Breadcrumb Trail Links Sports Soccer Calgary Cavalry
Published Sep 22, 2023 • 4 minute read
Lionel Messi #10 of Inter Miami looks on during the first half during a match between Toronto FC and Inter Miami CF at DRV PNK Stadium on September 20, 2023 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Photo by Joe Raedle /Getty Images Article content
Imagine, if you will, Lionel Messi playing the beautiful game in Calgary.
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Farfetched?
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Not if Cavalry FC clinches the regular-season championship in the Canadian Premier League and the schedule falls the right way for such a meet-up in the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup.
“It’d be crazy, wouldn’t it?” said Cavalry GM/head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr., with his trademark grin stretching across his face. “We are dreamers at this football club. Our players are, too.
“I think right now we’re keeping our feet firmly on the ground,” continued Wheeldon. “We know we haven’t achieved anything just yet. But we know there’s something there in the touching distance.
Cavalry (13W-7D-5L) needs only four points from its final three games — including Saturday’s early game against host York United FC (9-5-11) in North York, Ont. (11 a.m., OneSoccer, OneSoccer.ca) — to capture the regular-season crown. A loss by second-place Pacific FC (11-7-7) to host Forge FC (10-9-6) later Saturday (5 p.m., OneSoccer, OneSoccer.ca) would fast-track that title take for the Calgary side.
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And with that honour comes a coveted spot in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly the CONCACAF Champions League and an annual continental club competition contested by top clubs from all over North America.
Messi’s Inter Milan CF has already qualified for the CONCACAF event by virtue of winning the 2023 Leagues Cup, a yearly event held between clubs from Major League Soccer and Mexico’s top division, Liga MX.
A visit here — if the cup schedule were to fall right — would create a frenzy at ATCO Field or wherever the match might be played in the city.
“You’re already seeing the growth of our supporters with us,” said Wheeldon. “Now we’re getting close to 5,000 each home game, and that’s something that years ago when we all sat down and said, ‘What could this be in this community?’ There’s a lot of great work that goes in with the different social clubs to the corporate part to the soccer clubs. And what you’re seeing now is you’re seeing Cavalry stickers everywhere. You must see it, right, if you live in Calgary, you’ve seen stickers here and the hats, the jerseys. It’s great.
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“I always use the 2026 World Cup actually is the one that comes through Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. The game is going to keep having that ripple effect. So what we’re trying to do is help grow the game. So if we can do that by being successful and qualifying for CONCACAF and bring in the likes of big players and teams to Calgary, then we’ll be helping grow the game even further.”
Next year’s Champions League will feature a revised format with 27 clubs and a five-round elimination phase, with the winner qualifying for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
But all that is a long ways off for Cavalry right now.
First thing’s first to reach that cup tournament …
The Cavs need to secure top spot in the CPL in their final trio of matches of their schedule — and a win over York puts them at the edge of doing just that.
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“They’re dangerous,” said the Cavs gaffer. “And the reason they’re dangerous is because they’ve got pace and players that can hurt you. But you don’t know which York team you’re going to play against, and that’s what makes them harder to play against.
“You know they could come and beat anybody on that day, and last week and the week before, they folded their tent. For me, you want to get their best version. We actually want to see the team’s best version, because if we want to be the best, we’ve got to play everyone’s best version. And I think with (head coach) Martin (Nash) and (assistant) Mauro (Eustaquio) there now, they’ve got the ability to bring out a really good performance from that group of players.
“But we’ll be prepared for it.”
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Against York, which is coached by former Cavs assistant Nash, the Calgary crew is 2-1 on the year. But Wheeldon’s charges dropped their last visit to York Lions Stadium 1-0 in late May.
“We’ve won one and lost one there in the last few years,” Wheeldon said. “We lost the last one, so hopefully, we’ll win this one, so keep it consistent. I’m OK with that.”
One thing they don’t want to do is leave it until the last contest of the season. That’s Oct. 7, when they host Pacific, which — if still alive in the race for first place — would be bucking to complete a massive comeback bid for the regular-season banner.
Ahead of that one — in the penultimate game of the slate — Cavalry hosts current last-place-side Valour FC (5-8-12) next Friday at ATCO Field (7 p.m., OneSoccer/OneSoccer.ca).
“We’ve just got to get make sure we focus on putting our best foot forward,” added Wheeldon, whose team’s only injured player right now is forward Willy Akio (thigh). “We’ve kept focused on the process, not on the outcomes. And I think that’s probably what we’ve changed a little bit more this year and where we’ve cast our focus.”
X: Todd Saelhof
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