Final Score: Cavalry FC 1-2 Vancouver Whitecaps
Goalscorers: Shaw 90+2′ ; Johnson 45+2′, 79′
2024 TELUS Canadian Championship — Quarter-Final (Leg 1)

Match in a minute or less

The Vancouver Whitecaps picked up their first-ever regulation victory at ATCO Field on Tuesday night, as they defeated Cavalry FC 2-1 in the first leg of their 2024 Canadian Championship quarter-final series.

A stunning strike from Vancouver’s Levonte Johnson with the last kick of the first half rocketed off the post and past Marco Carducci to open the scoring. The Vancouver striker added a second in the 79th minute.

Cavalry were able to get an important goal late to keep themselves in the tie, as Malcolm Shaw was played in behind by Lucas Dias and scored a perfectly-angled finish across goal.

The second leg between these two sides will be played on Tuesday, May 21 at BC Place in Vancouver (8:30 p.m. MT / 10:30 p.m. ET) With away goals in effect, Cavalry know they need to score at least two goals at BC Place in order to advance.

Three Observations

Minor mistakes from Cavalry, quality from Johnson, give Whitecaps a big advantage after leg 1

It took just two direct attacking moments to make the difference for the Vancouver Whitecaps on Tuesday night, and both came at backbreaking moments for Cavalry FC during an otherwise defensively solid match.

The Caps’ Levonte Johnson scored on essentially the last kick of an otherwise utterly uneventful first half, before adding a second with just over ten minutes to go in the 90 to give the Whitecaps a big advantage in this Canadian Championship quarter-final tie.

“Getting a goal just before half-time was huge for us, going into the half on a high and kind of being able to control the game a bit more,” said Johnson. “Then going up two goals kind of gave us a bit of a cushion.”

Cavalry, who came into this game knowing that any minor mistake had the potential to be costly, will feel frustrated by the manner in which they conceded both goals. Take absolutely nothing away from a stellar strike from Johnson in first-half stoppage time, but Cavalry will not be happy that they stood off a quickly played free kick out of the back. Nor will they be thrilled that Johnson was allowed the time to get on the end of a Callum Montgomery clearance and have a strike at goal.

“I was kind of just ready to read the clearance and be the first to the ball, and just focus a lot on the strike and making sure I got clean contact on it,” said Johnson.

Clean contact might be an understatement for what is easily the best goal this competition has seen so far.

GOAL 🏔️

Right at the stroke of half-time, it's LEVONTE JOHNSON with a thunder-strike to give #VWFC a 1-0 lead over @CPLCavalryFC in this TELUS #CanChamp quarter-final, Leg 1 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/whsXYI1Cef

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 8, 2024

It was a match of two halves, as having gone down 1-0 Cavalry were forced to open up and the Whitecaps responded in kind in a much more entertaining second 45. They could easily have levelled, especially on a Lleyton Brooks header from close range midway through the half.

But route one football ultimately cut them open again, as this time it was an off-balance Bjørn Utvik who hit a hopeful pass forward that Montgomery misplayed and Johnson again showed brilliant composure to bring down and stick past Marco Carducci.

Cavalry will feel a little bit hard done by as for most of the 90 minutes they defended quite well against a deep and talented Vancouver Whitecaps side. They limited Vancouver to just three shots on target and 0.62 expected goals on Tuesday night. But at the end of the day, the number that matters is the two away goals that did find the back of the net, and that give Cavalry a monumental task heading to BC Place on Tuesday, May 21.

“We’re very happy that we get away from here with a win, and we’re ahead on the tie, and the next game is home, so there’s a lot of things to take away from here that are positives,” said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini.

Late Shaw goal gives Cavalry hope heading into second leg

Through ninety-plus minutes of Tuesday’s match, it looked as though Cavalry would have nothing to show for a solid effort against the back-to-back Canadian Champions.

In the second minute of second-half stoppage time, however, they got their moment, and a goal that could prove to be significant in the complexion of this tie. A pair of substitutes combined, as Lucas Dias played an outstanding ball between the lines into Shaw, who cleverly finished from a seemingly impossible angle to cut the score to 2-1.

“Huge, it’s huge, we’ve made a tie of it, we would have been disappointed at 2-0 because it wasn’t a 2-0 game,” said Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.

Malcolm Shaw with the angles 📐🤯pic.twitter.com/QVh3HDK3e9

— Cavalry FC (@CPLCavalryFC) May 8, 2024

The goal clearly ignited Cavalry’s belief. Moments later Shaw got in behind again but was unable to connect with a hopeful ball over the top.

Then it was Dias who took it upon himself to try to further get Cavalry back into the series, making a mazy run through the middle of the park before being brought down by the Whitecaps’ Mathías Laborda, who was shown a yellow card. Dias’ free kick thereafter caused chaos in the Whitecaps box and the final whistle went with the previously in-control visitors clinging to their aggregate advantage.

“I was just delighted that we didn’t quit, and that’s the courage that I want to keep seeing in us,” said Wheeldon Jr.

Instead of needing to go to BC Place in the second leg and win by three goals, they now only need to win by two (or 2-1 which would mean the tie goes to penalty kicks). It’s still an improbable task, but now feels a lot less like an impossible one — especially considering they defeated the Whitecaps 2-1 at BC Place back in 2019.

“It’s halftime, and reality is we’ve got to score two goals at their place, and we’ve done that before” he added. “It’s nothing to fear, and it’s everything to gain.”

Without Musse, Cavalry switch up attacking setup

One of the biggest questions coming into this match for Cavalry was how they would adjust their attack without 2023 CPL Players’ Player of the Year Ali Musse available. With such a uniquely talented player unavailable, Cavalry elected to change their attacking approach.

The Cavs matched Vancouver’s back three with a front three of their own. They shifted Tobias Warschewski, who generally leads the line, out to the right, deployed Lleyton Brooks on the left and Sergio Camargo playing in a false nine role through the middle.

When it was at its best, Warschewski and Fraser Aird combined brilliantly down the right, and were able to get quality service into Brooks down the left — with the Australian getting the best chances of the match for the hosts.

Camargo’s central role, however, meant that Cavalry did not have an imposing central target when they played balls over the top through the middle. This allowed Vancouver’s back three to regain possession rather easily in these scenarios.

While the wings were clearly the preferred outlet of attack, Cavalry also struggled to build anything through the middle for most of the match. The chart below shows that just 11.4 per cent of their attacking movements came through the middle in the 66 minutes before Malcolm Shaw’s introduction.

When Shaw came into the match the team returned to a 4-2-3-1,  a formation they are more familiar with, as he went up top and Camargo shifted back into an attacking midfielder position.

That was arguably when their best attacking moments of the match came — including the goal. Although, by and large, the second half was far better going forward for Cavalry regardless of their shape and personnel.

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Levonte Johnson, Vancouver Whitecaps 

In a match with very few clear-cut scoring opportunities, Johnson turned a pair of half chances into critical goals for his side. He also finished with six shots, and five attempted dribbles.

Box Score

Lineups

Cavalry FC: Carducci; Aird (Kobza 74′) Montgomery, Klomp, Kamdem; Daley (Shaw 66′), Gutiérrez, Trafford; Camargo, Brooks (Dias 90′), Warschewski (Akio 82′) 

Vancouver Whitecaps: Boehmer; Laborda, Utvik, Brown (Bovalina 88′); Raposo (Veselinovic 76′) , Berhalter, Priso (Martins 46′), Ahmed (Cubas 62′); Vite, Johnson (84′ Kachwele), White (Gauld 46′)

Goals

45+2′ — Levonte Johnson (Vancouver Whitecaps)
83′ — Levonte Johnson (Vancouver Whitecaps)
90+2′ — Malcolm Shaw (Cavalry FC)

Discipline

27′ — Yellow: Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps)
51′ — Yellow: Callum Montgomery (Cavalry FC)
61′ — Yellow: Daan Klomp (Cavalry FC)
71′ — Yellow: Luis Martins (Vancouver Whitecaps)
75′ — Yellow: Levonte Johnson (Vancouver Whitecaps)
90+5 — Yellow: Mathías Laborda (Vancouver Whitecaps)

What’s next?

The second leg between Cavalry and the Vancouver Whitecaps will take place on Tuesday, May 21 (8:30 p.m. MT / 10:30 p.m. ET). First, however, Cavalry turn their attention to a trip to the east coast, as they take on Halifax Wanderers on Saturday, May 11 (12:00 p.m. MT / 2:00 p.m. ET) in Canadian Premier League action.

Watch all TELUS Canadian Championship matches live on OneSoccer. In addition to its website and app, OneSoccer is now available on TELUS channel 980 and on Fubo TV. Call your local cable provider to ask for OneSoccer today.