Setting up Cavalry's second challenge — versus Mexico's Pumas — in Concacaf Champions Cup

Victory in Victoria eluded Cavalry FC last February.

One year later, Calgary’s professional men’s footie side has the chance to avenge that loss and do so against one of North America’s top clubs in the largest match of its now seven-year history.

Excited? You bet, as Cavalry sets up Thursday to play Mexico’s Pumas UNAM in its host leg of the Concacaf Champions League’s first-round collision with the Liga MX giant.

But moreover, the Cavs feel more comfy about the high-profile competition involving 27 élite North American sides 12 months after making a debut that ended with a thud in Langford, B.C.

“The big thing is we’ve been here before now,” said Cavalry superstar goalkeeper Marco Carducci. “You look back to last year and it’s easy to throw around the ‘hindsight is 20/20’ thing. But we went into that competition as a completely new experience.

“And I think we probably went into it probably a little bit naive.”

Indeed, despite being decorated as the regular-season champions of the 2023 Canadian Premier League campaign, the Cavs got booted around against Major League Soccer’s Orlando City SC.

They dropped the first game of the two-game set 3-0 in Florida and then fell 3-1 on Vancouver Island to lose 6-0 on aggregate, eliminating them from their maiden voyage in the Concacaf Champions League.

“We thought we could go in there and compete with Orlando City SC in our first Concacaf game and try to play however we wanted to play and see how it goes,” admitted Carducci, also the captain of the 2024 CPL playoff champs. “And with Orlando last year and Pumas coming up, these are teams that have such high-quality players that they can hurt you. You give a player like that on a team like that an inch, and they’ll take a mile. One or two errors, and you get punished. And for us, that was a big learning curve last year.

“Going into it now, we have a whole year under our belt with this group — we’ve been able to keep so much of our group together — and now we go in with that experience under our belt from last year, and that makes a big difference for us.”

WHAT’S THE WEATHER LIKE FOR GAME 1?

Thursday’s kick-off to Cavalry’s crusade in its second Concacaf Champions League appearance is the Calgary club’s host leg of Round 1.

With winter conditions making it virtually impossible to play at their Spruce Meadows home, the Cavs secured Vancouver Island’s Starlight Stadium in Langford, B.C., for that match (8 p.m. MT, OneSoccer.ca).

“We need to make it our home field,” Carducci said. “It is a shame that we can’t play in Calgary. It’s just the reality of the situation right now. Whatever it turns out to be in terms of weather and playing surface conditions and atmosphere and fans, we’ll try to turn every little detail into our favour — the same way that they will try and do for the second game down in Mexico City.”

The forecast call for Thursday night in Victoria is about 0 C, with a mix of snow and rain, making for conditions not typically embraced by Mexican soccer sides.

“That can certainly be an advantage for us — remember the World Cup qualifying game for Canada against Mexico in Edmonton?” Carducci said. “But at the same time — and with full transparency — I don’t like to play in the cold, either, and I’m a born-and-bred Calgarian.

“Cold conditions are certainly not something that they’re used to, but I don’t want a snowstorm either.”

Cavalry then travels to Mexico City for the second leg of the first-round matchup on Thursday, Feb. 13 to compete at Estadio Olímpico Universitario (6 p.m. MT, OneSoccer.ca).

And the victor of the two-game, total-goal set advances to the competition’s Round of 16 to play Costa Rica’s LD Alajuelense, which earned a bye through the first round by winning the 2024 Concacaf Central American Cup.

WHAT ABOUT PUMAS UNAM?

The Pumas qualified for the Concacaf Champions Cup by earning enough points in Mexico’s Liga MX action during the 2024 soccer season.

They are one of five sides from that country’s top league to slot into the competition that way and are ranked 14th in the Concacaf Club Ranking Index based on their performance in the last year.

But what’s matters most to Cavalry — ranked 52nd in that same index — is what manager Gustavo Lema’s Mexican side looks like right now — and the Calgary crew has wisely studied game video from Pumas’ 2W-2D-1L start to the Liga MX regular season.

“They definitely have a distinct style of how they like to play,” said Cavs assistant coach Nik Ledgerwood. “They’re not necessarily a possession-based team within Liga MX, but I can see them wanting to be a possession-based team against us, and I wonder if that would go a little against their DNA and how they prep normally.”

What might work against Pumas, to boot, is their current busy schedule — they topped Atlético de San Luis (1-0-4) 3-2 in league action Sunday and play Mazatlán F.C. (2-1-2), also in Liga MX play, next Sunday.

The set with Cavalry, which has played only friendlies to this point, is sandwiched around that match with Mazatlán, making for an ugly slate of four games in just 12 days.

“So I can see them rotating players against us in Victoria, which could go our way,” Ledgerwood said. “Maybe they take us a bit lightly? Who knows?”

Who knows if a few of their stars — the best being defender Nathan Silva, midfielder Piero Quispe and goal-scorer and national-team talent Guillermo Martinez — stay home with Cavalry not necessarily considered as strong a club as most of Pumas’ league rivals.

After all, Pumas is considered one of Mexico’s big four clubs, alongside Club América, C.D. Guadalajara (Chivas) and Cruz Azul, so they boast depth in the lineup.

“They like to get forward quickly and like to stay there,” said Ledgerwood, in further breaking down Pumas. “They throw numbers into the attack — they sometimes attack with six. So they definitely aren’t scared to advance numbers into the box.

“The Mexican teams are usually very technically skilled. They have a great bite to them. They love to press …

“I’m sure all of those traits will still be there with Pumas.”

ELVA JOINS CAVS

The Cavs have signed 28-year-old forward Caniggia Elva to its 2025 roster.

“We are delighted to bring Caniggia home to Calgary,” said Cavalry GM/head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. “He is one of the best players to have come out of Calgary in recent years and has carved himself a very good career in Germany. Caniggia is an intelligent, creative attacker, with a great personality that will add another dimension to our attacking options. I am certain he will become another fan favourite as the season progresses.”

Elva will be added to Cavalry’s roster ahead of the Thursday’s Concacaf Champions Cup opener.

Born in St. Lucia, Elva grew up in Calgary and played for local club South West Untied before moving to Germany at the age of 18 to join VfB Stuttgart.

That move marked the beginning of a stay that lasted more than a decade for Elva, who represented Stuttgart II, Wüürzburger Kickers, FC Ingolstadt and, most recently, Rot-Wei? Erfurt while in Germany. He made 184 appearances overall, scoring 25 goals and adding 27 assists, and now returns to Calgary to bolster the squad of reigning CPL-champion Cavalry.

“Signing with Cavalry isn’t just a new chapter for me — it’s coming home,” Elva said. “I look forward to helping the team achieve all our goals this year and to being an asset in any way needed. I’m happy to be here and to help the club grow and can’t wait to play in front of such an incredible fanbase.”

At the international level, he represents St. Lucia and has earned 12 caps and scored five goals for his country of birth. A dual-national, Elva previously represented Canada at the under-23 level, earned a call into camp with the senior men’s national team in 2017 and was named to the country’s 60-man preliminary roster for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup but ultimately debuted with St. Lucia in October 2023, scoring in his first international match against Guadeloupe.

tsaelhof@postmedia.com

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