Cavalry FC fall short in continental debut
Luke Gardiner, Contributor |
It was a week of firsts for Calgary’s professional soccer team Cavalry FC – their first international match, the first match by a Canadian Premier League team against an American club, but most importantly, they scored their first goal in the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Champions Cup, the most prestigious club competition in North America.
Cavalry qualified by finishing top of the Canadian Premier League (CPL) regular season standings last season, before falling short in the final after extra time, losing 2-1 to Hamilton’s Forge FC. The draw for the newly rebranded CONCACAF Champions Cup occurred on December 13, featuring twenty-seven of the best teams in the region representing ten countries. Near the end of the draw, Cavalry pulled Orlando City, from Major League Soccer (MLS) out of the pot for the elimination home-and-away series. Orlando qualified by finishing second in the MLS Eastern Conference and the overall standings, before falling out of the playoffs after a 2–0 defeat in the conference semi-final to Columbus Crew.
The mismatch between the teams was clear from the outset, with Orlando having a salary budget of over 11 million US dollars, significantly more than Cavalry’s budget of just over one million Canadian. To illustrate the gap even further: Orlando’s starting goalkeeper, Peruvian international Pedro Gallese, receives an annual salary of 937,000 US dollars – when accounting for conversion, this is more than Cavalry’s entire team combined. Although Cavalry have accomplished a lot in their brief 5-year history, most famously beating the Vancouver Whitecaps of MLS over two legs in 2019, and winning the CPL regular season on two occasions, Cavalry’s pedigree is incomparable to Orlando’s. Still, it was a chance to test themselves against a high level of opposition, and it was an opportunity to show Calgary’s young and ambitious project on the world stage.
Due to the climate in Calgary in February, the first leg was played at Starlight Stadium in Langford, British Columbia on February 21. Backed by over a hundred travelling supporters, and watched on by countless more at watch parties back home, Cavalry took to the pitch with excitement for their first-ever international match. Boosted by a strong starting lineup and a longer and more rigorous pre-season, Orlando’s attack was no match for Cavalry’s backline, with American striker Duncan McGuire opening the scoring 21 minutes in before Uruguayan international Facundo Torres scored twice on their way to a comfortable 3-0 victory. A bitter pill for the Calgarians to swallow, to be sure, but there was an opportunity to take the lessons learned from the first leg and apply a better performance in the second leg. In between the two legs, shortly after traveling the 4,200 kilometers back to Florida, Orlando took on CF Montréal in their MLS season opener on February 24th, grinding out a 0-0 draw ahead of their rematch against Cavalry on February 27th.
With a full week to prepare, and playing against a fatigued side, Cavalry flew to the States full of confidence and belief in their ability to overturn the 3-0 deficit. Supported in Orlando by a small but mighty traveling supporter contingent of around 30, Cavalry took to the pitch and put on a much better showing. Without a doubt, the highlight was striker Myer Bevan scoring the club’s first-ever international goal after a cross from winger William Akio in the 64th minute. It was a moment of pure elation, as pandemonium erupted in the away section of the Inter & Co stadium, and celebrations broke out on the pitch and the touchline.
“I was very happy for Myer [Bevan], he’s someone who works hard and sacrifices himself for the team each game”, said left-back Bradley Kamdem, when asked for his thoughts on the goal. “It was a very nice goal, it was unbelievable”.
Unfortunately, Bevan’s goal would prove to be nothing more than a consolation, as Cavalry were beaten 3-1 on the night (6-1 on aggregate), but there were plenty of positives to take.
“It can only be a positive for the team, we got to see what the next level is like,” said Kamdem, on how this experience will shape how they will play in the future. Cavalry showed they can play without fear regardless of venue or opposition, and they showed they are sure to hang with the big and historic clubs in this region for years to come. They also showed they are still one of the best teams in Canada, and it is hard to imagine a better way to prepare for their upcoming defense of the CPL regular season title, which will begin with their regular season opener away at Forge FC on April 13th. Their home opener in Calgary will be on April 28th, against Vancouver Island’s Pacific FC.
“There’s a lot we can take for next year. Now we’ve had our first [game] in the Champions Cup, one of the biggest lessons we can take is how clinical they were. These are lessons we can take for the CPL, but also for the Champions Cup next year.” Nothing but optimism for the future from Kamdem, then.
It was David versus Goliath, and Goliath won. But soccer is a funny old game where anything can happen. Who knows, maybe, just maybe, next year Cavalry can go on and win the whole thing.
