**2021 CPL regular season (The Kickoff) — Match #21
** **York United FC vs. Cavalry FC
** **July 14, 2021 at 7:00 pm ET/6:00 pm CT
** **IG Field in Winnipeg, Manitoba
** Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca
STARTING LINEUPS
York United: Nathan Ingham, Jordan Wilson, Osvaldo Ramirez, Max Ferrari, Noah Verhoeven, Diyaeddine Abzi, Cédric Toussaint, Isaiah Johnston, Terique Mohammed, Chrisnovic N’sa, Lowell Wright
Cavalry FC: Marco Carducci, Daan Klomp, Mason Trafford, Nik Ledgerwood, Anthony Novak, José Escalante, Daniel Kaiser, Elliot Simmons, Mo Farsi, Richard Luca, David Norman Jr
MATCH PREVIEW
A pair of sides looking to bounce back will meet for the second time on Wednesday, as York United and Cavalry come together for battle in both sides’ sixth match of the 2021 CPL season. The two teams, separated by just two points in the very early standings, will be eager to respond after both suffered a shutout defeat over the weekend. York were on the opposite end of a 3-0 Pacific FC win on Saturday, which saw the Nine Stripes go down early after a pair of goals inside the first 10 minutes. Though they had a few chances of their own, Jimmy Brennan’s men weren’t able to break through on a difficult afternoon with a number of key players missing from the lineup. Five games in, York have one win, two draws, and two defeats, though they’ve certainly at times played better than their record suggests. Brennan explained that, after trying to recover as much as possible after Saturday’s game, he noticed the mood improving in his side on the training pitch Tuesday. “We’re hitting this little spell right now where the guys are absolutely fatigued,” Brennan told reporters in a pre-match media call. “You can see it in our performance, the way we played our last match. We were very heavy, slow off the mark, we’re second to every ball… Over the last couple days, it was really kind of getting the players’ legs back, watching video, going over certain things that we did right, other things we did wrong and trying to correct them. You could see there was a buzz around training today.” At the other end of the pitch, Cavalry will also be looking to move past some recent stumbles. They lost 2-0 to Atlético Ottawa on Sunday — their second loss in a row by that scoreline, after a midweek defeat to Forge FC. In fact, the Cavs haven’t scored in three consecutive games, failing to find the net since their 4-1 explosion against Ottawa on June 30. That’s certainly something Tommy Wheeldon Jr. would like to see his side turn around as quickly as possible, although with a 2-1-2 record the Cavs were still third in the CPL after the weekend, on seven points. Like York, Cavalry are dealing with some injury issues at the moment: Sergio Camargo, Tom Field, and Oliver Minatel are all expected to miss out on Wednesday’s game; Camargo and Field may be close, but Wheeldon mentioned he’ll be as careful as possible with them this early on. Thankfully, they’ve got some reinforcements on the way, with highly-touted Irish international Joe Mason arriving in training on Tuesday — he may not yet be ready to join the matchday squad against York, but he should be in the fold very soon. Ultimately, Wheeldon explained that this opening stanza of the season has given him time to learn about his squad. “You can always look at what’s your best starting 11, but it comes in balances of players,” he explained. “For example, which centre-backs are the most solid pairing, which fullback and winger work better together, which midfield balance supports our attack unit and which front three work off of each other best. These are things that you generally in football learn in exhibition games… We’ve talked about this a lot, we’ve used this as an opportunity to get as many points on the table and just keep looking at rotations. We’ve got a lot more answers along the way.” This pair of teams last saw each other in their first game of the 2021 season, a Sunday night clash back on June 27 that saw Cavalry come out on top with a 2-1 win, thanks to a superbly-worked Sergio Camargo goal and a cheeky one just after halftime by José Escalante. That was a heated clash, with some truly crunching tackles from both sides and an impressive level of intensity for the first match of the season (thanks in part to Joe Di Chiara’s introduction into the second half, playing against his former York teammates). Though York and Cavalry have played out some incredibly intense games over the past couple years, the Nine Stripes have never beaten the Calgary-based side. Still, if this rematch is anything like the first meeting of 2021, there could well be fireworks at IG Field on Wednesday.
Make your match picks prior to kickoff at canpl.ca/predictor for a chance to win prizes, including the grand prize of a trip to the 2021 CPL Final!
3 THINGS TO WATCH:
- One-on-one battles all over: Winning 50-50 battles, and coming out on top in physical duels, is usually a recipe for success in this sport, but perhaps even moreso in games between these particular teams. Cavalry and York United (in that order) rank first and second in the CPL in total duels won so far this year, with all of their games featuring plenty of pressing and challenging for contested balls. York has three individual players in the league-wide top 10 for successful duels (Isaiah Johnston, Diyaeddine Abzi, and Chrisnovic N’sa), while Cavalry’s Richard Luca somehow sits tied for seventh overall despite playing about 100 minutes fewer than anybody else in the top 10. Whichever side gets the edge in those kinds of battles may find themselves with taking greater control of the game. * Can York adapt with makeshift backline? There’s no denying York found themselves in a difficult spot on Saturday against Pacific, with all of their centre-backs unavailable to play. Chrisnovic N’sa (a natural fullback) and Jordan Wilson (a midfielder) took centre-half duties, with winger Ijah Halley slotting in at right-back. Brennan wasn’t displeased with how they handled the difficult situation, but it would definitely be ideal if one or both of Dominick Zator or Roger Thompson — or even Ryan Lindsay, who hasn’t joined up with the club yet — could be involved to play centre-back. If they remain unavailable — which Brennan confirmed on Tuesday — it’ll be interesting to watch how York react; they may go with the same configuration they tried on Saturday, or Brennan may elect for a different approach. Either way, that’s probably the biggest question facing this club at the moment. “I know how difficult it is for them,” Brennan said, but later added: “At the end of the day these young guys, there’s a reason why they’re professional footballers; it’s because they’re smart enough. They’re focused enough to handle different situations. I just said, ‘Look, there’s no big expectations for you, you just go out there and enjoy your football. You’re in a different position but you’ve got to compete.” * Cavalry looking to rekindle attacking spark: The brutal truth is that Cavalry FC has not scored a goal in three matches. That’s quite unlike them, a club that has traditionally sat near the top of the league in goals for — indeed, they’re still not far off the top in this early campaign thanks partly to a four-goal explosion against Atlético Ottawa. Still, Wheeldon will be hoping his side can find their attacking impetus once again in this fixture, against a team they’ve successfully scored on already. He offered on Tuesday that, while it’s concerning to go so long without scoring, he’s seen no reason to lose faith: “We would be more concerned if we didn’t have control of games, even with the rotation,” Wheeldon said. “It’s just the conversion of chances, and the chemistry in that situation usually comes at the last bit. I’d have been more concerned if I’m sat there saying we’re not seeing a lot of the ball, we’re not winning a lot of our duels; all the other KPIs that matter to us are coming through, the only one that’s off right now is goals.”
ALL-TIME SERIES
Cavalry FC wins: 6 || York United wins: 0 || Draws: 1
Previous match:
June 27, 2021 – Cavalry FC 2-1 York United
KEY QUOTES
“In football, you’re always learning. And the minute that you think you know it all as a coach, you’re finished. These opportunities that we have in this situation, they don’t come around too often, so it’s a massive learning curve for us.” — York United coach Jimmy Brennan “I would love to get back to winning ways. It’s something we as a club always chase, but it’s almost like a familiar territory with what happened in the Island Games. We had a long-term strategy coming into this.” — Cavalry FC coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.