‘There's more pressure for them'
Valour FC better, because that's what it's going to take to escape BC Place Wednesday night with a win over Major League Soccer's Vancouver Whitecaps in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Championship.
It all comes down to this match — which kicks off at 9 p.m. CT — as the two sides settled for a 2-2 draw when they met in the first leg back in Winnipeg on May 20.
'It would be a miracle, and that's the truth,' admitted Valour head coach and general manager Phillip Dos Santos on Monday.
'But we've seen it. It's football, it's pro sports. These things could happen.'
In their first meeting, Vancouver fielded a starting 11 of mostly backups, but with this showdown taking place in their own building, they're expected to roll with a roster that closer resemblances the one that has them in second place in the MLS Western Conference standings at 11-4-5.
The Canadian Championship features pro and semi-pro teams across the country battling for the Voyageurs Cup and the right to represent the nation at the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
'It's the Cup, anything is possible, and for me, that's what I believe. That's always kind of the mentality in England is anything can happen in Cup (tournaments),' said Valour midfielder Kian Williams, who hails from Leicester.
'I feel like there's no pressure. There's more pressure for them… I'm just looking forward to it, to be honest.'
The last time Valour hit the road to play the Whitecaps was in the preliminary round of the 2022 Canadian Championship where they fell 2-0.
In last year's Canadian Championship, Forge FC made the CPL proud by knocking out MLS' CF Montreal in the quarters.
'It's gonna take a lot, and I think we know that. I know for me, I'm willing to give everything and for sure all the boys are,' said Williams.
'As soon as you go to a team like the Whitecaps, you know it's going to be a tough game. You've got to be switched on for the full 90 minutes and you've got to give everything you can… I think you just go in there and just execute everything we've worked hard on this week, and I believe we can do that.'
While the Whitecaps are dominating the MLS, Valour is crumbling in the Canadian Premier League.
Winnipeg's professional soccer club has lost three straight and has been outscored 11-1 during that stretch. Their most recent defeat was a 3-1 loss on Canada Day against the HFX Wanderers.
Valour has eight points in 12 league tilts, which has them in seventh place in the eight-team circuit with a 2-8-2 record.
'We need to find a way to turn things around. For me, the first thing is the guys can't quit. It's going to be about the mentality of the guys, the locker room, and that in challenges we stay together,' said Dos Santos.
'And you know, what a game. What a game when you think about it… If you would've asked me (if) this could be the game that turns the season around, or which game you want to play to turn a season around, I would tell you that this is the best one.'
The Whitecaps have won the Canadian Championship three years in a row.
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They're a franchise Dos Santos knows very well as he was an assistant with them from 2018-21 under his brother Marc Dos Santos. The two were let go on Aug. 27, 2021, shortly after the Whitecaps were upset by the CPL's Pacific FC in the Canadian Championship. Vancouver was in last place in the Western Conference at the time.
'Yes, football wise, there were challenges. There were a lot of struggles with the early days of the foundation that they built today. But at the end of the day, you were part of an organization that is now, how can I say, collecting the fruits of hard work and the struggles that they had to go through,' said Dos Santos.
'I keep an eye on them and have a lot of friends there still… There's a lot of people in that organization that I still care for and that I still love so, yeah, it's always good to get to play them.'
Valour will head to Toronto for their next CPL outing when they square off against York United (4-6-3) on Sunday.
taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca
Taylor AllenReporter
Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.
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