healthy. In particular, he, Ali Musse and Sergio Camargo could form some nice chemistry, which would only create more chances for the likes of Akio, Tobias Warschewski and Malcolm Shaw to find the net on a regular basis for this Cavs side.
GOAL 🐎@CPLCavalryFC lead! It’s a beautiful set up from Lucas Dias to William Akio, who puts it in the back of the net after a great run on the left flank 🐴
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 11, 2024
Watch #CanPL on OneSoccer 🔴 pic.twitter.com/Shc79Thgpv
What to watch: Halifax Wanderers vs Valour
In a weekend with a top-of-the-table clash between Pacific and Atlético Ottawa, it’s bold to look at a battle with the two CPL sides without a win as the game to watch, yet after Pacific and Forge’s draw in another top-of-the-table clash last weekend, it feels like this Wanderers and Valour matchup could be a bit more open and entertaining than that given what’s at stake for both.
Given their slow starts, both will view this match as a chance to get a win on the board and find some momentum, knowing that a loss would put them in dangerous territory.
Because of that, it feels like this game could be an entertaining one, given that they both have little to lose and a lot to gain by going after a victory, which can often lead to the best matches.
