Sunday afternoon at Willoughby Community Park, Vancouver FC kicked off their second season with a joyous outing against visiting Valour FC, claiming all three points with four goals after the 45th minute mark, winning by a final score of 4-1.

Vancouver’s first season in the Canadian Premier League was let down by all the typical pitfalls of an expansion side: Inconsistent play, roster turnover, and struggling to find an identity. Yet, there were moments late in that first season which gave hope that better things were on the horizon. For a four to five game stretch near the end of last year, Vancouver had the best form in the League.

After the first league match of 2024, it appears as though the Eagles have been able to build on that. Their off-season additions, a mix of proven CPL experience and local talent, promise to help the club take a step forward, and through match one of the campaign, there is certainly reason to be optimistic.

The first half of this match on Sunday, as opening weekend match-ups often do, was characterized by rust and nervousness on both sides. Neither side looked particularly confident on the ball in the opening stages, and it was almost out of nothing that Valour opened the scoring in the 24th minute.

Themi Antonoglou played a wonderful ball into the box, finding the head of Aussie Jordan Swibel in front of goal, and just like that, it was 1-0 for the visitors. At the back, Vancouver’s new-look centreback pairing of Rocco Romeo and David Norman Jr left far too much space behind them, allowing Swibel the space and time he needed to place his header in the top right corner of the goal.

While it was not an ideal start for the Eagles, things only got better from there. In some ways, allowing the goal seemed to settle the Vancouver side, washing away the nerves from debuts in front of friends and family, and from that point on, there was little doubt as to who was the better team on the day.

Crucially, Vancouver was able to break through right before the half, as former Valour man Moses Dyer finished off a great passing sequence which included an Alejandro Díaz back-heeled assist.

You could see in the moments leading up to the goal that Vancouver was starting to surge forward with more confidence in possession, getting the likes of Paris Gee and Kadin Chung involved from their wide roles, and this helped create the space necessary for Vancouver to break the match open.

Then, just after the half in the 47th minute, Paris Gee took matters into his own hands with a thunderous strike from well outside the area. The Burnaby native couldn’t have scripted a better goal to score on debut for his local club, as the ball swerved away from Valour keeper Jonathan Viscosi off the right foot of Gee, slipping by the keeper’s outstretched fingers at the near post. You could see in the goal celebration just how much that moment meant to Gee, as he ran to embrace the players and coaches on the touchline.

Vancouver took this momentum and ran with it. In the 53rd minute, a great long ball from Vasco Fry found the feet of Paris Gee in space down the left wing. Gee, then, cut the ball back on a sharp angle to Gabriel Bitar at the top of the box. Moments earlier, Bitar had missed a great look directly in front of goal, but this time he made no mistake, sliding his shot past three Valour defenders, as the Eagles took a stranglehold on the match at 3-1.

The 56th minute saw the final moment of real drama in this fixture, as Valour’s Jordan Faria tumbled to the turf inside the Vancouver area, and the visitors looked to the official in eager anticipation of a penalty kick. Instead, the referee delivered a knockout blow to the visitors, booking Faria for simulation, handing the Brampton native his second yellow card, and dropping the visitors down to ten men.

While Faria went down very easily, the decision felt like a harsh one. There are some moments where there is contact in the box, but it is not enough to be a foul. Sometimes, players go down under such contact, and it’s not necessarily a dive either. I would have liked to see the referee signal play on in this moment, but in the end, it was academic to the final result.

Up a man, the Eagles cruised the rest of the way, adding a 67th minute goal from David Norman Jr, who like Gee and Dyer, opened his Vancouver FC goal scoring account on debut.

Overall, it was a dream start. Manager Afshin Ghotbi vowed to play an entertaining attacking style this season, and so far, they have fulfilled that promise. Vancouver FC has a great variety of dangerous attacking threats and it’s going to be a difficult job for Ghotbi to keep players happy while also finding the right chemistry to fill the net on a regular basis.

At the other end of the pitch, Norman Jr and Romeo appeared to grow more and more comfortable with each other as the match went on. If Vancouver can find consistency in their centreback pairing for 2024, that will be a massive boost in comparison to the rotating cast they featured throughout much of last season.

Finally, I thought Vasco Fry was outstanding at the number six spot. He did a great job keeping the game organized for Vancouver both in and out of possession, breaking up play for Valour when they did get forward on the ball, while also finding his teammates in open space, kick-starting positive play in the final third.

For Valour, I think it’s fair to say that it might be a long season. With so much roster turnover and a long road-trip to begin the campaign, it’s clear that manager Phil Dos Santos has a long uphill battle in front of him. As with Vancouver last year, the players will have to do what they can to galvanize, and the manager will have to do his best to find a style of play that gets the most out of his squad. At this point, it’s clear that Valour is still working to find that identity.

For the Eagles, their next task is trying to build consistency with this group after a strong opening weekend showing. The Wanderers come to town on Thursday night, and Vancouver should expect that to be a much stiffer test. Especially with HFX returning so many players from a successful first year under Patrice Gheisar, the Atlantic opposition will no doubt be hungry to pick up points after an opening day defeat to Pacific FC over on the island.

But that’s a problem for later this week. In the meantime, Vancouver should relish in what was a very successful opening day triumph. A match that is hopefully a sign of things to come for this team looking to make a big step forward in their second season.