| Final Score: Cavalry FC 0-1 York United Goalscorers: Altobelli 36' Game of the 2025 season: 62 CPL Match: 658 |
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Match in a minute or less
York United are up into fourth in the Canadian Premier League table after a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Cavalry FC on Saturday at ATCO Field.
Despite being outshot, outpossessed and outchanced, the Nine Stripes held on for their second consecutive clean sheet. Julian Altobelli's ninth of the season, which came off a poor Cavalry turnover in the 36th minute, was the game's only goal.
York United now move ahead of the Halifax Wanderers in the table, and trail Cavalry FC by just a single point. The Nine Stripes have now gone six straight without a loss in the league -- and three wins in a row for just the second time in club history.
Three Observations
York continue to rise up the table with gritty road performance
Last weekend, it was a four-goal explosion that earned York United three points at home against Vancouver FC. That pretty performance was followed by a gritty one on Saturday in Calgary, where York delivered a tenacious and committed defensive display.
Winning in different ways is vital for a team with aspirations to finish on the higher end of the table, and York demonstrated they can do just that within the space of a week.
For a team that has dropped a league-leading 16 points from winning positions this season, games like this will go a long way toward putting that behind them, as they bent significantly but refused to break for 54 minutes plus seven minutes of stoppage time after taking the lead. Against one of the league's best attacking teams, it was a vital sign of progress in their ability to see out matches.
They frustrated Cavalry in more ways than one on the afternoon. York's aggressive and combative style this season has also had a tendency to get under the skin of opponents. Saturday's match saw eight yellow cards, and there could have easily been more bookings, with the match ending with a significant coming together between both teams as frustrations boiled over.
In these moments of high tension, despite leading the league in fouls committed this season, with 231 fouls conceded, and yellow cards, with 56 -- 14 more than any other team -- York have been able to keep a level head, with still no red cards in the league this campaign.
In tight games like Saturday's, that require moments of immense precision, being able to put opponents off their game like this is a part of what York can do well. It is an added mental layer to what makes them so incredibly difficult to play against this season.
The hard-working, hard-nosed approach that they showed this week, combined with the free-flowing attacking football of last week, is why they are undefeated in their last six, and now find themselves in fourth place.
York United's complete team defending the difference
From Julian Altobelli up top, to Diego Urtiaga in goal, everyone who wore white and green on Saturday deserves credit for their commitment defensively.
There is no doubt that York United were under the cosh for most of Saturday's match, and at times could even consider themselves lucky that Cavalry were not a little bit more precise in their final action.
But they certainly made things incredibly difficult for Cavalry in attack throughout the match, especially through the middle where a double pivot of Elijah Adekugbe and Kembo Kibato shielded a back three of Luke Singh, Frank Sturing and Oswaldo Léon. Whenever they lost possession, York were incredibly quick and organized to get back into their defensive shape.
When that group was bypassed, Urtiaga had his best performance yet in net for York, making nine saves, including a stunning double-stop late in the match which rescued the three points for the Nine Stripes.
But the attackers deserve credit for the hard yards they put in as well, particularly Massimo Ferrin. Cavalry continuously looked to overload the right flank, and create two-v-ones with Goteh Ntignee drifting over to join Ali Musse. But Ferrin did well to consistently get back and make sure his side were well covered. He finished with 14 duels contested, and won three tackles.
The most important of those came in the 36th minute, when he recognized a poor pass across the backline from Callum Montgomery, and picked it off. Kembo Kibato was then able to latch onto the ball and play in Julian Altobelli, giving York the lone goal of the match on their only shot.
"This team leaves absolutely everything on the field, and you can see it," said goalscorer Altobelli. "You can see how much we've grown as a team, because earlier in the season, when it would be late in the game, we would concede, and now you see how our backline and our midfielders and our forwards are all working together to fight and keep this clean sheet.
"It's honestly been amazing, and we still have another gear that we're going to hit, and this is just the beginning for this group."
Cavalry continue to struggle to find goals against low blocks
For a seventh time this CPL season, and nine in all competitions, Cavalry FC failed to open the scoring. And for a ninth time that resulted in dropped points.
Cavalry are now 0-5-4 when they don't score first in all competitions this season. They have found just five goals in those nine matches after their opponents opened the scoring.
Breaking down a low block, especially one with something to protect, is one of the most difficult things to do in the sport. But Cavalry have consistently struggled to do so this season -- and it is likely the leading reason they have fallen behind the league's top two teams.
"It's a problem that we have to solve, because at the end of the day, we didn't score," said Cavalry FC goalkeeper Marco Carducci. "We know teams are going to do that against us. We take it as a sign of respect, but now it's about breaking down those blocks and scoring goals, because that's what wins games."
Saturday night's game was probably as well as they have done it all season in this regard, as they were given a significant boost by two new signings making their season and club debuts respectively in Goteh Ntignee and Ayman Sellouf.
Cavalry finished with an incredible 2.8 expected goals, 26 shot attempts, and forced nine saves out of York goalkeeper Diego Urtiaga, including an outstanding double save late. But they were unable to put anything beyond him.
The pace and directness of Ntignee, who started the match up top, looks like it will be a real game-changer for this side going into the second half of the season. He finished with 13 touches in the box, six chances created, three shot attempts and four dribbles completed.
Still, Cavalry failed to move the ball up the pitch quickly enough at times when York lost the ball in vulnerable areas, instead looking to possess and build out of the back and allowing the visitors to reset their shape. They also occasionally lacked a central presence to finish off the good work they did down the wings.
Things are only going to get more difficult from here for Cavalry in this regard as the stakes get higher, and teams recognize this pattern. The good news for them is that they get to go again in three days time against Valour FC in Winnipeg, and will be keen to show that they can be far more clinical in front of goal.
What They Said
"Frustrated with the result, but not the performance. I think I've been here before and we've won and we played worse. Today, we played very good. Reality is we gave them a gift, and we didn't get one back." -- Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.
"I think the biggest thing for me was to create a culture, create a team that believes in itself. Where they can go and get three points anywhere in the league. And I think we're doing that obviously, not all results are pretty, but we have to understand that. We have to manage that. We have to win games like this as well." -- York United head coach Mauro Eustáquio
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Frank Sturing, York United
The central defender was the key organizer at the back for the Nine Stripes on Saturday as they held on for their second consecutive clean sheet. He made seven clearances, three interceptions, and won possession seven times which completing a solid 90 per cent of his passes.
What’s next?
Cavalry have a short turnaround, as they are off to Winnipeg, where they face Valour FC on Tuesday, July 29 (6 p.m. MT). York, meanwhile, are off to the nation's capital next Sunday, August 3 (4 p.m. ET)
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