Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
‘Firsts’ have peppered the campaign of Cavalry FC so far this season.
Right now, that’s meant a skid like never before for Calgary’s professional footie side.
So in trying to turn the strange tide, the Cavs are hoping Saturday for a little bit of familiarity — rather than firsts — to lift them from this funk.
And they’ll get it thanks to a schedule that pits them against an incoming team to which they’ve never lost — FC Edmonton at ATCO Field (4 p.m., OneSoccer, OneSoccer.ca).
It shapes up as a timely match for the local troops.
“Possibly,” said Cavalry GM/head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. “I’d always prefer to have a week between games to really properly recover and prep, but we’ve got to play with what the fixture gives us — and that’s playing against them.”
All in all, it should be a welcome foe for the Cavs, who’ve owned the Eddies with a 10-3-0 record all-time.
Plus there’s added incentive to continue that domination with the Cavs just one point away from clinching the Al Classico season-series over Edmonton and top spot in play for the Calgary side on the Canadian Premier League table.
“We never underestimate them — I think that’s probably the best we can say about it,” continued Wheeldon Jr. “No matter what our favour and our scoreline, we play one game at a time against them.
“But this one we know means we can win our series (against Edmonton) and win the Wild Rose Cup. And this one now is a good one to come away with (for the CPL standings), because we win and guess what? We’re back in first place … but we’ve gotta put the points on the board.”
Of course, that hasn’t come easy for the Cavs in the last three games. On Tuesday, they dropped a 2-1 match to nemesis Forge FC, following up what was a 1-0 shocking fall to York FC and an ugly 3-0 defeat at the hands of defending champion Pacific FC.
But the team is chalking up the back-to-back-to-back stretch to just one of those firsts that they’ve encountered on the year.
“I think it’s just been one of those really interesting learning experiences this season,” said Wheeldon Jr. “First time ever that we’ve never won in our first three league games. Then we beat our club record of most games unbeaten — it might be a league record, too. And then we’ve never lost three straight, which we have now.
“But I would sooner go through these challenges and triumphs through the 28 games now then I would to discover that in playoffs. First and foremost, we have to stay above that (bottom-four) line.”
Indeed, the CPL standings are of some concern after the 0-fer-week of Cavalry.
The team — now 8-4-5 — slumped to fourth place but sit just one point back of Forge, Pacific and Ottawa Atlético, all on 29.
“Just a blip,” said Wheeldon Jr. “People aren’t used to seeing us have back-to-back defeats, let alone three straight. Everything is in context. The York one was an anomaly. We should never have lost it — the data supports that.
“The Pacific one, we chose to protect some of our players and rotated to put some of our other players into a meaningful game, knowing it would be a good one and they could learn from it. That one we would want back, especially the goals we conceded — they were garbage.
“But this one against Forge, I thought it was a really good match. Having watched it back, we started brilliantly, they came back into the game, and we finished really really strong. Had it not been for a Triston Henry point-blank save (off Joe Mason’s in-tight redirect with his head) or Daan Klomp’s header (missing over the crossbar), we’re splitting spoils again. But we want to learn from this big matches — we’ll learn from it, we’ll keep growing, and we’ll go on from there.”
Right into a match against last-place Edmonton (2-5-10) that looks like a right-the-ship moment for the suddenly slumping side.
“It’s a cup final — that’s it,” added Wheeldon Jr. “We know Edmonton has been approaching it as a cup game every time they play us. So actually, it’s a great incentive for our players, because we talk about wanting to play in these big-game experiences.
“Edmonton has had the full week to prepare, so they have an advantage coming into this game, because they’ve been able to just concentrate on us. It’s a great moment for our lads to show on a response at home in front of our fans.”
FREE KICKS
Wheeldon Jr. says Cavalry forward Aribim Pepple has mere hours to nail down terms to join an overseas club — that’s Aug. 1. “Otherwise the discussion is null and void,” said Wheeldon Jr. “Hopefully it’ll finalize sooner rather than later, so he can move forward and we can move forward and start looking at how we finish the season.” … Cavs sparkplug Jose Escalante will be available for selection Saturday after serving a one-game suspension Wednesday for too many yellow cards. But fellow midfielder Charlie Trafford is lost to the team for this game due to his yellow-card accumulation … Defender Bradley Vliet (illness) is cleared to return to the roster, but forward Jean-Aniel Assi (illness) is still out after being placed in COVID protocol before last game … Captain Mason Trafford (knee) remains doubtful, while forward Myer Bevan (hamstring) is out until at least mid-August …
Post a Comment