After a disappointing inaugural campaign last year which saw the club put together a record of eight wins, 16 losses and four draws, Valour FC is now preparing for success inside the Canadian Premier League’s bubble on Prince Edward Island.
After a massive off-season roster overhaul, the team will kick-off their 2020 season at 11 a.m. CT on Sunday morning against Cavalry FC of Calgary in Charlottetown.
“We’re bigger, we’re faster, I think we move the ball well. I like all the dimensions of the pieces we added: maturity, experience and some depth in that back line too,” head coach Rod Gale said.
With only seven returning players from last season, it’s far from the same Valour squad that got pummeled 8-1 at the hands of the Calvary last September. The Winnipeg club followed that up with a 4-1 loss in October to their opponents in Sunday’s season opener.
“The disaster at Calvary last year, we only had three fit defenders to choose from, we’ve got eight here to choose from, so we’ve definitely got more pieces in that back end right now,” said Gale.
Calvary tied Forge FC of Hamilton 2-2 on Thursday night in their bubble opener, a rematch of 2019’s CPL championship game.
“You know they’re going to be motivated, they’re well organized and they’re trying to find different ways to beat you and you’ve got to be prepared for that tactically, physically and mentally,” Gale said of Calvary, last year’s CPL runner-up.
Valour FC will play seven games throughout the next three weeks in Prince Edward Island, with the top four teams advancing to the next stage of the league’s restart tournament.
The club arrived on the island last Monday, and the head coach says he and his players have been forced to adjust to isolation while being far away from their families.
“I’ve got two daughters, the other night one of them goes into the hospital with breathing problems and it throws you off,” says Gale.
“I didn’t get to sleep until 4:30 in the morning until I knew she was doing well, you know these are all life challenges, people forget that about professional athletes or sports.”
It’s made Gale focus in on the team-building aspect of things in what marks the club’s second year of existence.
“We said it all the time last year, we tried to be a family, rally around each other and I’m feeling that again this year. There’s a good family vibe to us,”
The team’s remaining schedule will include games vs York9 FC on Saturday, Aug. 22 (12 p.m.); Pacific FC on Tuesday, Aug. 25 (1 p.m.); FC Edmonton on Saturday, Aug. 29 (11 a.m.); and Halifax Wanderers FC on Wednesday, Sept. 2 (12 p.m.), before finishing the first stage portion of their schedule vs defending champion Forge FC of Hamilton on Saturday, Sept. 5 (11 a.m.).