Final Score: Cavalry FC 1-0 Vancouver FC
Goalscorers: Warschewski 66′
2024 TELUS Canadian Championship —  Preliminary Round

Match in a minute or less

Cavalry FC are off to the Canadian Championship quarter-finals for the fourth time in club history after a 1-0 victory over Vancouver FC at ATCO Field on Tuesday night.

The hosts held on for the narrow win despite playing the final 29 minutes of the match, plus stoppage time, down to ten men. In the 61st minute, Cavalry’s Shamit Shome was shown a red card for a studs-up challenge on Vasco Fry.

Five minutes later, however, Tobias Warschewski scored the game’s only goal as he got onto the end of a deflected Fraser Aird cross, and headed the ball past Callum Irving from a tight angle.

The Eagles have still never defeated Cavalry FC in five matches now in all competitions, the only Canadian Premier League side they are still winless against, and are now 0-2 in the Canadian Championship.

Cavalry, meanwhile, advance to the quarter-finals where they will take on back-to-back Canadian Champions, the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Three Observations

Ten-man Cavalry FC stun Vancouver FC to earn quarter-final matchup against Vancouver Whitecaps 

When Shamit Shome went to ground in the 61st minute, caught Vasco Fry and got sent off it appeared as though Cavalry were in big trouble. Up until that point, the hosts had been frustrated by a hardworking and direct Vancouver side.

What happened thereafter was quite the opposite, Cavalry doubled down and quickly went on the attack. Five minutes later, Tobias Warschewski scored his first goal for the club, the highlight of an outstanding night from the hardworking German striker.

“I think this is what is so special about the team, everybody is on one page,” said Warschewski. “I felt like we got even closer together [after the sending off] and wanted even more the win. I think every single one of us gave everything in every tackle and every situation and every battle.”

After scoring, Cavalry did a fantastic job of dropping into an incredibly compact 4-4-1 and allowing very few opportunities to the visitors. After the red card, Vancouver managed just two more shots on target, both of which were stopped by Marco Carducci.

“I thought Marco Carducci’s made some big blocks, the backline [were] blocking and cheering each other on, that’s the guts you need to be successful in this league and in this competition,” said Cavalry FC manager Tommy Wheeldon Jr.

The reward for their efforts? Cavalry will now face the most dominant team in Canada right now, the Vancouver Whitecaps, in a two-legged quarter-final matchup. The Whitecaps are in incredible form this year again, with the best points-per-game record in Major League Soccer.

This will be the third time Cavalry has come up against the Whitecaps, who they famously beat during their inaugural foray in this competition over two legs in 2019. The two clubs met again in 2022, when an 85th-minute Daan Klomp own-goal at ATCO Field forced a penalty shootout the Cavalry ultimately lost.

“They’re a team that are red hot right now, I’ve enjoyed watching some of their games,” said Wheeldon Jr. “I think Vanni [Sartini] and his staff are doing a good job with them, and we’re playing them in good form so we’ve got to improve what we do. I know it’s coming up here pretty soon so I think we’ll put this game to bed but we are excited about the opportunity to play them again.”

GOAL 🐎

Red card? NBD for @CPLCavalryFC as Tobias Warschewski carves apart the @VanFootballClub backline before eventually getting a head on the follow-up 😎

Will it be #CavsFC vs. #VWFC in the next round of 2024 TELUS #CanChamp action? 👀 pic.twitter.com/z7EpV1m3Be

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) April 24, 2024

Deeper Cavalry showing ability to ‘adapt and overcome’ during matches 

To borrow a couple of Wheeldon Jr.’s favourite phrases, Cavalry FC’s ‘finishers’, his term for substitutes, have played a really important role so far this year in the club’s ability to ‘adapt and overcome’, another turn of phrase he uses to describe his team’s adeptness at dealing with unfavourable situations.

For the second straight match, Wheeldon Jr. made significant changes to his side’s attack at around the hour mark in an attempt to transform the momentum of the match. On Tuesday, it was Lleyton Brooks and Sergio Camargo who joined the match in the 59th minute, as well as midfielder Diego Gutiérrez.

Malcolm Shaw, meanwhile, came off the bench for the goalscorer Warschewski in what looked to be a like-for-like swap. Instead, Ali Musse shifted forward as the main striker, while Shaw moved out to play a left midfielder role — similar to what he had done at times for Atlético Ottawa over the past few seasons.

Those players off the bench played an essential role in giving the club the energy and quality they needed to adapt to the difficulty of being down to ten men. Having so many players at Wheeldon Jr.’s disposal who can give the team different profiles and abilities is already proving to be a significant asset over what Cavalry is hoping will be a long and successful season.

While Wheeldon Jr. acknowledged that last year’s squad was special, he believes this year’s group is even deeper and more tactically versatile. Cavalry moved fluidly through formations and personnel throughout the match on Tuesday, and did so again with one less player on the pitch for the last half hour.

“By being able to do that in the chaos of the game shows how intelligent this group is,” said Wheeldon Jr. “We’re not the finished article yet but moments like this will certainly help with us to validate why we do what we do.”

Missed opportunity for Vancouver FC despite strong showing 

Prior to Tuesday’s clash with Cavalry FC, Vancouver FC manager Afshin Ghotbi joked that whatever happened during the match he was hoping it would be played at 11 versus 11.

That comment came after two of their four matches against Cavalry last season saw Eagles players sent off, including two (plus Cavalry’s Myer Bevan) in a chaotic 5-1 loss last July. This time it was Cavalry who saw red, but Ghotbi’s side failed to take advantage.

“Tough game, the red card is always a double-edged sword,” said Ghotbi. “We have a number up, and I think our players lost concentration for a while. The opponents worked harder and increased their concentration while we reduced our concentration and reduced our effort.”

Against a team who finished with 26 more points than them in the CPL last season, however, Vancouver certainly held their own — out-possessing and out-chancing a Cavalry team who they frustrated for a significant portion of the match on Tuesday. For the first time this season, however, they could not put things together in the final third.

What will also be disappointing for the club is that it is the second straight year they have missed out on what would be a transformational opportunity to take on the Vancouver Whitecaps in the competition’s quarter-finals. Now, however, the club needs to shift its mindset to make sure this result doesn’t affect their outstanding form in the Canadian Premier League regular season.

“Tough result for us, but the season is very new,” said Ghotbi. “I think we can learn a lot from this defeat, even though it’s a moment where we don’t want to be learning, we want to be winning.”

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Marco Carducci, Cavalry FC

The Cavalry goalkeeper kept a clean sheet with some tremendous saves. He was quick off his line to deny Moses Dyer in the first half, and then made an outstanding fingertip save on José Navarro late in the second half to preserve the win for Cavalry FC.

Box score

Lineups

Cavalry FC: Carducci; Kamdem, Klomp, Kobza, Aird; Shome, Trafford (Gutiérrez 59′), Dias (Camargo 59′); Musse (Field 90+1′), Akio (Brooks 59′), Warschewski (Shaw 70′) 

Vancouver FC: Irving; Chung (Cameron 41′), Romeo, Norman, Gee; Fisk (Cantave 59′), Fry, Garcia (Kibato 78′), Bitar; Dyer, Díaz (Navarro 78′) 

Goals

66′ — Tobias Warschewski (Cavalry FC) 

Discipline

17′ — Yellow: Shamit Shome (Cavalry FC)
37′ — Yellow: Lucas Dias (Cavalry FC)
40′ — Yellow: David Norman (Vancouver FC)
54′ — Yellow: Charlie Trafford (Cavalry FC)
61′ — Red: Shamit Shome (Cavalry FC)

What’s next?

Cavalry FC advance to take on the Vancouver Whitecaps in a two-legged 2024 TELUS Canadian Championship quarter-final.

It is a short turnaround for Vancouver FC, who now travel to Ontario to take on York United at York Lions Stadium on Friday, April 26 (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT). Cavalry, meanwhile, remain at home where they prepare for their 2024 CPL home opener against Pacific FC on Sunday, April 28 (5 p.m. ET/3 p.m. MT).

Watch all CPL 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.