Some of the Canadian Premier League's biggest stars will collide in Alberta this weekend, when red-hot Cavalry FC return home to host Vancouver Island's Pacific FC.
The Cavs enter Saturday's match on a three-game winning streak (in all competitions), having beaten Edmonton Scottish in the TELUS Canadian Championship before seeing off both York United and the Halifax Wanderers in a pair of solid road victories in CPL action.
With those points on the board, Cavalry find themselves fourth in the league table at the beginning of matchweek seven, with a 2-1-2 record and seven points. They didn't have the smoothest of starts to the year, going winless in April, but the beginning of May brought a surge in form and now they seem back to their championship calibre. Last weekend in Halifax, the Cavs survived a couple of scares but managed to take the lead just before halftime, then finished off a tough away win with a pair of Ali Musse goals late in the second half.
Now, Tommy Wheeldon Jr.'s side looks as dangerous as ever up front, led by the CPL's 2024 Golden Boot winner Tobias Warschewski, who has three league goals to his name already this year, as well as the dynamic winger Musse.
Arriving in Calgary with hopes of spoiling the home team's momentum are Pacific FC, who also have seven points, with a 2-1-3 record (and one more game played than Cavalry), sitting in fifth behind Saturday's hosts due to goal differential.
The Tridents collected their first win since opening day last week, coming from behind to beat York United 2-1. Although they conceded first, they managed to equalize from the penalty spot before Mexican striker Emanuel Montejano deflected home the winner in the 92nd minute.
Pacific went through a dry patch in late April and early May where they struggled to put the ball in the net, but scoring twice against York and taking all three points was an encouraging sign for James Merriman's team.
Heading to ATCO Field, Merriman will take all the encouraging signs he can get, because it's not a venue that has been particularly kind to his side historically. In fact, Pacific have never won a CPL regular season match in Calgary, and have only scored one goal in their last seven visits to ATCO Field. The last time these sides met was a 4-1 Cavalry win at Pacific's Starlight Stadium last October, and Cavalry also won the last game between them in Calgary -- a 1-0 result that time.
That said, Pacific have had some success in Calgary. They won a CPL semi-final there in extra time en route to winning the 2021 championship, and also knocked the Cavs out of the Canadian Championship earlier that year.
Both sides come in with strong squads available, though a few key players remain missing. Cavalry have been fairly bruised in recent weeks especially in midfield, with Michael Baldisimo and Diego Gutiérrez still injured -- though Jesse Daley returned from his knock to feature last weekend. Eryk Kobza's foot injury keeps him sidelined, and Wheeldon Jr. also confirmed this week that Caniggia Elva will be unavailable again with a thigh strain. Finally, fullback Bradley Kamdem-Fewo will serve the last of his three-game suspension this weekend after his red card against Atlético Ottawa.
For Pacific, the two key absences will be Ronan Kratt and Juan Quintana, both of whom recently suffered season-ending ACL injuries, Merriman confirmed this week. Midfielders Sean Young and Daniel De Pauli, meanwhile, are both considered day-to-day and could have some involvement.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
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Pacific need to keep attack rolling despite Kratt injury: The Tridents will find it difficult to replace Ronan Kratt's dynamism in their attack; he has contributed two goals to the club this year, but now he's set to miss the rest of the campaign with an ACL injury. The good news for Pacific, though, is that Mexican striker Emanuel Montejano is on the board with his first goal for the club. They've been missing a true number nine at the front of their attack, so if Montejano can quickly get up to full match sharpness, Pacific's attack could become much more dangerous with a focal point to get on the end of balls into the box. Marco Bustos has looked better and better every game since returning to Van Isle this year, and if he can build a partnership with Montejano there could be many more goals in the Tridents' future.
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Cavalry stars heating up, but face challenge vs. Pacific defence: Cavalry are at their best when Tobias Warschewski and Ali Musse are at their best, and that certainly was the case in last weekend's win over Halifax. Warschewski scored the opener for his third of the CPL season, while Musse potted his first two goals of the league campaign and has looked increasingly confident over the last few weeks. However, few teams are as tough to play through as Pacific. Not only do they have Kadin Chung, one of the best defensive right-backs in the CPL, looking to stop any momentum out wide; in the middle, Aly Ndom is making his case as one of the league's top centre-backs. The Frenchman has been wonderfully stout in one-on-one situations and can command the air in Pacific's penalty area.
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Can Cavs youngsters continue their contributions? One storyline that was a little overshadowed in Cavalry's win over Halifax was the contributions of two talented young players in their starting XI. Mihail Gherasimencov started at left wing, while Max Piepgrass got his first professional start in midfield. Both made an impact; Gherasimencov displayed his natural fullback skillset to help win the ball high up the pitch, adding extra energy to the Cavs' press. Piepgrass, meanwhile, was composed on the ball next to Shamit Shome. With roughly the same injury list as a week ago, it wouldn't surprising to see both players get the nod again this week. Tommy Wheeldon Jr. has shown he will reward young players who have earned their minutes, and neither Gherasimencov nor Piepgrass has given him any reason to take them out of the lineup.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Cavalry FC: Carducci; Aird, Laing, Montgomery, Field; Shome, Piepgrass; Musse, Camargo, Gherasimencov; Warschewski
Pacific FC: Melvin; Chung, Machado, Ndom, Lajeunesse; Keshavarz, Browning-Lagerfeldt, Daniels; Bustos, Montejano, Heard
ALL-TIME SERIES
Cavalry wins: 16 || Pacific wins: 8 || Draws: 6
Last meeting:
Oct. 5, 2024 — Pacific FC 1-4 Cavalry FC
KEY QUOTES
"It's great to see Ali Musse scoring. He's always a threat, I think sometimes you've just got to rattle the cage and wake up the beast inside of him. With the way we'd started, that often does that because he carries expectations. He's a big player, so he wants to perform. He wants to score the goals, and it was nice to see him get a couple." -- Cavalry head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. on Ali Musse
"The standard has impressed me, and how we play has really impressed me. I've really enjoyed playing with my new teammates, how we play, and all the different individuals and the coaching philosophy as well within that has been superb." -- Cavalry defender Levi Laing
"[Montejano] gives us a central focus as a striker, as a nine, and he's pressing. He presses the centre-backs, he works in that defensive transition when we lose the abll, to regain the ball. And in attack, he knows where he needs to be, which is in the penalty box. He attacks all the crosses. He's always trying to get a piece or get on the second balls in the box, and that's an area where I think in the first few games of the season, we've been creating chances, getting into that space -- we've had touches in the opposition box, final third entries, but not enough goals to show for it. So he's a player that sniffs goals and finds those spaces." -- Pacific head coach James Merriman on Emanuel Montejano
"With Cavs, it's always going to be a fight. They're a physical group; they work hard, they press well. To me, [we need] to be confident on the ball and brave on the ball. We're a possession-based team, and when teams press, sometimes you've got to play out of the press or skip it." -- Pacific midfielder Aidan Daniels