| Final Score: Cavalry FC 4-1 Forge FC Goalscorers: Warschewski 14', 55, Musse 50', Camargo 62'; Ampomah 61' Game of the 2025 season: 81 CPL Match: 676 |
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Match in a minute or less
Cavalry FC channelled their 2024 CPL Final performance on Saturday at ATCO Field, as they dismantled Forge FC to halt the Hammers' 20-game unbeaten run with a 4-1 win.
Tobias Warchewski found the net first for Cavalry, who took a slim 1-0 lead into halftime before exploding in the second frame. Ali Musse scored just five minutes into the second half, before Warschewski added another with an excellent finish from outside the box a few moments later.
Nana Ampomah clawed one back around the hour mark to give Forge life, but Sergio Camargo answered in just over a minute to restore Cavalry's three-goal lead.
The Cavs thus saw out the 4-1 win, beating Forge in the Hamilton club's first visit to Calgary since the Final.
Three Observations
Cavalry protect home turf, make statement with energetic, aggressive play
With this being Forge's first visit to Calgary since the 2024 CPL Final, it's fitting that Cavalry kicked off Saturday's match in much the same way that brought them success in that title clincher.
Keen on re-asserting their home field dominance against the Hammers, Cavalry were the more energetic and dynamic side in the first half — though they avoided an early blow thanks to Daan Klomp's goal-line clearance in the second minute. After that brief scare, Cavalry became clear aggressors, creating a flurry of excellent chances thanks to their quick, incisive passing and aggressive intent to play forward.
Cavalry's mentality was largely the driving force behind Saturday's performance. Just like in the final, they came in with a clear game plan and were more up for it on the day.
Even when Forge showed a small sign of life, with their goal just around the hour mark, Cavalry went straight back up the other end and scored again: Sergio Camargo's goal came just 1:06 after Nana Ampomah's.
Much of the narrative in the build-up to Saturday's game surrounded Forge and their 20-game undefeated streak. Perhaps Cavalry, irritated by a focus on their opponents, were particularly motivated to remind the rest of the CPL that they're the reigning champions.
Playing Forge often brings the best out of Cavalry, and that's rarely been more true than in this game, where they delivered arguably their best performance of the year.
The Cavs created 14 shots, eight of them inside the box, and had 23 touches in the penalty area. They were decisive, moved the ball quickly, and above all determined to finish chances. After a couple of misses earlier in the game, including a Camargo strike off the crossbar, they were not deterred and instead continued their assault on the opposing goal.
A win like this can do a lot for the confidence of a side that hasn't always been at their best this season. With seven weeks to go in the regular season and a 13-point gap to the top of the table, Cavalry's top priority at the moment should be getting into as much rhythm as possible ahead of the playoffs (and locking down the third-place spot at minimum).
If they continue to click like this over the next couple of months, it would surprise no one if they go on to defend their North Star Cup.
Forge's unbeaten streak comes to abrupt halt with uncharacteristically poor outing
It was always going to be difficult for Forge to get through the entire CPL season without a loss, but nobody would've expected the streak to end with a defeat this heavy.
Ultimately, one side was far more up for it than the other. Bobby Smyrniotis said after the game that, frankly, it wasn't a complicated problem to diagnose: Forge simply weren't good enough in possession.
"We were terrible on the ball," Smyrniotis said. "Don't look for too many pointers here on what happened.
"When you're not good on the ball, the field is open. There's transitions, and in transitions, teams can score goals, including [against] Forge. If we're not good on the ball, we're going to keep ourselves open to transitions. Where did those goals come from? Transition moments. So it's very simple. When you pass the ball to the other team when you have zero pressure on you, it's going to be a problem."
Forge gave the ball away at key moments, which allowed Cavalry's lightning-quick counter to bury them. Few of Cavalry's attacking sequences involved much, if any, horizontal movement, which allowed them to capitalize on the space left by too many Forge players getting caught high up the pitch.
The Hamilton club were also wasteful with the chances they did have, though there weren't many of them. They generated just 0.71 expected goals and six shots, which didn't cause much trouble for Marco Carducci aside from the one that Nana Ampomah scored.
In the first half, Forge had a very early chance to take the lead which they squandered, and multiple opportunities to even the score, which might've made for a very different occasion had it been level at halftime.
Now that the quest for an invincible season is over, perhaps there's a burden lifted off Forge. They can re-focus heading into the last seven games of the regular season, knowing they just need to collect as many points as possible to secure the CPL Shield, but without as much fear of losing.
Regardless, they remain an exceptionally strong team, who will likely take this setback as a useful learning opportunity.
Cavalry attack hitting stride since Ntignee's arrival, Musse's return
After a frustrating spell earlier in the summer, where they scored seven goals over a 10-game stretch from the start of June to the second week of August, Cavalry's attack has come back to life in recent weeks.
They've now scored 11 goals in the past three matches, and their confidence looks like it's returned — particularly among the club's attacking stars. Tobias Warschewski hadn't scored in 11 straight league matches, before finally netting in the 5-4 win over Vancouver FC two weeks ago. Ali Musse had also been on a dry spell, and had to sit through a three-game suspension in late July before returning for the aforementioned Vancouver match, where he provided two assists before scoring twice the following week in Ottawa.
Here against Forge, again it was Musse and Warschewski playing an enormous role, but credit — for this entire resurgence of the last few weeks — is also due to Goteh Ntignee, who returned to Cavalry in mid-July after a couple of years spent in France. The elusive winger has been outstanding for the Cavs in these past three games, starting all of them on the left side of the attack.
Tommy Wheeldon Jr. explained in his pre-match comments that Ntignee's presence in the front three opens up space for the rest of the attacking players, particularly Ali Musse on the opposite wing because opponents can no longer double-team him or take away his space. Now, opposing defensive lines have to remain vigilant to cover the threat from both sides, which is a difficult task; even Forge, who have the best defensive record in the CPL, could not keep them at bay.
"I feel like behind Goteh, Tobi and Musse, I'm the lion tamer," said Sergio Camargo, who did a marvellous job occupying the pocket in the middle of those three.
"I let them go whenever I feel like it's time to go, and I try to chain them in whenever I feel like the team behind us can't keep up with them, because they're so dynamic, they're so fast, they're so dangerous. My job is to let them be as effective and as dangerous as possible, while making sure that we keep our shape and we keep the principles that we work on during the week."
Camargo has been outstanding for Cavalry all season, but with his fellow attackers finding their confidence, he's more effective than ever now that they keep popping up in dangerous slots to either receive or feed him a pass.
What They Said
"That's the game we needed. We're unbeaten in four now, and we're starting our own run. But we're scoring goals, and that's exciting. What you need, as you get closer to that playoff run, first you've got to clinch the playoffs, so you'll put points on the board. But the more goals we score, the more insurance we give ourselves. Then defensively, what I really liked today was our game management, seeing the game out." — Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.
"[It's like] an unforced error in tennis, when the opponent doesn't do much to you but you keep on making a wrong decision. If you look at that first half, we're passing the ball, we're sloppy, we're bad, and it has nothing to do with pressure, nothing to do with something that was happening. When you do that, it compounds." — Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis.
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Tobias Warschewski, Cavalry FC
Warschewski was a force of nature in this game, scoring with two emphatic and precise finishes. He also created four chances and made a team-high 13 passes in the final third.
What’s next?
Next weekend, Cavalry head on the road to play York United on Friday, Sept. 5 (7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT). The following day, Forge will be back at home for a clash with the Halifax Wanderers (4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT).
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