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MATCH ANALYSIS: Vancouver FC soar past Valour FC with second half scoring outburst
April 15, 2024
Canadian Premier League

Final Score: Vancouver FC 4-1 Valour FC
Goalscorers: Dyer 45′, Gee 47′, Bitar 53′, Norman 67′; Swibel 24′
Game of the 2024 season: 4
CPL match: 483

Match in a minute or less

Vancouver FC came back from a goal down to comfortably beat Valour FC at Willoughby Community Park on Sunday night, picking up a 4-1 victory in their 2024 season opener.

The visitors took the lead 24 minutes in through Jordan Swibel, who headed home a perfect cross from fellow debutant Themi Antonoglou. Just as it looked like it was going to be 1-0 heading into halftime, Moses Dyer fired a shot past Jonathan Viscosi in the 45th minute to tie things up against his former side going into the break. Paris Gee gave Vancouver FC the lead just 61 seconds after play resumed — finding the top left corner of Viscosi’s net despite the Valour goalkeeper getting his fingertips on it — before Gabriel Bitar made it 3-1 for the hosts by picking out the opposite corner six minutes later, finding the bottom right to double their advantage.

Valour’s Jordan Faria was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for simulation in the 55th minute, and it didn’t get any easier from there for the Winnipeggers. David Norman put the game to bed in the 67th minute, extending the lead to the eventual final score of 4-1 with a low shot following a corner kick.

It was a statement victory for the Eagles, who soar to the top of the Canadian Premier League table after matchday one.

Three Observations

Scoring outburst leads Vancouver to comeback victory, top of the table

In their inaugural season in 2023, Vancouver FC lead the league in goals conceded, letting in 50 across their 28 regular season games. They were on the receiving end of some lopsided matches, and conceded five or more goals on three occasions, all of which came at home. They will hope that starting the season with a comeback 4-1 win is a sign of better things to come in 2024.

Four goals in one game is a club record in VFC’s short history, and more important than the number of goals scored is that they did it after being down by one with moments left in the first half. Moses Dyer’s equalizer in the 45th minute was scored at a crucial time in the game, and swung the momentum back in his team’s favour heading into the interval.

After left back Paris Gee picked out the top left corner with the best goal of the 2024 CPL season thus far Vancouver FC never looked back, and continued to pile pressure on Valour. Gabriel Bitar missed an opportunity in the box to make it 3-1 moments after Gee’s goal, but redeemed himself a few minutes after that, burying the ball into the bottom right corner.

David Norman put the icing on the cake in the 67th minute, beating Viscosi with a low shot from close range after a header back across the box from Alejandro Diaz landed at his feet while he was up for a corner kick.

Vancouver could have, and probably should have, had a few more on the night, but to win big with the impressive nature of the goals they were able to score is a very good start for Afshin Ghotbi’s team.

Alejandro Diaz — the CPL’s Golden Boot winner in 2022 with Pacific FC and the player who scored in his first two games on loan at Vancouver FC from Norwegian club Sogndal last season — is still riding a lengthy goalless streak that goes back to last July. What was promising on Sunday, however, was that Diaz provided his first two assists with the club and seems to already be linking up very well with new strike partner Moses Dyer.

“Life is like grapes, it comes in bunches,” Ghotbi said after the match. “Good things in bunches, bad things in bunches, and last year we had a lot of bad things in bunches. To be able to score four goals, and maybe we could have many more, sets a sense of confidence going forward that we’re capable of even playing much better football.”

With the win they move to the top of the CPL table at the end of matchday one, with a chance to build on this performance when they play at home again on Thursday against the Halifax Wanderers.

Vancouver FC celebrate a first half goal from Moses Dyer. (Photo: Vancouver FC)

Valour attack shows flashes of improvement, particularly in wide area

One of Valour’s biggest weaknesses in 2023 was their ability to score goals, and in particular create chances from wide areas. A lot of plays went centrally through since-departed midfielder Diego Gutiérrez, and nobody on the team was able to score more than four goals.

Head coach and General Manager Phillip Dos Santos made wholesale changes to his team this offseason, but made it a particular focus to make some big additions in attack and out wide to address the lack of goalscoring, and in the first half of Sunday’s game, there were signs of potential improvement in that regard.

The formation itself was a sign that attacking football is the brand that Valour wants to play. Dos Santos had his team in a 3-4-3 formation, with Shaan Hundal leading the line, and Jordan Faria and Jordan Swibel on either side of him. Themi Antonoglou and Roberto Alarcón were deployed in the left and right wingback positions with Dante Campbell and Noah Verhoeven in midfield, and the backline was made up of Charalampos Chantzopoulos, Abdou Samaké, and Gianfranco Facchineri, with goalkeeper Jonathan Viscosi behind them.

Tass Mourdoukoutas missed out on the game with a knee injury that Dos Santos hopes the Australian defender will be able to return from soon.

Swibel found his first CPL tally 24 minutes into the first half thanks in part to a great play from another newcomer, Themi Antonoglou. Given far too much time and space on the left wing, Antonoglou was able to curl an inch-perfect lob into the penalty area for Swibel, who ran onto it and expertly headed it past Callum Irving for the first goal of the match.

“We worked on it in training,” Swibel, who was frustrated with how the game got out of hand, said after the match. “We knew that shifting them from one side to the other would exploit gaps in the midfield and defensively so that’s what we did.

“To be honest, it doesn’t really matter, we lost the game, so not to worried about that.”

Dos Santos has had a lot of praise for Antonoglou, and sees him as an integral part of the team going forward, but he also challenged the young left back after the game to take the handbrake off and play with more fearlessness.

“I like Themi, I think he’s a good player, he has a lot of quality,” started Dos Santos following the defeat in Langley. “I want him to be a bit more courageous and not as conservative because I think he has qualities that are are hard to find. Now building the intensity, build on his ability to step forward a bit more, and not look back.

“He’s a player that’s going to be important for this team, so we have to keep working to maximize him and make sure that we get him in the spots where he could affect the game.”

At right wingback, Roberto Alarcón also impressed for Valour in his debut for the club after joining from Cavalry, and led the team in shots and chances created, with three of each.

The chances slowed down in the second half, partially due to a red card for Faria and the ensuing tactical reshuffle, but the first 45 minutes are something for the Winnipeggers to build on. Both Alarcón and Antonoglou were pushed deeper to standard fullback roles instead of playing as wingbacks after the red card out of necessity, hampering how much they were able to bomb up and down the flanks.

When Kian Williams returns from injury, hopefully in the next few weeks according to Dos Santos, he will add another dimension to the team’s attack, and could form a partnership with Antonoglou much like did at times with former Valour left back Matteo de Brienne, who has since moved on to Atlético Ottawa.

It will take time for a team with so many changes to gel and get firing on all cylinders, but the first half gave a glimpse into what is possible, albeit in a very small sample size.

Local players enjoy dream Vancouver FC homecoming

A big story throughout Vancouver FC’s offseason was the influx of local talent returning home to the Lower Mainland to play for the club. In total, 13 players on VFC’s roster are from British Columbia, including five players who started on Sunday — captain Callum Irving, defenders Kadin Chung, David Norman, and Paris Gee, as well as midfielder Ben Fisk.

For Fisk, Norman, and Gee, Sunday marked their debuts for the club, after all of them played for other CPL teams throughout their careers. With loved ones in the stands supporting them, Gee and Norman also marked the occasion with their first goals for the team — the first and second goals of their CPL careers, respectively.

All winter the club and new signings spoke about how much it meant to them to play at home where they can be closer to friends and family, and it seems to have turned into chemistry on and off the pitch that can develop even further as the team grows into the season.

“We had a big chat, everybody said something around the table before we walked out,” Gee said after the match. “This club is a family, all of us respect each other and work hard for each other, and I think what we did today proved it and that’s a standard we gotta keep for the rest of the season.

“It is only the first game, we have another game on Thursday, so we could be excited right now, I’m excited, but the focus now after the whistle is on Thursday.”

That match on Thursday is right back at Willoughby Community Park, where the team will run out in front of loved ones all over again, looking to build on a thrilling season opener.

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Paris Gee, Vancouver FC

In his debut for his hometown club, Paris Gee scored the winning goal and added an assist as part of a dominant second half.

What’s next?

Vancouver FC kicks off matchday two in the Canadian Premier League on Thursday night, hosting Halifax Wanderers at Willoughby Community Park. Get tickets to Thursday’s clash now here!