Final Score: Cavalry FC 2-2 Valour FC
Goalscorers: Kamdem 56′, Viscosi 61′ (o.g.); Ohin 66′, Binate 70′
Game of the 2024 season: 81
CPL match: 565

Match in a minute or less

Cavalry FC and Valour FC traded pairs of set-piece goals on Friday night at ATCO Field, as the two sides left with a point each from a 2-2 draw.

After a scoreless first half where neither side could solve the other, Cavalry finally broke through shortly after the break with a cleverly designed free kick routine. After some slick passing and a couple of fortuitous deflections, Bradley Kamdem smashed it home from the doorstep for his first Cavalry goal. Just five minutes later, the Cavs scored again as Ali Musse’s corner kick found Diego Gutiérrez far from the defence; Gutiérrez’s strike hit the post then deflected off Valour goalkeeper Jonathan Viscoi and in to make it 2-0.

Just when they looked done, however, Valour struck back immediately, with a pair of similar corner kick goals where Raphael Ohin and then Abdul Binate both got their head on a well-delivered ball within just four minutes of each other. In just a few minutes, the game was tied again.

With the draw, Cavalry moved into second place on Friday night, while Valour remained in sixth but cut their gap to the playoff places to five points.

Three Observations

Both sides live and die by set-pieces in chaotic second half

Cavalry have developed a reputation over the past few years for being the Canadian Premier League’s greatest set-piece specialists, and for good reason. They were always a threat from corners and free kicks last year, and recently in 2024 they’ve been looking more and more dangerous in the past six weeks — in part due to Ali Musse’s return from injury.

That steady improvement culminated on Friday night, as Cavalry’s open play attack was almost a set-piece factory at times; they were happy to win corners when Valour’s tightly-packed defence made it hard to find free space in the box. Cavalry’s approach had to be patient; they threw a number of different routines at Valour, trying to find where the vulnerabilities might be, and by the 55th minute of the game they’d taken nine corners — but none of them yet successful.

That’s roughly when they won a free kick just outside the box. They opted that time for a bit of a trick routine; Ali Musse played the dead ball to Sergio Camargo while Fraser Aird made a run out wide for Camargo to pass to. Upon receiving, Aird delivered back into the box with Valour’s defenders in disarray, and the ensuing chaos eventually put the ball at Bradley Kamdem’s feet for a straightforward finish.

GOAL 🐎

Bradley Kamdem gives @CPLCavalryFC a 1-0 lead over @ValourFootball with a free kick routine right out of the training ground 😎

🔴 Watch #CanPL on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/MhcZYq686j

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) August 31, 2024

The goal just after that was another creative routine, where Musse set up for a typical corner but instead delivered it way out to the far corner for Diego Gutiérrez to volley over the entire defence, eventually finding the goal off Valour keeper Jonathan Viscosi.

However, the set-piece was a treacherous friend for Cavalry on Friday.

Though they found success by getting increasingly creative with their set plays, they were undone in their own end by far more traditional corner kicks. Twice within five minutes, Valour curled an in-swinger into the box, directly to a targeted head to redirect it into the net for a textbook set-piece goal. With that, the two-goal lead Cavalry had so patiently worked to build up by patiently winning corner after corner had disappeared.

“We were so good at carving them open with the opportunities we created that we didn’t do the basics of defending our set plays. We’re disappointed in that, but it’s a great reminder as we get into the run-in that we’ve got to have all facets covered,” Cavalry head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. said.

He added: “We’ve got to defend better. That’s the simple answer on the set plays, because we’re very good at that, we’re the best defensive team in the league; that doesn’t mean we still can’t have flaws in our defensive structure, and tonight we did.”

Valour ask questions with fast, direct play but struggle to find strikers

From the very beginning of this match, Valour’s approach was evident. They wanted a high tempo, transitional contest, where they could get runners forward and try to connect long, forward balls, typically bypassing midfield.

As a result, the Winnipeg side found ways to repeatedly test Cavalry in dangerous positions; Valour’s direct play produced plenty of opportunities to shoot, which their players typically chose to do, even from difficult spots. At times, the approach was looking for quantity rather than quality, but Valour still seemed determined to throw as many balls at Cavalry as they could by trying to get their own front four running behind the backline. Knowing that Cavalry would likely press them quite aggressively if they tried to play out of the back, Valour instead opted to go long or break the press with direct play.

It wasn’t just lumping balls forward, though; in fact, with Valour seeming to realize that Cavalry were doing a good job preventing those long passes, a few of their players began carrying the ball forward themselves a few yards before acting. Fullbacks Themi Antonoglou and Roberto Alarcón were very keen to cut inside and dribble the ball themselves through the middle; Alarcón hit the crossbar with a shot from distance after running around 30 metres with the ball, opting to shoot with no outlet options appearing.

The trouble, however, was that Valour struggled to get the ball to their primary attacking players in those transitional moments. In the first half, both Shaan Hundal and Jordi Swibel had just 10 touches, playing as dual strikers. They were effective with those brief moments — Hundal had two shots (one of them a bicycle kick on target) and Swibel had a shot and a chance created, but still the service was lacking as Cavalry typically tracked back in time to cut off the transitional passing lanes toward the strikers.

“We knew there would be a lot of pressure every time we would try to play, but we still wanted to be courageous and brave and not lose that component in the game, to still have the ability to try and play through the press,” said Valour coach Phil Dos Santos. “We also know that once that was done, there would be spaces for us to exploit. I think the few chances we created was when we were able to get those balls in between the lines, either by being direct with a knockdown or by playing through the pressure. … I think being more objective is a tool when you play against a team that presses you a lot, and that’s something that we needed to utilize even later in the game.”

Overall, Valour should be quite pleased with a draw on the road against a Cavalry team that had won five in a row — and especially so considering they were down two goals around the hour mark. The point doesn’t help all that much in the standings, leaving them five points behind the playoffs with Vancouver FC still yet to play this weekend, but aspects of the performance were encouraging for a Valour side that is very much in the hunt for its first ever berth in the postseason.

Cavalry chemistry remains evident in key partnerships

Although Cavalry didn’t score from open play in this game, there were a few moments of fluid attacking football that could reasonably be called works of art. Now that the side is returning to full health and therefore most of their main difference makers are on the pitch together, we’re reminded of some of the on-field relationships between players that have made the Cavs so good in the past few years.

Most notable on Friday was the understanding between Sergio Camargo and Ali Musse. After one particularly impressive give-and-go sequence in the first half, OneSoccer commentator Adam Jenkins joked that it’s almost as though the two share a brain at times, such is the chemistry between the two players. Musse created six chances in the game and Camargo two, and the pair were constantly looking for each other in the middle areas of the pitch. Lowell Wright, new to the Cavalry system, did very well in his hold-up play and was often asked to make runs to pull defenders out of position, which opened lanes for Camargo or Musse to pass through.

Likewise, the Cavalry fullbacks have recently been thriving. Fraser Aird has been outstanding all year of course, but especially so with Musse back in the lineup; Aird led the team with 19 passes in the final third and made 11 crosses — many of them from set-pieces — but his understanding of Musse and Camargo allows him to pick his moments to get forward more judiciously. Much like Gutiérrez with the second goal, Aird’s name won’t appear on the scoresheet for Cavalry’s first goal, but his initial run and his ball into the box were the main catalysts.

Tommy Wheeldon Jr. spoke highly of his players’ chemistry after the match, explaining how for this match especially he asked Musse and Aird to demonstrate their ability to play off each other as a mirror to Valour’s strong left-sided pairing.

“I gave them a challenge, because on the other side Antonoglou and Ressurreicao are a good pairing as well,” the Cavalry coach said. “It’s all about the best pairing that can win this football match. Both Ali and Fraser play well off each other; they complement, one goes inside, one goes outside. You need those relationships, and now what we’re trying to do is get that relationship with Sergio Camargo, he’s had a bit of an in-and-out season.”

Wheeldon Jr. went on to add, more definitively: “Ali Musse and Fraser Aird are the best tandem in the league, in my humble opinion.”

Certainly, Cavalry’s rise up the table coincides with those two reuniting in the last month and a half. If Camargo continues to get up to speed and can play at the top of his game, it may well be the most dangerous trio in the CPL soon.

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Diego Gutiérrez, Cavalry FC

Playing against his former team, Gutiérrez was excellent, although he won’t get credit for the goal he created off Viscosi’s back. He had four shots and created three chances, winning possession eight times with three successful tackles and three interceptions.

What’s next?

Cavalry return to action next Saturday, Sept. 7, when they’ll be in Hamilton to play Forge FC (7 p.m. ET/5 p.m. MT). Valour, meanwhile, return home to take on Atlético Ottawa on Monday, Sept. 9 (7 p.m. CT/8 p.m. ET).

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