| Inter Toronto vs. Cavalry FC June 10 at 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT York Lions Stadium in Toronto, Ont. Watch Live: OneSoccer Tickets available here |
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Inter Toronto will prepare to welcome the world to their city, and show some support for Canada ahead of the World Cup, on Wednesday night, as they take on Cavalry FC in both sides' final match before the CPL's mid-season pause.
It's a crucial fixture for both sides, with Cavalry flying high and Toronto trying to right the ship and stay in the title hunt.
Inter Toronto sit in third place on 12 points, but they've suffered some blows recently. They lost in Laval to FC Supra two weeks ago, and this past Sunday they were thrashed 4-1 by derby rivals Forge FC.
Eight points ahead of Toronto, now, are Cavalry FC, who occupy second place with 20. They have their eye on the CPL Shield, and could put themselves closer to it if things go their way on Wednesday night.
The Cavs are two points behind Forge FC, who play the Halifax Wanderers on Wednesday simultaneously with this game. A dream evening for Cavalry, then, would see them beat Toronto and the Wanderers defeat the Hammers.
Halifax certainly won't be happy to do the Cavs any favours, but they'd love to bounce back after Cavalry beat them 2-0 on Saturday in Calgary.
These sides have met once in 2026 already, a 1-1 draw at ATCO Field. things have been fairly even between them in recent years, although the Cavs did knock Toronto out of the playoffs last year. Mauro Eustáquio's side had beaten Cavalry the two prior meetings, though.
"They always seem to give us their best effort and not so much Forge, which is weird," said Tommy Wheeldon Jr. "That's more of a rivalry, yet it seems more of a rivalry with us. What we're going to do is approach it as if we're going to see their best version again, and that's okay, because it's a great place to play. We've got a really good record there."
Cavalry have lost just once all year, and conceded just four goals, as they continue to be a dominant force in the CPL.
Both managers will be asking their teams to empty the tank in a way on Wednesday, with the World Cup break beginning right after. With the upcoming opportunity to rest and refresh, neither team will want to hold anything back in this final chance to make an impression before the time off.
NEWS & NOTES
- Inter Toronto remain without forward Shola Jimoh, who is in France at the Maurice Revello Tournament with Canada's U-20 national team. Defender Oswaldo León is a doubt for this game after missing out on Sunday.
- Cavalry winger Ali Musse is available after missing last week, and has travelled with the squad. The rest of the group is the same as was available on Saturday vs. Halifax.
- Two Cavalry FC players — Eryk Kobza and Adam Pearlman — are one yellow card away from a one-match suspension.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Inter Toronto: Urtiaga; López, Guzmán, Sturing; Ferrari, Yeates, Kibato, Almagro; Gonzales, Skublak, Altobelli
Cavalry FC: Ingham; Pearlman, Klomp, Didić, Kamdem; Paton, Kobza; Musse, Camargo, Ntignee; Warschewski
KEY QUOTES
"If we're solid at the back, we'll be able to score. Making sure that we're solid is something that I believe in. If teams want to be champions like we do, like we have ambition to do, we can't be conceding this amount of goals." - Inter Toronto head coach Mauro Eustáquio
"It will be an unpredictable game, to be honest. It's one where you've got to focus on how do I get the best out of the lads. We've been good away from home, and I think we've just got to keep leaning into what we can do. We've seen that with Toronto, they tied us at our place, they battered Ottawa, lost by the same result to Forge, so that inconsistency makes it tough for us to predict how they're going to be. We're predicting we're going to get their best version, because they also have a break afterwards." - Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.
