PREVIEW: Valour FC vs. Cavalry FC — Match #61

Back at the site where the first 32 matches of the season took place, Valour FC host Cavalry FC for the first time in 2021 Saturday evening at IG Field.

The visiting Cavs head into Winnipeg unbeaten in six straight league matches and seven in all competitions as they also eliminated FC Edmonton in Canadian Championship play with a 2-0 win last month. Their last loss came way back on July 30 against Pacific FC, the team they currently sit tied atop the table with on 28 points through 15 matches played. While the Tridents own the tiebreaker thanks to a superior goal difference, Cavalry are the class of the league on current form and will prove a tough test for any opposition in the second half of the regular season.

Looking to break that Cavs run of games without a loss will be a Valour side that last played away to Pacific on August 29 where they fell 3-2 in an entertaining affair at Starlight Stadium. Austin Ricci and Kevin Aleman (PK) provided the offence last weekend in Langford but Rob Gale's group couldn't stifle the potent attack of Pacific as they conceded three in the opening 35 minutes.

As they continue to regain their feet following a four-game road trip after the bubble and look to deal with the loss of defender Andrew Jean-Baptiste for the season through injury, Gale and Co. could build plenty of momentum off of a positive result against Cavalry on Saturday.

In their only previous meeting this season, Cavalry came out on top 1-0 at ATCO Field back on August 8 with the goal coming courtesy of the CanPL.ca Player of the Month Mo Farsi. Farsi and the Cavs look to stay afloat on top of the league standings on Saturday, while Valour try and hold off the four teams chasing them for the fourth and final playoff position.

Make your match picks prior to kickoff at canpl.ca/predictor for a chance to win prizes, including the grand prize of a trip to the 2021 CPL Final!

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• Cavs look to make it eight straight in all comps: Cavalry head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. has said on several occasions this year that his team will be judged for where they finish once the playoffs conclude and not where they sit in the table at the end of the regular season. Given their inability to add postseason success to sustained winning throughout their first two seasons, the idea of simply ensuring they stay in the top four makes sense and yet the Cavs have now riddled off six straight without losing in CPL play and are tied for first with Pacific. With their next action against that very same Tridents team coming on Thursday, they'll be eager to extend the unbeaten streak in Winnipeg and carry that momentum out West when they go to Starlight Stadium.​
• Second wind from Valour attack: It's been a roller coaster season for Valour to date, starting off first with the highs of the IG Field bubble where they lost just once in their opening seven matches. Following the aforementioned injury to Jean-Baptiste, Valour's form dipped significantly as they scored just twice and picked up a lone point in the six games following their hot start. While Gale called the first half of the season a "grind" on Friday ahead of the Cavalry match, he suggested his group were happy with how the offence had been rejuvenated of late — with five goals in their last two contests, that satisfaction is clearly warranted. It might be a tall task to look at simply outscoring this high flying Cavalry team as a path to victory on Saturday, but if the Valour defensive unit can clean up the crucial mistakes that have cost them so dearly of late, the recent run support surely gives them some faith they can get a good result at home.​
• Battle of two of the league's top keepers: Much of the headlines regarding players between the sticks this season have focused on Jonathan Sirois and Callum Irving and rightfully so with the pair co-leading in the CanPL clean sheet department with seven a piece. Sirois has turned heads on loan with Valour as a key contributor to their hot start and early defensive stinginess despite being still just 20 years old, while Irving has shown tremendous growth and improvement from his debut season with Pacific in 2020. Perhaps what limits the public praise for Cavalry keeper Marco Carducci more than the performances of the aforementioned keepers is the consistency in which he's performed at this level since day one. The 2019 CPL Goalkeeper of the Year has been rock solid once again in 2021 and while some fresh faces on the scene have perhaps overshadowed his play at time, make no mistake that Carducci still has the potential to steal a game for the Cavs on any given day. Both him and Sirois will look to do exactly that on Saturday in a marquee goalkeeping matchup at IG Field.​

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