Final Score: Cavalry FC 3-1 Vancouver FC
Goalscorers: Warschewski 26′, 60′, Trafford 39′; Dyer 81′
Game of the 2024 season: 13
CPL match: 497

Match in a minute or less

Cavalry have their first victory of the 2024 CPL season under their belts, as they defeated Vancouver FC 3-1 at ATCO Field to snap a three-game winless run in league play to start the new season.

Yet, it was a fair reward for Cavalry, who came out strongly to start the match. As a result, they opened the scoring in the 26th minute, as Tobias Warschewski headed home from close range after a great cross from Fraser Aird to make it 1-0, before his team doubled their lead less than 15 minutes later, as Charlie Trafford scored his first goal for the club after a great run and left-footed strike in the box.

Then, Cavalry made it three early into the second half, as Lleyton Brooks won a penalty in the 59th minute, one that Warschewski stepped up and finished to complete his brace.

Vancouver would make things interesting late, as Moses Dyer bundled home a great cross from Vasco Fry to make it 3-1 in the 81st minute, but that’d be all they could muster up in a late push as Cavalry ended up taking home all three points on the day.

Three Observations

Cavalry’s offence gets much-needed jolt of energy in first win of 2024 CPL season:

Through three games of CPL action, along with one Canadian Championship match, Cavalry’s horses were yet to run. That, meaning that their offence was yet to flourish, having scored just three goals across those four games, including just two in league, with one of those two goals being an own goal.

After scoring a league-high 46 goals in 28 regular season games in 2023, one could only wonder if they were due an offensive outburst, as they started to get their offence clicking to the level that it can.

Safe to say, that was at the top of their mind as they came out for this game, and they showed it early. As a result, through just 40 minutes, they’d already doubled their CPL goal total by storming out to a 2-0 lead, scoring both goals in open play.

Not only that, but they seemed to be a threat every time they were on the ball, too, driving the ball forward, targeting the right flank, in particular, where Fraser Aird was finding all sorts of joy in the space he found out there. He showed that on his early assist to Warschewski, and he didn’t stop there, continuing to push into that space every time his team was in possession.

Then, speaking of Warschewski, his play was crucial up front, as he had his best game in a Cavalry shirt after joining the club this offseason. At his best when he can get involved in the build-up play as well as get on the end of chances, he struck that balance to perfection in this game, after struggling to find that end product in past matches.

Because of that, Vancouver struggled to mark him, as he’d pop up all over the pitch, sometimes dropping deep to help facilitate a passing play, before running into the box to try and get a look at goal. From there, that seemed to open up space for those around him, as his link-up play ended up being crucial in bringing his teammates into the game.

Yet, that shows exactly why Cavalry signed him to replace 2023 CPL Golden Boot co-winner Myer Bevan, who is on an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons. Bevan’s goals were a huge part of Cavalry’s success in 2023, no doubt, but so was his ability to combine with his teammates, which saw him nab four assists, something that Warschewski he can also bring to the table in the past.

Now, however, the goal for Cavalry will be to build on this game. There’s no doubt that there are goals in this team, but they’ll want to show that with consistency, which is a key strength of theirs in 2023 – they scored more than three goals in a game just once, but were only four times, showing that they didn’t inflate their goal totals in big blowouts and instead through prolonged consistency from game-to-game.

With this game now under their belts, they’ll have the belief they can get back to that, and will now look to show that going forward.

“We laid down a challenge for the attackers, but we also trusted them,” Cavalry’s head coach, Tommy Wheeldon Jr., explained afterwards. “We had to make a couple of changes before, and then early when (Ali Musse) came off, but that freed up Tobias (Warschewski) as Malcolm (Shaw) came in to occupy their defensive line, but in the half spaces, Tobias (Warschewski) and Sergio (Camargo) did well, Lleyton (Brooks) was so direct on the wing, Fraser (Aird) had quality delivery, so we had everyone (involved), and I actually thought we could’ve scored more tonight.”

“It takes time to develop that kind of chemistry up front and get things running on all cylinders,” Trafford further explained. “Even last game against Pacific, we had a lot of box entries, so we knew that we were close, we didn’t panic, we didn’t fear anything, as we know we’ve got quality up there.”

“We know how strong our defensive side is,” he added. “We’ve got some of the lowest xG against us, so we know we’re always in a game, and we believe in our front players, we just need them to click.”

“And once that happens, you see what happens tonight, we go in and do that to team, so we’re hoping we can kind of stick to that and keep rolling.”

Slow start sinks weary Vancouver side in second straight CPL loss:

Heading into the game, Vancouver’s head coach, Afshin Ghotbi, noted that his team had some tired legs in their ranks as they got set to tackle their second straight road game in league action, and third straight road game in all competitions.

That was on display in their last match against York United exactly a week prior to this one, where after battling for 70 minutes, they were unable to offer much resistance to a late wave of York attacks that saw them turn a 0-0 match into a resolute 3-0 win.

Despite running out of gas like that, however, they hoped that they’d have a full tank after a week of rest ahead of this game, especially against a Cavalry side who had played more recently than Vancouver, and had to plan for this game while not forgetting about their upcoming Canadian Championship match in midweek.

Unfortunately for Vancouver, those tired legs seemed to be on full display early on, as Cavalry came out flying, overwhelming their guests with seemingly endless waves of attacking and defensive pressure to begin the match. Be it through their press, or their attack, it seemed like Vancouver hardly got a respite from Cavalry’s red wave of players, and that started to wear them down quickly.

As a result, they ended up going down three goals within 60 minutes, and it seemed like they could have a blowout on their hands, with Cavalry looking to push for a fourth.

“Cavalry is a good team,” Vancouver forward Moses Dyer said afterwards. “They know how to play at home, and I think we were a bit naive, we pressed when we shouldn’t have pressed, and we were off the pace a little bit. I don’t think it was so much our legs, it was more timing, but we’ve got to regroup, we’ve got bit of time off now to rest and get back on the training field and work on what we need to work on.”

Yet, to Vancouver’s credit, how they responded to that start is worth commending, as they turned to their bench early and often in this game. Part of that was due to necessity, as David Norman Jr. had to come off in the first half with an injury, but even after that they kept throwing on fresh legs to try and change things up.

To their credit, that nearly allowed them to rescue something out of this game, too, which at one point seemed like a lost cause, as their 3-1 goal gave them life, and they were close to making it 3-2 before the start of added time, which would’ve certainly set up an interesting finish.

Despite throwing on a relatively inexperienced batch of substitutes, as 16-year-old Grady McDonnell, 19-year-old Elage Bah and 22-year-old Thomas Powell all came in for their Vancouver debuts, the fresh legs that they brought provided a jolt of energy to this game late.

Because of that, this could create some interesting lineup decisions for Ghotbi going forward. Having admitted after the game that he felt he got the game plan wrong to start, which didn’t help with their tired legs, he could turn to one of McDonnell, Bah or Powell to bring something different to start their next match.

Armed with a deep squad, Ghotbi hasn’t always been willing to turn to it early in the year, noting that he loves to find a starting group and stick with it unless someone comes in and wins a spot. Understandably, after winning two games to start the year, he wasn’t going to budge on that, but after back-to-back losses and the late play of his substitutes, he might be willing to shake things up, and said as much after the game, as he looks to get this Vancouver side back on track following this blip.

“100%,” Ghotbi said when asked if he might shake things up. “I think what I was very impressed about is the courage that the young players showed, this is not an easy game to get into away from home, Cavalry’s fans are fantastic, they created such a great atmosphere, so it’s not an easy place to play.”

“To be down at that moment, and then to come onto the pitch, they showed a lot of courage and I’m very proud of that. Plus, besides the courage, they also showed quality, they created a lot of chances, entered their penalty box several times in the late stages the second half, and we were unlucky that we didn’t score a second, as I think if we did that before the extra time, maybe we could’ve taken some points out of this game.”

“So yeah, it was very encouraging, and I think there’s competition in the team, definitely.”

Cavalry survive warning shots to head into Canadian Championship on winning note:

No doubt, winning this game was a priority for Cavalry. After going winless through three games, the last thing they would’ve wanted to do was to extend that drought, especially with the Canadian Championship quarter-finals right around the corner, which will congest their schedule and make it tough to balance putting their best forward in that competition while chasing wins in league play.

With a win in this game, however, they can now head into that two-legged clash with the Whitecaps in a good mood, knowing that they’ve got that win under their belt.

At the same time, that doesn’t mean that they weren’t tested along the way. To begin, there was a pair of first half injuries that were concerning, including one to 2023 Player’s Player of the Year Ali Musse, and the other to defender Tom Field, which saw both taken out before half time.

After the game, Wheeldon Jr. noted that the substitutions were more precautionary, which is positive, although he also admitted that he’s not yet sure the scope of either injury, which are yet to be fully evaluated.

Having survived those scares, though, Cavalry then nearly allowed Vancouver to get back into the game late, as their visitors desperation seemed to catch them by surprise, especially on set-pieces.

Of course, that can sometimes be the case of going up by three goals, but heading into a match against an in-form Whitecaps side, they’ll know that they have to be clean and organized across 90 minutes, no matter if they’re up or trailing, as losing their concentration for just five minutes could be enough for that Whitecaps side to pull away and win the tie.

Despite that scare, they’ll head into that game in a strong mood, as the night was otherwise perfect for them. After dealing with snow all week, the sun came out for the occasion, which just happened to be Wheeldon Jr.’s 45th birthday, making this win extra special.

“Yeah, when the scoreline is 3-0, there’s a bit of free money, so that’s it, they were playing risk free football,” Wheeldon Jr explained.

“I don’t mind a bit of chaos, though,” he added. “Because these are learning moments for us as I’m sure Vancouver Whitecaps are going to have chances that we’ll have to defend, so for us, (the late push) was a great training exercise.”

Then, to add to the occasion, they’ll be sure to celebrate Trafford’s goal, as it was the veteran midfielders first for his hometown club, with the celebration of he and his teammates reflecting what that meant to the team. Having last scored in October of 2020, he made sure to make the most of the moment on the pitch, especially given that it ended up standing as the winner.

Yet, Trafford’s goal was a fitting example of how this game went for Cavalry, as they seemed to play with fluidity and freedom, looking like the confident side that won a regular season title in 2023, and came within minutes of making it a playoff double later that year.

Heading into a massive clash against the Whitecaps, that’s exactly what they’ll want to see in their ranks, because as Trafford explained afterwards, that’s one of the things he cherishes most about this team – they seem to play their best when they’ve got a smile on their faces.

“I think it’s one of the big strengths we have here,” Trafford said. “We said it last year a lot, we’ve got great camaraderie and friendships, we’re close as a group, we celebrate together when we win tackles, and we celebrate when we score.”

“There’s such a good vibe in the team, and of course when I scored I smiled, as it’s been a while so I had to enjoy it, but you can sense that similar feeling within the team, we were not panicked at all up to this point, we knew it was coming, and it’s great to get this win before the Whitecaps game, as we can go into it with what I don’t want to say a relaxed energy, as we’re going to compete and win, but we’ll go into it with a bit of more freedom and a bit more confidence.”

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Tobias Warschewski, Cavalry FC

It was a game to remember for Warschewksi, whose brace ended up being crucial in Cavalry’s victory. Coming as part of a complete offensive performance, as he finished with five shots (including one off the post), one chance created, three dribbles, four fouls won and 13/20 duel wins, it was the exact sort of showing that Cavalry will want to see from their new #9 as he continues to find his feet at the club.

What’s next?

As mentioned earlier, Cavalry will turn their attention back to the Canadian Championship, as they host the Vancouver Whitecaps at ATCO Field for leg one of their quarter-final tie on Tuesday, May 7th (6:00 p.m. PT/7:00 p.m. MT). Then, in CPL play, they’ll travel east to take on the Halifax Wanderers at Wanderers Grounds on Saturday, May 11th (12:00 p.m. MT/3:00 p.m. AT). As for Vancouver, they’ll return home to take on Atlético Ottawa in CPL action at Willoughby Community Park on Sunday, May 12th (4:00 p.m. PT/7:00 p.m. ET).

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