Froese heats up as Valour pushes for playoff berth

Teams tend to go as their best players do, and that is proving to be the case for Valour FC.

Winnipeg’s pro soccer club is making a late push up the Canadian Premier League table, and much of their positive results as of late can be attributed to the emergence of homegrown talent Kianz Froese, who has accounted for three assists and a pair of goals in the club’s last two contests, respectively.

Froese, a Cuban-born and Winnipeg-raised attacking midfielder who joined Valour halfway through the season after a year away from pro soccer, suffered a hamstring injury shortly after returning to game action.

The ailment sidelined him for three weeks, but he’s looked like a different player since returning to the field.

“It seems wrong to say this, but sometimes an injury like the one he had, he then gets a bit of time to breathe and to ramp up his physical component, and I think that that little break was good for him,” said head coach Phillip Dos Santos.

Dos Santos called Froese — who has six points in nine matches since joining Valour — one of the best players that Manitoba has ever produced, shortly after he signed.

After a ramp-up period, an injury break and another return-to-work stint, it’s beginning to show.

“It’s all about confidence,” Dos Santos added. “When you’re away from the game for about a year, it could creep into your head that, ‘Do I still got this? Do I still have the ability to be competitive day in, day out in a league like this one?’

“He got those three assists in Vancouver, I think he played a very good game against Pacific, here at home, and then things just snowballed from there. I think that every player needs to get — especially when you’re an attacking player — a good game or two and find assists and goals, and then things start to open up for you there.”

Although injuries are never pleasant, Froese took it in stride. He chalked it up to playing four matches in 12 days — a volume of full-speed game reps that his body needed to acclimate to again.

“I’ve been playing footy since I can remember. It’s your job, so you spend a little bit of time out, but it’s just so I can get the rust off. I never felt that I forgot how to play, but I knew that I would need some time to get back to my level,” said Froese, whose contract has a club option for 2026.

“It’s just nice that it’s coming together. Maybe a little bit late… but I guess it is what it is. I had to miss those games and now, hopefully, we can just continue and keep on with it.”

Froese and Valour will look to stay hot against third-place Cavalry FC (10-7-6) at ATCO Field in Calgary on Saturday (5 p.m. CT).

Valour has four wins and two draws in its last nine matches, which would normally be a playoff-calibre pace, but it remains 10 points back of the Halifax Wanderers for the last playoff spot with five matches remaining.

The club’s season-long trajectory has been identical to last summer when it started with three wins, one draw and 10 losses before going 4-6-4 in the second half of the campaign. Valour dug itself into the same 3-1-10 hole and has shown a similar level of fight that has kept hope alive for the franchise’s first playoff berth.

“Our start was rocky; it didn’t help us, so you’re playing catch-up right now, unfortunately,” said Dos Santos.

“It was never a question of a fight. I think that, yes, there was a moment in the season where we would find a setback and crumble or collapse and, emotionally, it would be hard for us, but I was speaking to the group and to our staff here this week, and I said that we were able to end the adversity, still find a way to stay competitive and go and grind and win matches in difficult setups and context.”

Along with the excellent play of Froese, Dos Santos said he felt that the additions of defender Diego Konincks and goalkeeper Emil Gazdov have fostered a healthy competition internally and led to a better performance collectively on match day.

Gazdov, a promising young ball-stopper who spent three seasons with Pacific FC, has started the last five matches with incumbent starter Jonathan Viscosi shelved with a knee injury.

Konincks, who was loaned to Valour by Chicago Fire FC II of MLS NEXT Pro on Aug. 19, scored in his second appearance with the club and has played the last three matches in full.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time here so far,” said Konincks. “I came in for a bit of a battle for the last eight games, and I think that was something that I was really looking forward to in my career, and something that has added a lot for me personally. So, from that aspect, I’ve been really enjoying that.

“I think it’s a challenge that we all know is a really hard one, but it’s not impossible. So, therefore, day to day, we give it all and we’ll see where it ends.”

Indeed, the odds are stacked against Valour, but if last season — when the club was still mathematically alive entering the last day of the regular season — was any sign, it’s that there’s value to going down swinging in these last five matches.

The punch the club has been looking for just might land.

“There’s not one player, one team that steps on that field, regardless of where they are today, that goes in the game and is not going to give everything they have,” said Dos Santos.

“I think that it’s part of our nature. We’re playing for contracts. We’re playing for a badge. We’re playing to honour our fans, our employers, it never ends. The day you lose that fire, you might as well stop playing and just dedicate yourself to something else.”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jfreysam