PREVIEW: Cavalry FC vs. Forge FC — 2023 CPL Playoffs

13/10/2023

Written by:Mitchell Tierney

2023 CPL Playoffs — Qualifying Semifinal

Cavalry FC vs. Forge FC

October 14, 2023 at 3 p.m. MT/ 5 p.m. ET

ATCO Field in Calgary, Alberta

Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here

After hoisting the CPL Shield this past Saturday at ATCO Field, regular season winner Cavalry FC now turn their attention toward another bit of silverware, the North Star Cup. In their way, however, stands an old rival, Forge FC. Cavalry and Forge meet in the historic inaugural 1st vs. 2nd match as part of the Canadian Premier League’s new playoff format on Saturday. This match rewards the top two finishers in the regular season with a non-elimination game to open the postseason. The winner will advance to, and host, the 2023 CPL final, while the loser will get a second opportunity as they host the winner of Saturday’s other match in the CPL between Halifax and Pacific in the semifinal next Saturday, October 21. Win that, and we would be treated to a second clash between these two sides in the 2023 final, this time with the trophy on the line. The margins between Forge FC and Cavalry FC have always been incredibly thin. Of their 24 all-time meetings between CPL regular season, playoffs and the Canadian Championship, 22 of those matches have been either draws or decided by a single goal.

The teams tied on points during both the 2021 and 2022 regular seasons, and have been among the league’s top three finishers in the table in each of its five campaigns thus far. This year, however, things have been a little bit more lopsided. Despite Forge again finishing in second place behind Cavalry, five wins and 13 points separated the two sides in the table. Cavalry also went undefeated against Forge for the first time in a CPL season, including their first multi-goal margin of victory against their Hamilton rivals in a 3-0 victory on August 4, the last time the two sides met at ATCO Field. Cavalry have lost just once since that meeting, and are undefeated in their last nine. They have lost just once at home this entire season. Forge, meanwhile, narrowly held onto second place after finishing the regular season with back-to-back losses, just ahead of third-place Halifax Wanderers on the fourth tiebreaker. When it has come to playoffs, however, it is Forge who have historically dominated, as they still have not lost to Cavalry in a postseason match. That included beating them over two legs in the 2019 final, on the final day of the ‘group stage’ which served as the qualifier for the 2020 Island Game final, and in last year’s semi-final, again over two legs.

“Thank goodness for new records to be made, because had it not been that opportunity I’d still be listening to Thriller from Michael Jackson, because that was the first record I got,” said Cavalry coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. ahead of the match. “That’s the thing with history, there is new history to be written, this group has taken on an opportunity to look at it that way. Old history is what it is. I think fair play to Forge who can celebrate their previous successes but this is a different team, different year, different moment, different playoffs so new records are there to be made.” Unfortunately for Forge, it appears they will still be without David Choinière who is recovering from injury. Choinière scored against Cavalry in the inaugural final in 2019, before scoring in their semifinal matchup last season. Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. said that his side has a clean bill of health heading into the postseason.

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

3 THINGS TO WATCH

Forge and Cavalry both recognize the opportunity hosting the final would bring: ****While neither team’s season is on the line on Saturday, the match does bring with it a massive reward for the winner: getting to host the 2023 final. Forge FC manager Bobby Smyrniotis said that at the end of the day, a trophy is a trophy so wherever it is lifted it remains special, but he knows how important it would be to his group and to Forge’s fans to get to host the final at home. Despite winning the finals three times, Forge has never done so at home, as their only final at Tim Hortons Field, in 2021, was also their only loss, 1-0 to Pacific FC. With that being the case, no team has ever won a final on their home ground. Cavalry, however, can claim to be the only side in league history to have lifted a trophy in front of their home fans after doing so this past Saturday with the CPL Shield. The Monday after they did so, Wheeldon Jr. said his group’s focus turned to replicating that incredible feeling in the playoffs. “Did you like that feeling?” Wheeldon Jr. said he told his group. “Well, it took us 28 games to win that one, to win the next one and have a similar feeling will take two, so let’s focus on the next game. No team has lifted a trophy in front of their own fans, their friends, their family, we have. We like that feeling. So the opportunity is there for us, we just have to execute upon it.” * Can Forge find clinical offence when it matters most?: **It has been a bit of an odd ending to the season for the Forge FC attack. In four of their last ten matches, they have scored three goals. At the same time, they have also been shut out four times, with the other two matches seeing them score only one goal. That inconsistent finishing was on full display over the past few weeks, where after scoring three goals against Pacific, Forge scored just once against Halifax and were shut out by Atlético Ottawa in their final match of the season. They lost the latter two matches even after putting up a combined 3.93 expected goals and six big chances. They are likely going to have to do even more with less opportunity on Saturday. By their nature, these matches tend to be cagey and offer few opportunities, and Forge knows when they do create against Cavalry, they are going to have to be lethal. “Us and Cavalry is always [decided] by one goal,” said Forge defender Garven Metusala after the club’s season finale against Atlético Ottawa. “So I think that next week is going to be the team that is the most clinical is going to get the win. So that is what we are going to work on.” * **Cavalry looking to carry consistency into the postseason: **Winning a regular season championship in the Canadian Premier League is an incredibly impressive proposition. With each team playing each other four times, it means overcoming the same opponents multiple times with different tactical setups and strategies. Cavalry’s ability to do that, winning the season series against all seven other CPL sides this year, is why they lifted the CPL Shield this past Saturday. Now going into a fifth meeting of the season against Forge, Wheeldon Jr. knows he has all the tactical flexibility he needs to secure a result because they have proven their consistent quality and ability to pick up results in multiple scenarios all year. “I’ve got big pieces that are fit and available that I haven’t previously had that before,” he said. “We can have a plan A going into this game, we can have a plan B, and a Plan C if we need to because of the depth of this squad.”

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Cavalry FC (3-4-3): Carducci; Kobza, Klomp, Kamdem; Shome, Trafford, Daley, Camargo; Akio, Musse, Bevan

**Forge FC (3-4-1-2): **Henry; James, Achinioti-Jönsson, Metusala; Rama, Hojabrpour, Bekker, Poku; Badibanga; Pacius, Campbell

ALL-TIME SERIES

Cavalry FC wins: 7 || Forge FC wins: 10 || Draws: 7

Last meeting:

September 9, 2023 – Forge FC 0-0 Cavalry FC

PLAYOFF HISTORY

*2019 CPL Finals – Leg 1 — Forge FC 1-0 Cavalry FC
2019 CPL Finals – Leg 2 — Cavalry FC 0-1 Forge FC (0-2 agg.)
2020 CPL Island Games – Group Stage — Cavalry FC 0-1 Forge FC

*2022 CPL Semifinals – Leg 1 — Cavalry FC 1-1 Forge FC
2022 CPL Semifinals – Leg 2 — Forge FC 2-1 Cavalry FC (3-2 agg.)

KEY QUOTES

“They are looking for a chance to defend their trophy. We will be the same for the league shield next year. So we relish the opportunity, and if it is to win the playoffs, we have to go through Forge. So why not welcome it and why not embrace that moment.” — Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. “You approach it with the one-and-done mentality. That’s the way you need to do it, not thinking of scenarios and different things. We’ve had scenarios that have helped us out in the last week, we don’t usually get a lot of those as you keep going forward. So you have to take care of business as it is at hand. That’s what we know in this match.” — Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis