Out in British Columbia, Vancouver FC is getting set to host Cavalry FC at Willoughby Community Park, in what could be a massive matchup for the visitors.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot for the hosts to play for - while they’re assured of finishing last place in the table after drawing Atlético Ottawa last week, they’re battling to avoid setting the record for the fewest points in a CPL season.
Having already disrupted the CPL Shield race with that draw against Ottawa, which came just a week after they also drew fellow Shield contenders Forge, Vancouver will feel they’re on a nice run to end the year, too.
Currently unbeaten in five CPL matches (2W-3D-0L), they’ve found a bit of form as fall has come around, doing well to build off their magical run to the Canadian Championship final, where they fell to eventual champions, the Vancouver Whitecaps, 4-2 in an entertaining match at BC Place.
"I think we've caught our stride at the right time, to be honest," Vancouver's interim head coach, Martin Nash, said this week. "Since (early August), I think we've played well, we haven't always got the results, but then once the results started coming, I think we've been in a bit of a flow since."
As for Cavalry, though, their goal for ‘The Outcome’ is quite clear - they need to win.
With a win, they secure third place ahead of the playoffs, which allows them to avoid the #4 vs #5 knockout match in the first game of the postseason, as they’d instead skip ahead to the semifinal qualifier, which they’d host.
Therefore, while they’re still disappointed that they won’t finish inside the top two for a third straight season, making their path towards lifting a second straight North Star Cup all the more difficult, they know that their title defence would be massively aided by them finishing third instead of fourth or fifth.
Unfortunately for Cavalry, however, they do enter this match in a bit of a rut, as they’ve dropped points in their last three games (0W-2D-1L), which would have allowed them to enter this matchday with that third-place spot already secured. They won’t rue those opportunities too much, as they still control their destiny, but those dropped points would loom large should they fail to win this match, however.
"That's all we can ask for, for our destiny to be up to us, not anybody else," Cavalry head coach, Tommy Wheeldon Jr., said. "We don't expect any favours across the board; everyone's got their own positions to play for, and we've got our own position to play for."
"We go into this with a strong squad against a decent team, and we get to control our own outcome."
In terms of player availability, Vancouver will be without Jay Herdman and Zach Verhoven, but otherwise, they have a full squad to choose from. Meanwhile, Cavalry welcomed back Ali Musse, Shamit Shome and Mihail Gherisamencov from international duty this week, but they'll be without Diego Gutiérrez as he returns from an injury.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
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Can Cavalry avoid distraction vs. a Vancouver side with nothing to lose? The toughest part of a match like this is easily the outside noise, with all the other teams in the league in action at the same time. In particular, from a Cavalry perspective, the performances of York United and the Halifax Wanderers, the two teams behind them, will be of great interest, as they take on Forge FC and Atlético Ottawa, respectively. At the same time, with Cavalry not needing to rely on those results to finish third, provided that they win this game, they can avoid getting caught up in all that noise. Because of that, look for them to remain focused on this game, especially against a Vancouver side that has nothing to lose. On paper, it can be easy to dismiss a trip to visit an already-eliminated side that is guaranteed to finish last, but Vancouver has played anything but like an eliminated side lately. For context, on this four-game unbeaten run, they’ve taken on the four other playoff teams, beating York and Halifax along with their draws vs. Forge and Ottawa, showing that they can compete with anyone in the league on their day - something Cavalry will be wary of. It must be remembered that Vancouver did knock them out of the Canadian Championship in the quarter-finals, after all.
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Could Vancouver finish with a third straight home win? After not winning at home all year in CPL play, Vancouver has the chance to finish the year on a high note, as a win this weekend would mark their third straight home victory in league play. Along with their win over Atlético Ottawa in the first leg of the Canadian Championship semi-finals early in August, they’ve found a bit of form at home over the last few months, and that’s huge, as a big reason for where they sit in the table has been their woes at Willoughby Community Park. Heading into next year, where they’ll want to build on this strong end to the season, starting with their first-ever foray into the Concacaf Champions Cup (their participation in the 2026 edition was confirmed this week thanks to the success of the Vancouver Whitecaps in MLS play), they know that they’ll have to be good at home to have any shot of pushing up the table in CPL play. Plus, with a big team set to come through Willoughby Community Park next year as part of Concacaf play, Vancouver would love to put up a good account of themselves in that game, too - yet, that just shows why they’ll want to finish this game in a high, giving them some momentum to build on as they get set for next season.
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Will Cavalry find spark on the road? It’s no secret - Cavalry haven’t been as good as they’d have hoped on the road, sitting with just 14 points from 13 games - a far cry from the 22 points they had in 2023 and 25 points they had in 2024. Yet, when looking at the reasons why Cavalry has fallen out of the top two this year, their road form has to be a big one, as they’ve been just as dominant at home as they always tend to be, picking up 27 points from 14 home games. In particular, they’re not scoring enough on the road, as they’ve scored just 16 goals in 13 road games, which, combined with a sloppier defensive record (they’ve also conceded 19 goals, more than they did in both 2023 and 2024), hasn’t been a great combo to rely on in these road games. To their credit, they’ve picked up points on the road, as they’ve lost just three of those 13 games, but a lack of wins has hurt them, as they’ve drawn five of those matches. Heading into the playoffs, where they’d have to win at least two road games against the top two teams, no matter where they finish, if they want to lift a North Star Cup, building some momentum on the road will be key. Fitting that they’ve now got the chance to do that against a side that has given them some trouble in these road games so far this year - Cavalry’s two previous visits to Langley both finished as draws, with one being a 1-1 draw in the Canadian Championship and the other a 0-0 draw in CPL play.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Vancouver FC: Irving; Dada-Luke, Campagna, Enyou, Gee; Fry; Powell, Mezquida, Fotsing, Bah; Mbongue
Cavalry FC: Carducci; Aird, Klomp, Montgomery, Kamdem; Shome, Kobza; Musse, Camargo, Ntignee; Warschewski
ALL-TIME SERIES
Vancouver FC wins: 0 || Cavalry FC wins: 6 || Draws: 5
Last meeting:
Aug. 17, 2025 — Cavalry FC 5-4 Vancouver FC
KEY QUOTES
"I trust everyone, and I've made that known to them. Whenever they've gotten their chance, they've stepped up and done a job, which is great from my perspective. This is also a good chance for me to see a bunch of these guys, and also for the club to see them, to really make good decisions on where the club needs to go next year with this squad." -- Vancouver FC interim head coach Martin Nash
"It's been a very strange season for continuity with international breaks and different things. But what is good, is that these guys know how to win, right? They've proven it before. They've been challenged this year, and have proven it again, they keep being challenged, and then proving it again. So no worries about that for us. Vancouver is riding a bit of free money because there's no expectations on them, they can relax, drop their shoulders. They've qualified for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, and that's great for the club, Martin Nash and the work that he's done there. But this won't be a party, this is where we forget friendship, relationships for 90 minutes, we're going there to play and do our best to win the football match." -- Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.
