A shoving match broke out in a pro soccer game between Vancouver FC's Eagles and Winnipeg's Valour FC Wednesday, in front of more than 11,000 fans 鈥� most of them children.
During the host team's first-ever school day match, Valour took down the Eagles 3-1 at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg.
Vancouver FC opened the scoring through Emrick Fotsing in the 17th minute, and Kris Twardek responded before half-time for Winnipeg.
But that wasn't the only excitement in the first 45 minutes.
Actually, just before the half-time whistle, the match boiled over and shoving ensued with both sides converging just in front of the benches after a foul on Valour's Gianfranco Facchineri by Vancouver's David Norman Jr.
It resulted in two red cards being brandished, one to each team, and Vancouver's Kunle Dada-Luke and Valour's Facchineri were sent off the field.
It was the second consecutive game with a pair of red cards shown in this fixture as there is clearly no love lost between players on these respective teams, said game analyst Mitchell Tierney.
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Emrick Fotsing puts the visitors ahead in Winnipeg with a beautiful team play 鈿斤笍 | 馃敶 Watch LIVE on
With the game reduced to ten players on each side, it was Valour that went in search of a winner, and found a pair of second-half goals to do just that through Kelsey Egwu and Jordan Faria, Tierney noted.
The two clubs were desperate entering Wednesday's match up, as both teams only have a single victory in their first eight matches of the season. Vancouver's lone victory this year came May 3 against Valour on that very same field. The score of that game was also 3-1.
With Wednesday's triumph on home pitch, Valour is now undefeated in their past five matches at home, which move the above the Eagles in the standings.
While Valour FC head coach Phil Dos Santos was "very, very happy with the outcome" and his team's performance, Eagles' head coach Afshin Ghotbi was not a happy camper.
While the outcome sure wasn't what Ghotbi or the Eagles wanted, there was praise going out to Fotsing, the 17-year-old midfielder who's in his first professional season.
Last week, Fotsing scored his first professional goal in front of Canadian men's national team head coach Jesse Marsch, in a 2-2 draw with Atletico Ottawa at home.
He followed that up by scoring the first goal of the game Wednesday with an acrobatic effort to lift the ball over Valour goalkeeper Elias Himaras.
Outstanding at winning the ball and in duels in midfield, Fotsing's increasing confidence with the ball has been clear in recent matches, as he once again created key chances on Wednesday afternoon.
"He's getting dangerous in the box, he's winning tackles, he's breaking lines," said Vancouver FC captain Callum Irving. "He's kind of a do it all type player, and I'm happy for him.
"But at the end of the day, we can't be relying on him to be our main goal threat. We can't be relying on him to be, like a star player. For us, he has to be complementary, and we need to support him and step up around him and try to provide more."
What鈥檚 next?
The Eagles are next back in action on Sunday, June 15, as they host Forge FC on home pitch at 91原创's Willoughby Community Park at 1 p.m.
