2023 CPL Regular Season — Match #16**
** Vancouver FC vs. Cavalry FC
** May 7, 2023 at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET
** Langley Events Centre in Langley, British Columbia**
** Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here
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The Canadian Premier League will touch down in B.C.’s Lower Mainland on Sunday afternoon, as expansion side Vancouver FC play their first-ever home match at Willoughby Community Park at the Langley Events Centre. Perennial CPL powerhouses Cavalry FC will be the first visitors to the new stadium, where they’ll hope to spoil the party. Vancouver head home at last after starting their inaugural campaign with four matches on the road (including a Canadian Championship loss at York United). In league play, they’ve got a balanced 1-1-1 record, with the first win in club history coming two weeks ago in a 2-1 triumph over York. More recently, VFC played the Halifax Wanderers in Nova Scotia last Saturday, as Shaan Hundal scored his second of the season to equalize just before halftime in what ended a 1-1 draw. With four points, Vancouver sit third in the league table — ahead of Pacific FC with one more goal scored. Cavalry, meanwhile, have plenty on their minds as they head to Langley for the first time. They’re undefeated to start the year, but all three of their CPL games have been draws — latterly, a 1-1 result in their home opener against Valour FC. So, the Cavs’ three points put them sixth in the standings, which isn’t a concern this early in the season but nonetheless is notable with the club having yet to win a game in 2023.
RELATED: Historic weekend ahead as Vancouver FC host inaugural home opener on Sunday
In terms of squad availability, both sides are working with most of their key contributors; for Vancouver, a handful of squad members have yet to see the pitch, including Marcus Simmons. Meanwhile, Cavalry are getting closer to full fitness as well. Shamit Shome remains out of the lineup for several games with an LCL sprain, and Tommy Wheeldon Jr. revealed that Callum Montgomery will likely miss two to four more weeks with plantar fasciitis. In better news, Ben Fisk has returned to full training, and newly-signed left-back Bradley Kamdem is now available for selection. The Calgary-based side has been to Vancouver before, having played the Whitecaps at B.C. Place in the 2019 Canadian Championship, but this will be their first encounter with Afshin Ghotbi’s VFC team in the Canadian Premier League. For Vancouver, Sunday will of course be bigger than just a game. It’s a moment where they’ll make history in the B.C. soccer scene, and Ghotbi has been sure to keep them aware of that. “I always talk to our players about clubs that are over 100 years old; when you visit these particular clubs, you see black and white pictures of the beginning and you think back what it must have been like,” Ghotbi said this week. “All of us are going to be in those pictures 100 years from now, when this club develops to be one of the biggest clubs in the world. That’s really the vision of this club, to become not only the club of British Columbia and Vancouver but also it wants to be a globally recognized brand and a football team that represents all the special things I think this city is about.” Ghotbi is promising the Vancouver fanbase a spectacle; will they be treated to a first home win on Sunday?
All CPL matches are available to stream on OneSoccer, FuboTV, or on TELUS Optik TV Channel 980.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
- Pride or pressure? Playing in a home opener is always exciting for players, but that excitement is tenfold when it’s the first in a new club’s history. Vancouver FC will at last get to play in front of their own community, and a number of players — like Lower Mainland natives Callum Irving and Kadin Chung — have been outspoken about how excited they are to play at home. This club will be very proudly representing Vancouver, which may give them a boost in the first home match, but they also must be careful not to let the occasion get the best of them. VFC did well in their first game against Pacific FC — itself a big occasion — so they’re not completely unfamiliar with the concept, but there may well be some nerves in the early stages on Sunday. * Cavalry look to stay in front: In every game Cavalry have played this season, they’ve scored first. They took the lead twice in their opener against Forge, and last weekend they found themselves ahead 38 minutes into their home opener against Valour. The bad news, though, is that Cavalry have yet to win a game. Every time they’ve taken the lead, they’ve allowed the opposing side to equalize. Tommy Wheeldon Jr. has been frustrated not to get more out of his side’s bright starts. The solution, perhaps, might not to try and see out 1-0 victories — rather, Cavalry need to score more and take more comfortable leads in order to put games away. * Vancouver front three starting to mesh: After, understandably, struggling a little to click in the final third the first few weeks of the season, the expansion side seems to be figuring out a winning formula up front. Shaan Hundal has now scored in two straight games, and he’s looked more and more comfortable flanked by Gael Sandoval and Gabriel Bitar in the front three. Sandoval opened his account with a penalty in VFC’s first win over York — a spot kick that Bitar won with his run from the left. If those three continue to click, with the likes of Ameer Kinani and Emmanuel Robe able to provide depth, Vancouver may be able to start scoring more freely.
RELATED: How Vancouver FC’s Kadin Chung is ‘reinventing’ himself as a midfielder
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Vancouver FC: Irving; Bakare, Martinez, Romeo, Kwak; Chung, Moazeni Zadeh, E. Simmons; Sandoval, Hundal, Bitar
**Cavalry FC: **Carducci; Aird, Klomp, Chima, Escalante; Trafford, Daley; Musse, Mason, Cantave; Bevan
ALL-TIME SERIES
First meeting between these clubs.
KEY QUOTES
“It’s been an incredible journey seeing something almost from the ground grow day by day, brick by brick, player by player, seat by seat. I feel there’s such an excitement around the club, in teh locker room, around the facility, even the construction workers at the stadium. They’re so excited to complete this project in time so this event can take place, which I believe is an historic event. There are not many periods in your life as a manager who can be part of a club that’s never played a home game in its history, and you’re right there as it evolves and develops itself.” — Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi “It’s an opportunity for us. [Vancouver] have had a good start to the season, but it’s on level footing really. They’ve never played there in front of their crowd, don’t know what to expect; we can’t really go into it too much other than see them for who they are, how they play. Like all games, we look at what our strengths are, look at what theirs are and how we can counter this and find opportunities for us. This is a really good opportunity to be the party spoilers.” — Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.