Alejandro D铆az scored the winner, his first of the season but his 11th against Valour in his career as Vancouver FC held on for their first win of the 2025 season, 3-1 over a nine-man Valour FC on Saturday evening in Winnipeg.
GOAL 馃馃
鈥� Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer)
Alejandro D铆az doubles 's lead and the Eagles are cruising 猸愶笍 | 馃敶 Watch LIVE on
Vasco Fry opened the scoring for Vancouver and newcomer Pathe Ndiaye scored in his first appearance for the Eagles, while Xavier Ven芒ncio also added his first in a consolation effort for Valour.
It came after two consecutive draws for VFC.
Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi described the win as "a massive game for us."
"We've been talking a lot about [how] maybe perfection is not possible, but [if] we can, every day, progress a bit and every game improve as a team, we will reach our target," Ghotbi said. "I think we've seen in the last three games, the performance has been extremely good. The last two games, we didn't finish the game and let the opponent hang on and take some goals late in the match...So I think this was important for the team to be able to break through, score the second goal, and even late in the match being up one and score the third goal.鈥�
Valour finished the match with just nine players on the pitch, after both Kris Twardek (64th minute) and Jevontae Layne (85th) were sent off after receiving second yellow cards.
For the first time this season, head coach Phil Dos Santos was on the sideline for Valour FC have completed his three-match suspension to begin the campaign.
In the 33rd minute, Vancouver opened the scoring. Off a free kick, the ball deflected into the path of Vasco Fry in the box. The Vancouver midfielder took the ball down with his chest, before sending an outstanding volley across goal and into the net.
Just five minutes later, D铆az took the ball down brilliantly with an outstanding first touch, before lobbing Viscosi with a deft chip that clipped off the post and in to make the score 2-0.
It was the Vancouver striker's eleventh goal against Valour FC in his career, the most a CPL player has scored against a single opponent.
Valour's day went from bad to worse in the 65th minute, when Twardek brought down Bah just outside the box, earning his second yellow and being sent off. On the ensuing free kick, Nicolas M茅zquida nearly picked the top corner with a dangerous curling strike.
Moments later, however, substitute Ven芒ncio hit a stunning strike from outside the box that beat Callum Irving to cut the score to 2-1. The strike, in the 66th minute, was on Valour's first shot on target of the match.
Valour were dealt yet another blow in the 85th minute, as Jevontae Layne was given his second yellow card, reducing Valour to nine men.
Vancouver well and truly put the match to bed in stoppage time, when substitute Pathe Ndiaye brought the ball down just inside the Vancouver box and sent a rocket past Viscosi to make the score 3-1.
Next, Vancouver FC heads to Vancouver Island to take on rivals Pacific FC on Tuesday.
