Photo Credit: Canadian Premier League
Vancouver/Valour O2.5 Goals
To end match week 8, we have second-place Vancouver FC traveling to second-from-bottom Valour FC in a crucial match for both teams.
Valour in the last 2 weeks have seemed to be a team reinvigorate finding the back of the net 3 times in 2 games and going unbeaten in those two games ( 1-1 draw at Calvary FC and 2-1 win at HFX Wanderers). Valour to start the season seemed to lack confidence but pulling off two positive results in back-to-back games on the road against Cavalry and HFX Wanderers has them just 5 points back of the final playoff spot in the CPL. Despite Valour’s positive turnaround in their last two games, they still lead the league in goals against.
Vancouver FC has been one of the surprise teams of the season thus far, sitting second in the league. Coming off a 7th-place finish and missing the playoffs by 9 points in their inaugural season, they’ve turned things around. Vancouver through 7 match days have scored the second most goals in the league with 12 goals thus far, led by Moses Dyer who has scored a team-high 3 goals. However, Vancouver have found it difficult to keep the ball out of their own net conceding 10 goals, 4th most in the league. Vancouver is currently unbeaten in their last 3 games with 2 wins against rivals Pacific and defending league champions Forge while drawing first place Ottawa.
Sunday, June 2nd, Vancouver travels to Winnipeg to take on Valour in a game that has the potential to be filled with goals. Last year, this fixture lacked any excitement or entertainment value as both team managed to win 1 game against each other 1-0 while also having two scoreless draws. In the only meeting this year between the two clubs, we saw the complete opposite from the 2023 season as Vancouver dismantled Valour 4-1 in their opening game of the CPL season.
In Vancouver’s first 7 games, the over 2.5 goals has hit 5 times (71% of the time the over has hit) and in Valour’s first 7 games the over has hit 4 times (57% of the time the over has hit). For that reason, I will be taking the over 2.5 goals in this game (-112, odds provided by Bet365) as my CPL free play of the week for match day 8. Full transparency, I believe we will need Valour to score a goal for this over to hit which seems very likely considering the struggles Vancouver has had conceding goals. Those who watch the league, know Vancouver can fill the net, so I have full confidence this over can and will hit.