| Cavalry FC VS FC Supra du Québec July 28 at 7:00 p.m. MT | 9 p.m. ET ATCO Field, Calgary Live on OneSoccer, TSN Tickets availables here |
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FC Supra will finally have the opportunity to get revenge after Cavalry’s victory earlier in the season in Laval (0-1). Initially scheduled for June 28, this second meeting between the two teams could not take place due to the severe weather that hit the Alberta city that day.
It is therefore only postponed, and the stakes have ultimately not changed all that much since then. Cavalry remains in a good position in the standings, but at the same time is still trailing Forge FC, the solid leader of the CPL.
Never mind, the season is still long for Cavalry, there are plenty of points to be won, and this postponed match is an opportunity, in case of a victory, to move within 4 points of Forge FC (with one more match played).
Cavalry must also bounce back from two recent underwhelming performances to stay within reach of the leaders.
In their last match, against Vancouver FC, Cavalry suffered their first defeat since May 31, and their second defeat of the season.
Cavalry have not won in two matches, which looks like an anomaly, given how Tommy Wheeldon Jr.’s team has accustomed us to consistency in both performances and results.
Two simple facts demonstrate this: Cavalry have the best attack in the league with 23 goals scored and the best defence, with 7 goals conceded.
Individually, the key players are delivering. Tobias Warschewski has just been overtaken as the league’s top scorer by Montrealer Loïc Kwemi, but has still score 6 times. Goteh Ntignee, on the wing, continues to put in strong performances and has 3 goals and 5 assists to his name. The central defensive pairing of Daan Klomp and Amer Didic is, as expected, one of the strongest in the league. Finally, in goal, Nathan Ingham has perfectly settled into a team he joined this season.
This talented team is also capable of grinding out narrower victories, such as the one secured in the first meeting on Supra’s home field, thanks to a late penalty converted by Tobias Warschewski.
For Supra, getting a result in Alberta will be a challenge, with the objective of staying in the playoff race, or even climbing the standings. The Quebec team has several games in hand on its opponents, and the clash against Cavalry is one of them.
They can count on the current form of Loïc Kwemi, who will be able to engage in a head-to-head battle from a distance with Tobias Warschewski. The current momentum is rather in his favour: Kwemi has scored 6 goals in his last 6 matches, in addition to two assists, one in the CPL and the other in the Canadian Championship.
Sean Rea, the key man in Supra’s attacks, also faces the challenge of restarting the engine after a run of 3 matches without a single mention on the stat sheet.
The Montreal club must also ensure defensive solidity, as they are still chasing their first clean sheet of the season. There will be work to do: Cavalry have failed to score in only 3 league matches this season and are the team with the most shots on target across the league, with 68. That is 14 more than Supra. They are also the team that has taken the most shots, with 147 attempts, while Supra have attempted just 123.
There is, however, one element that should not be overlooked: Supra have shown that they are capable of holding their own against anyone and turning situations around.
There is therefore plenty of reason to (re)expect an entertaining match.
NEWS & NOTES
- Eryk Kobza (Cavalry) is suspended following the red card he received against Vancouver FC.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
FC Supra: Milli; Auguste, Chrétien, Ferdinand, Abzi; Mlah, Biello, Rea; Bey, Bayiha, Choinière
Cavalry: Ingham; Kamdem, Didic, Klomp, Pearlman; Paton, Baldisimo; Camargo, Musse, Ntignee; Warschewski
KEY QUOTES
Caniggia Elva (Cavalry FC) : It’s a match we were supposed to play a while ago, so we prepared for it beforehand. We’ve got back to work, we know we’re going to play at home, so we know what we need to bring. In the standings, we’re simply focused on ourselves, not on Forge. We have to do our job and not wait for other teams to do it. We play one match at a time, we know we’re good at home and we’re going to do our best. Supra are a good team, they have very good players, but they might be surprised by the atmosphere and how quickly the ball moves on our pitch. It’s very different playing on grass or on turf.
Tommy Wheeldon Jr (Cavalry coach) : It’s quite rare nowadays to have midweek matches in the league, so the important thing was to recover. Supra played against Halifax, so the situation is similar for both teams. [Regarding the tactical preparation]. We look at every team using the same process: we look at where they are good, their weaknesses and their flaws. We will certainly try to attack, and we’ve worked on some of those principles in training.
