2021 CPL Playoffs — Semi-Final #1
Cavalry FC vs. Pacific FC
November 20, 2021 at 1:00 pm MT/12:00 pm PT
ATCO Field in Calgary, Alberta
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here

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After battling each other all season long, both on the pitch and in the standings, only one of Cavalry FC or Pacific FC’s season will continue beyond Saturday afternoon.

The two sides will meet at at Cavalry’s ATCO Field, where it’s expected to be a chilly afternoon for the 1 pm MT kickoff, for the first of two Canadian Premier League semifinals.

If Forge FC beat York United in the second semifinal on Sunday, the winner would visit Tim Hortons Field in the final, but if The Nine Stripes are victorious, the winner of Saturday’s semifinal will host the league’s biggest match of the season.

PRE-MATCH MEDIA CONFERENCES: WATCH: Cavalry FC coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. speaks to media before Pacific FC semi-final || WATCH: Pacific FC’s Pa-Modou Kah expecting ‘no surprises’ in Cavalry FC semi-final

With such a large occasion, certainly the biggest game Pacific have played in CPL action, there’s obviously a lot of excitement in both teams’ camps.

“The players are super excited, they’ve been buzzing in training, they’re happy, they’re smiling, they’re looking forward for this,” said Pacific FC head coach Pa-Modou Kah. “I’m so proud of this group from where we are, to how much work they put in, and keep putting in. The demands and expectations we’ve been asking them has been phenomenal, now it’s for them to go out and enjoy the game.

“Play the way we know we can play, fight the way we know we can fight, and then the outcome is the outcome.”

Cavalry are also raring to go after a win against Forge midweek with a rotated side, and turn their attention to Saturday, looking to put in another good performance.

“I was delighted with the performance the boys put in against Forge,” said Cavalry boss Tommy Wheeldon Jr. ahead of Saturday’s match. “We chose to go with a roster that we felt could get a win against Forge, and we planned correctly because we also knew that if Pacific have two weeks to prepare for us, we need to make sure that we have the same level of respect for them with the guys that we left behind.

“We wanted to make sure that we still have freshness in what has become a congested schedule… We’ll be as ready as we can be come Saturday at Spruce Meadows.”

It’s time for Cavalry, Wheeldon Jr. hopes, to take the next step and bring the North Star Shield to Alberta for the first time.

“This is the third time we’re in the CanPL playoffs, and I think hopefully for us, it’s third time lucky,” said Wheeldon Jr. “Every season has been different. If we look at 2019 we won the Spring and Fall, and then had to play a home and away leg, it was a two-legged final, and in 2020 it was a tournament format with a seven-game round-robin, and then a four-team round-robin. This is the third iteration with the third different type of playoffs.

“We can’t reflect back and go ‘what did we learn from that one’, because every playoff format has been different. This one is a straight knockout, the only time we’ve played in that is the Canadian Championship where it’s one and done. I think it’s exciting, it’s exciting for the fans, I think it’s a great format.”

The two sides have met six times in Canadian Premier League play this season, as well as in the 2021 Canadian Championship quarterfinals. In that competition, Pacific FC came out on top, with Terran Campbell scoring the match’s only goal at ATCO Field.

They’ve been pretty evenly matched in the CPL, with the Cavs winning three of the six matches, Pacific winning twice, and the other ending in a 0-0 draw — the only scoreless match ever between these sides.

Cavalry have won the last two matches over The Tridents, most recently a 1-0 win on November 9th at this stadium. Joe Mason scored the lone goal for Cavalry in what was Pacific’s final match of the regular season.

Including that match, Pacific FC have lost seven of their last 10 matches going into Saturday. They beat Valour FC twice in that span, also beating FC Edmonton 5-1, but lost the others, including a second loss to Cavalry, and Canadian Championship semifinal loss to Toronto FC. A two-week gap between matches could prove to be helpful for them, as they were able to get everyone ready and rested for another huge match.

Cavalry have had the opposite form, losing just twice in their last 10 — to Valour FC and Atlético Ottawa. They most recently played on Tuesday, a 1-0 win away to Forge FC, with an early goal by Anthony Novak the difference.

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! To learn more about ComeOn!, click here.

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

3 THINGS TO WATCH:

• Pacific focusing on what they can control, ignoring what they can’t: With it expected to be a frigid afternoon in Calgary, about 10 degrees colder than Pacific’s home city of Langford, weather may be a factor on Saturday for the semifinal. Despite that, Pacific FC head coach Pa-Modou Kah isn’t worried about that. He reminded people in his pregame press conference that the weather affects both teams, even if Cavalry have trained in it before, and he isn’t worried about that. “The weather doesn’t play the game, nobody wins with the weather,” said Kah. “The game is the 90 minutes you play, weather has nothing to do with the game. If we focus on the weather, we’re focusing on the wrong thing — we focus on the game.”
• Wheeldon Jr. believes ‘it’s time’ for Cavalry to take the next step: Over the first three CPL regular seasons, Cavalry have arguably been the best team in the CPL, having won or tied for the league lead in points in all three seasons. Despite that, they’re yet to get their hands on the North Star Shield, losing in the 2019 final, and missing the 2020 final by a small margin to eventual runners up HFX Wanderers. Head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. believes that 2021 is time for them to finally get over the line. “There’s an old saying… ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’,” said Wheeldon Jr. in the leadup to this match. “I think we’ve been a team that, if you accumulate all the points over all the years that we’ve played in, we’ve been there or thereabout. I think it’s time for us to show the class that we’re about, and try and finish this as strong as we can.”
• Pacific missing MacNaughton and Dos Santos through suspension, Cavalry’s Simmons out hurt: After picking up an eighth yellow card of the season in Pacific’s second-last match of the regular season against York United, defender Lukas MacNaughton was handed a two-game suspension. He missed the regular season finale, a 1-0 defeat to this same Cavalry side, and will serve the second game of the suspension during Saturday’s semifinal. Attacker Gianni Dos Santos was sent off at the end of that match, and is also suspended through Saturday’s contest. Both would be eligible to return for the CPL final, should Pacific beat Cavalry. For the Cavs, the only player missing is midfielder Elliot Simmons, who is dealing with a high ankle sprain. Nik Ledgerwood left Tuesday’s game against Forge FC in just the ninth minute with a hamstring issue, but is day-to-day and will be reevaluated before the match, according to head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.

ALL-TIME SERIES

Cavalry FC wins: 6 || Pacific FC wins: 4 || Draws: 2

Previous match:

November 7, 2021 — Cavalry FC 1-0 Pacific FC

KEY QUOTES

“Coming out of the bubble, Pacific were certainly the team that everyone was talking about, and they led from the front for a long, long time. I think they arguably played some of the best football in this league.” — Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.

“There’s nothing Tommy is going to do that I don’t expect, there’s nothing I’m going to do that he isn’t going to expect. It’s going to be a game of the little margins, the little details is what always wins and loses football games. At the end of the day, if we get our margins right, we’ll win this game.” — Pacific FC head coach Pa-Modou Kah