Week eight of the 2025 Canadian Premier League season ends at the home of the red-hot reigning champions on Sunday, with Cavalry FC hosting Valour FC at ATCO Field.
Both sides are high on confidence coming into this match, after wins last weekend in league play before midweek draws in the Canadian Championship. Valour kicked off last weekend's action with a Friday night come-from-behind victory at home over York United, their first win of the season and three points that helped them climb off the bottom of the standings. Kelsey Egwu was the hero for the Winnipeggers, volleying the ball home in the 84th minute, after Kris Twardek cancelled out Gabriel Bitar's first half strike.
Then, on Tuesday night, high-flying MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps FC visited Winnipeg and were held to a 2-2 draw. Valour conceded early, but scored on either side of halftime to take a 2-1 lead, which they nearly held on to for a famous upset. Head coach Phil Dos Santos said on Friday that his side takes confidence from not only the last week of results, but more importantly a pair of good performances that he says need to be the "blueprint" for how they can be most effective.
Cavalry, meanwhile demolished Pacific FC at home last weekend. Mihail Gherasimencov got the scoring started early with a well-struck shot past Sean Melvin in the seventh minute for a 1-0 lead that Cavalry held on to until the hour mark. The Cavs then struck twice in eight minutes to get out to a commanding 3-0 lead, with Tobias Warschewski and Ali Musse each firing penalties past the Pacific netminder, before Nicolas Wähling rubbed the salt in Pacific's wound with the last kick of the game - a free kick that he curled into the top right corner.
The Cavs then travelled west for a Wednesday night cup game against Vancouver FC, where a late goal from Warschewski equalized for the Cavs and saw them earn a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their quarter-final.
After their annual poor start to the season, Cavalry has been near-perfect in the league since the calendar flipped to May. That win over Pacific came after Cavalry beat York United 2-1 in Toronto and Halifax 3-0 at Wanderers Grounds. They have quickly climbed the CPL standings, up to third place at the end of matchweek seven, and will look to continue that trajectory against a Valour side that has not won in Calgary since October 2021.
Both sides will head to ATCO Field on Sunday with hopes of extending their good runs of form, especially the visitors as they look to inch closer to the playoff line.
They have clean bill of health according to Dos Santos, an area where they have a clear advantage over the Cavs.
Eryk Kobza, Diego Gutiérrez and Michael Baldisimo are working on their recoveries after each picking up longer-term injuries, with the trio set to be re-evaluated in June. Caniggia Elva is "50-50" according to Tommy Wheeldon Jr and will undergo more fitness tests ahead of kickoff, as is the case for Bradley Kamdem - who is set to return from suspension in this match but was feeling the effects of a challenge late in the midweek game against Vancouver.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
- Can Cavalry continue near-flawless May?: After only picking up a single point across three matches in April, Cavalry have completely turned their form around thus far into May. Wins over York United and Halifax Wanderers FC on the road set the stage for a big homecoming against Pacific FC last weekend, and the Cavs ddn't disappoint, dominating Pacific FC 4-0. Sunday's match against Valour will be their fourth of five CPL matches in the month, with a trip to Hamilton to take on Forge FC also on the schedule on the final day of the month. Cavalry has historically had slow starts to the year before finding a hot streak and shooting up the standings, and this seems to be just that, so if they can continue to build as a team into the summer months and get players back from injuries, they will once again be in the conversation for the CPL Shield and a favourable playoff spot.
- Does the starting job in net for Valour belong to Eleias Himaras?: Eleias Himaras entered this season as the backup goalkeeper in Winnipeg behind last year's starter Jonathan Viscosi, but in recent games has played well and found himself in the Valour starting lineup. He made his debut for the club against TSS Rovers in the preliminary round of the Canadian Championship, making a handful of saves as Valour kept a clean sheet and advanced to the quarter-finals. Last weekend he started against York United, the club he joined Valour from in the offseason, and backstopped the team to their first league win of the season, and midweek got the nod again as the Vancouver Whitecaps came to town and were held by the CPL side to a 2-2 draw. Himaras has made some important saves across those three games, and him getting the nod against the Whitecaps could be a sign that he is getting an opportunity to take the starting job in Winnipeg. When asked about it on Friday, head coach Phil Dos Santos did not specifiy if that was the case, but was adamant about the fact that having two goalkeepers that are capable of starting week in and week out was a priority for the team, and that whoever is playing better will be the goalkeeper he puts between the sticks.
- Gherasimencov using his versatility to seal place in the side: Expected by many to be depth at left back when he was first signed on loan from the Vancouver Whitecaps, Mihail Gherasimencov started his 2025 campaign with several appearances off the bench. In recent weeks, however, Gherasimencov has established himself as an important player on both sides of the ball for the Cavs, featuring higher up the pitch. In last week's win over Pacific, Gherasimencov scored the winning goal a few minutes into the match with a well-struck effort that he powered past Sean Melvin for the first of four unanswered Cavalry goals. That came after a two-assist performance in the Canadian Championship against Edmonton Scottish where CPL fans got a first real glimpse of his ability on the ball to pick out teammates and control play down the left side of the pitch. Head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr said ahead of Sunday's match that Gherasimencov played as a winger when he was younger and is comfortable playing anywhere on the flank, which is versatility that could see him become a mainstay in the Cavs starting eleven.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Cavalry FC: Carducci; Aird, Laing, Montgomery, Field; Shome, Piepgrass; Musse, Camargo, Gherasimencov; Warschewski
Valour FC: Himaras; Fernandez, Romeo, Facchineri, Antonoglou; Ohin, Figueiredo; Twardek, Venâncio, Williams; Hundal
ALL-TIME SERIES
Cavalry wins: 13 || Valour wins: 3 || Draws: 6
Last meeting:
October 19, 2024 — Cavalry FC 2-1 Valour FC
KEY QUOTES
"I think that's something that you see in a growing trend is [CPL clubs] don't fear the opponent in front of us. I'm sure when they come to ours they'll come having a bit of confidence knowing that they've played a bigger club than us [and] it's up to us now to give them a reason to quit." -- Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr
"If we don't take a game like [the draw midweek against the Vancouver Whitecaps] as a blueprint and show up at least every day with the mentality that we had during that game then there's no point. It's a very difficult league, teams need to show up every day and I think that when you're able to do it and you're able to get results by working the way we've worked the last couple of games, it just gives the group the confidence and the belief that this is the only way to go about it." -- Valour FC head coach Phil Dos Santos