2024 CPL Regular Season — Match #13
Cavalry FC vs. Vancouver FC
May 3, 2024 at 6 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. MT
ATCO Field in Calgary, Alberta
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here

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Matchday four of the Canadian Premier League kicks off with a battle between two familiar foes, as Cavalry FC hosts Vancouver FC at ATCO Field for the second time in just under two weeks.

This time, the stakes are different, though – when they met at ATCO Field back on Tuesday, April 23rd, it was in the preliminary round of the Canadian Championship, in which both sides were looking to advance to the quarter-finals of the tournament, with Cavalry winning 1-0 on that one.

Now, however, they meet in CPL play for the first time in 2024, and both have a lot to prove after mixed starts to the season.

For Cavalry, despite their success in the Canadian Championship, they have otherwise dealt with a relatively frustrating start to the year. Things haven’t been terrible for them, as they sit with two draws and one loss from three CPL games, but they’ll feel that they haven’t clicked to the best of their ability quite yet in league play.

Therefore, while they’ll feel that the win in cup play partly makes up for that, as they now get set for a crucial home-and-away tie against the Vancouver Whitecaps in the quarter-finals, they won’t want to lose sight of their goals in league play, either.

Because of that, this is a big game for them. At home for a second straight match, after drawing Pacific FC last week, this is a big chance for them to pick up three points to kick off a busy month of May, which could go a long way for them in the end.

“What they do is up to them, what we do is what matters to me,” Cavalry head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr said ahead of this game. “And I think what we’ve got to do is build on from the positive home performances and continue to put results on the board.”

As for Vancouver, this match is a chance to get back on track after a tough week. Having gotten off to a strong start to the CPL season, winning their first two games at home, they’ve come down to earth a bit, first starting with that loss to Cavalry in cup play, before suffering a tough 3-0 road loss to York United a few days later.

Despite this small blip, however, they remain in excellent position in league play, and can put themselves in a good position with a win in this game.

Therefore, this will be a chance for Vancouver to come out strongly. With a chance to move up the table and continue a strong start to the CPL season, with the cup loss fresh in the back of their mind, they’ll be hungry and eager to stake out their claim on the road, as they chase their first win against Cavalry in club history.

“I think one of the most important thing for me is how we evolve and grow as a team,” Vancouver’s head coach, Afshin Ghotbi, said ahead of this one. “We’ve always talked about the importance of our reaction after success and our reaction after failure, and how we manage the ups and downs of this 28 game marathon.”

“So I look at this game as very important, because I want to see the reaction that we show and see how much did we grow from that (Cavalry) game, how much we did learn from that game.”

In terms of squad availability, Vancouver remains without two players, as Kadin Chung and Zach Verhoven are out with injuries, although Ghotbi hinted that both could be available for their next game on May 12th against Ottawa. As for Cavalry, Wheeldon Jr. confirmed that Callum Montgomery and Jesse Daley were back in training this week and could feature in this match, although Eryk Kobza looks to be out of contention to feature here after picking up an injury ahead of their match against Pacific.

All CPL matches are available to stream on OneSoccer, FuboTV, or on TELUS Optik TV Channel 980.

3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Familiarity could be an asset for both sides: With it still being early in the season, most CPL matches have brought an element of surprise, as teams face each other for the first time. Yet, this will be one of the first games where that won’t be the case, thanks to their Canadian Championship meeting just under two weeks ago. Because of that, it’ll be intriguing to see what kind of lessons both are able to take from that matchup. For Cavalry, look for them to try and target Vancouver’s flanks, having sent 79.4% of their attacks down either flank in that matchup, as they looked to stretch the pitch and open up space centrally. Meanwhile, for Vancouver, they will want to be a bit more clinical and ruthless on the ball, as they had several occasions where they ventured into dangerous spaces in the attack, but were often looking for the perfect ball or pass to strikers Alejandro Díaz and Moses Dyer. Against a Cavalry side that defends well, that sort of time isn’t always there to look for that play, something that Vancouver will be more than aware of now, as it might put more responsibility on those underneath Díaz and Dyer, such as Ben Fisk, Mikaël Cantave and Gabriel Bitar, to take more shots.

• Cavalry looking to continue strong start defensively: While it’s been a solid start to the year defensively by the usual counting metrics for Cavalry, as they’ve allowed just three goals in three games, it’s been an even better year when you look at the advanced stats – they’ve only given up a league-low 1.94 Expected Goals (xG) per WyScout’s xG model, with the next best team being Pacific at 3.25. They’re hardly giving up many chances right now, and it can be frustrating for teams, who might only get a few chances to score against this Cavalry side. Therefore, look for Cavalry to build off of this defensive start. Given that it’s coming from strong team play across the board, sticking to their identity will be crucial, but so will the continued strong play of individuals – starting with centre backs Daan Klomp, Tom Field, Bradley Kamdem or Callum Montgomery, depending on who gets the nod back there in this game, and working on up through the rest of the team. As they continue to find their feet offensively, with just two goals for in league play, their defence will be a huge difference-maker, one that can help push them towards the level the 2023 regular season title winners can play at. “We’ve been ruthless at one end, now let’s just turn our attention and trust in the process on the attacking side,” Wheeldon Jr said.

• Late-game concentration a focus for Vancouver: For Vancouver, the biggest thing that stood out from their loss against York wasn’t the defeat itself, but how it occurred. More specifically, that they were right in the thick of things against York United for 70 minutes, but then conceded three late goals to lose 3-0. Had they been thoroughly outclassed from start-to-beginning, more questions could be raised about what they’d need to fix tactically or personnel wise, but instead, losing late as they eventually did points to a different factor they’ll have to manage in this game – their concentration. Sometimes, that can be the difference, especially on the road, as one slip up can give all of the advantage to a home team, and then they’ll run with that. Vancouver didn’t have to worry about that in their two home wins, as they made sure to be in the lead by minute 47 in week one after conceding an early goal, and were up by minute 17 in week two, meaning that they were able to manage those games from a favourable position, but they didn’t have that same luxury against York. Yet, that’s far from a bad thing – to be in a 0-0 game until late on the road is usually a sign of a good performance, but those aren’t always guaranteed precursors to victory. Vancouver learned that the hard way against York, and will look to manage those moments against Cavalry, who similarly caught Vancouver in a late moment in their Canadian Championship game, putting further emphasis on Vancouver to stay even more locked in than usual throughout the 90 minutes. “As we play more games together, as we move into those (tough) situations more, I feel that we will improve in that area,” Ghotbi said. “And we can come back and hopefully win those games, or at least get a point out of those games.”

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Cavalry FC: Carducci; Aird, Field, Klomp, Kamdem; Trafford, Shome; Musse, Camargo, Akio; Warshchewski

Vancouver FC: Irving; Cameron, Romeo, Norman Jr., Gee; Fry, Garcia; Bitar, Cantave; Díaz, Dyer

ALL-TIME SERIES

Cavalry FC wins 4 || Vancouver FC wins: 0 || Draws: 1

Last meeting:

April 23, 2024 — Cavalry FC 1-0 Vancouver FC 

KEY QUOTES

“It’s still gelling. We’re not perfect, we’re not in midseason form, but we’ve seen a lot of good things, we have good numbers, so we trust the process, we don’t get too carried away with a good result, or too down with a bad result where we feel it we should have been better, we just trust the process. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and we’re playing another game within that marathon on Friday.” — Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr

“One of the things that I’ve noticed is that when you win a game, everything is dandy and you’re a championship team, so when we won two games in a row with a very good score and we played quite well at home, all of a sudden, we’re a championship team, but then we lose a game, all of a sudden we’re not good anymore. That’s a conversation that we’ve had (with the team), about staying humble when we are winning, but at the same time staying staying cool when things don’t go your way, and just having that right temperament and staying cool, measured, collective and united through all the ups and downs of a season, and I think doing that will help put us in a position so that we can achieve something very big and successful at the end.” — Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi