Niverville Force on top of MMSL second division

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This article was published 17/07/2023 (1214 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If there was a moment which cemented that the Niverville Force are a different team in the 2023 season compared to previous years, it came during the team’s 4-1 victory over the United Punjab Sports Club July 5.

Up 1-0, Branden Giesbrecht produced a spectacular assist, perfectly dropping a leaping, spinning, backheel pass to a teammate directly from a cross. That sort of offensive flair was missing from last year’s Force team, which found success playing a strong defensive game, and playing opportunistic offensive soccer the other way.

“That was beautiful,” Niverville head coach Andry Giesbrecht said after the game, a 4-1 victory.

“We’ve added quite a bit of attack, so it’s been good… We try to make it fun. At the end of the day, it’s a game, and we’re trying to entertain.”

Taking in that entertainment was a great crowd of over 100 people in Niverville, who took advantage of a gorgeous summer evening to watch one of the hottest soccer teams in the province.

After losing three of their first four games to start the season, Niverville has rattled off six straight wins and were in first place in the Manitoba Major Soccer League’s second division with 21 points July 13, although the teams chasing them have games in hand. The Force followed up their 4-1 victory Wednesday with a 7-0 thrashing of NexGen Soccer Academy July 10.

“We didn’t really have a good pre-season,” Giesbrecht said, noting weather wrecked havoc on their planned activities.

“We allowed a lot of goals the first few games, now we’ve tightened up on that… We opened up a bit, then we forgot our responsibilities to defend, so we allowed a lot.”

The top two teams in the second division will earn promotion to the MMSL first division, where the Hanover Kickers currently play.

“There’s a lot of parity in the league,” Giesbrecht said, adding if the team produced the same record in the second half of the season, they should expect to earn promotion.

“Everybody’s inconsistent, but we’ve got some consistency going now, so I feel like we’re on the right track.”

Giesbrecht was still looking for more, even after soundly defeating United Punjab.

“We were a little bit off the pace, but that happens,” he said.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to grind out results, with winning 4-1 I’ll take it any time of the day… being able to win and not play great is still a good thing for us.”

The Force next play Galacticos FC at 7:15 p.m. in Niverville July 17.