A fierce all-Alberta battle looms at ATCO Field on Tuesday, where Cavalry FC will host Edmonton Scottish United SC in the preliminary round of the 2025 TELUS Canadian Championship.
Edmonton Scottish’s debut foray into this tournament as the first-ever League1 Alberta champions, they’ll have plenty to prove, as they look to surprise their provincial neighbours in their first-ever matchup, one that will hopefully reignite the flames of past matchups between teams from these respective cities, in this sport and elsewhere.
No doubt, however, the pressure lies with Cavalry. That was always going to be the case for the defending North Star Cup winners, who were left with a sour taste in their mouth for how their 2024 Canadian Championship run ended, as they fell to the eventual champions, the Vancouver Whitecaps, on away goals in the quarter-finals.
Now, the pressure has only ramped up. After a remarkable Concacaf Champions Cup appearance back in February, in which Cavalry fell 3-2 to Liga MX side Pumas UNAM in a tie that saw Cavalry defeat the Mexican side in the first leg, Cavalry feels ready to slay some giants.
Having also gotten off to a tough start to the CPL season, where they’ve drawn one and lost two of their first three games to kick off their North Star Cup defence, this is a chance to get back on track and put up a confidence-building performance against a side they’re expected to beat.
Despite Cavalry being favourites, however, don’t count out Edmonton Scottish. As seen over the past few years, League1 Canada sides don’t mind causing an upset in this competition -- Ligue1 Québec’s CS Saint-Laurent defeated the Halifax Wanderers on penalties in the 2024 preliminary round, while League1 BC’s TSS Rovers beat Valour FC 3-1 in the 2023 preliminary round, and there have been several other close matches involving League 1 sides over the years.
More specifically, though, the Rovers run will be of great inspiration to this Edmonton side, as much like Edmonton this year, the Rovers were the first-ever League 1 BC participants in this competition back in 2023, showing that Edmonton’s debutant status doesn’t have to deter them from wanting to dream in 2025.
In fact, they’ve got more reasons to believe in an upset, as it can be argued that they have truly nothing to lose as first-time participants, as they aren’t weighed down by any past history in this competition.
What they do have, is positive momentum, having had a terrific League1 Alberta debut.
In the first-ever season of the league, they immediately stood out as a strong team, finishing atop the regular season table with 23 points from 12 games, scoring 22 goals and conceding 17.
They did finish tied with the Calgary Foothills, who also had 23 points, but Edmonton topped the table on a head-to-head tiebreaker after winning one and drawing one of their matchups with the Foothills. Because of that, they clinched a Canadian Championship berth, which was assigned to the league’s regular season winner, earning them access to this competition.
If there was any doubt of their qualification credentials, however, given how close it was between them and the Foothills, however, they put that to rest in the first-ever final, which pitted the two teams. There, Edmonton won 3-1 in extra time, as they scored in the 92nd and 107th minute to secure a victory after the game had finished 1-1 in regular time, allowing them to secure a regular season and playoff double.
Now, they’d love nothing more than a similar result against this Calgary-based outfit. For what it’s worth, however, Cavalry do have a strong record in the opening round, having advanced from this stage in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2024, with a penalty shootout loss to 2023 the only year where they were eliminated in the first round that they entered, something they’ll look to continue despite Edmonton Scottish’s best efforts to cause an upset.
Canadian Championship History
Last meeting: N/A
Cavalry FC:
All-time record: 8W-2D-6L
Best finish: Semi-finals (2019) - Lost to CF Montréal 3-1 on aggregate
Edmonton Scottish United SC:
All-time record: N/A
Best finish: N/A
Key Quotes
“You need to have a mind like a goldfish. Football moves on pretty quickly. We’ve seen it every year, there are going to be patches of results that just didn't go our way, and that’s football, that’s sports, and that’s life. That’s what we told the lads, who are a talented group of footballers, sometimes they need a bit of mental reboot, and this Canadian Championship is a great distraction. It’s a provincial derby, and we’ve missed that, so we’re looking forward to the game.” – Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.
“There's always something to prove when it's Calgary vs. Edmonton. Some of our players have something to prove, they've been on trial or played there before. Tommy and I have a good relationship, we were texting right before the draw, he was saying he hoped that he get us, and that it'd be good for soccer in the province, and then he texted me right after we were drawn against each other to say 'see you in April', so it'll be fun.” – Edmonton Scottish United SC head coach, Paul Hamilton
