Cavalry FC coach wants more ‘ruthless’ football from his CPL players

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Tommy Wheeldon Jr. wants his defendants to be more ruthless.

“Ruthless” is the word the Cavalry FC coach used after watching his club fail on Sunday in a golden opportunity to win their first Canadian Premier League match of the 2024 schedule.

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“In my opinion, two points were lost,” Wheeldon said, moments after the 0-0 decision against archrival Pacific FC in front of 4,183 fans at ATCO Field.

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“We have to be more ruthless. I already told you that. The kids accept it.”

Sure, it’s easy to say that this year may look like last year, when the Cavalry started slow but eventually found their footing to run away with the CPL regular season championship.

After all, the precedent has been set and the program is there again, on the verge of finding its winning path.

But you have to earn it.

And Wheeldon feels his edition has been slow to come to terms with that after the start of the 0W-2D-1L league schedule, the latest result being Sunday’s goalless draw in the club’s first CPL home game.

“Very similar to last year,” Wheeldon said, recalling last spring’s run of five consecutive playoffs to open the 2023 CPL campaign. “The only difference is we lost the first game (this year)… but now We have seen what happened last year. And this is a quality room.

“But what we have to keep reminding them is that we have to smell the blood in the water. That’s what disappointed me (Sunday).

“We have to take advantage of our opportunities.”

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They did so in the season opener earlier this month, narrowly missing out on defeating nemesis Forge FC, only to lose in somewhat surprising fashion.

But since then there have not been enough cases of cruelty.

Even in their only win of 2024, which was Tuesday’s 1-0 Canadian Championship home win over Vancouver FC, the Cavs didn’t muster much of a threat until they faced adversity a man down and pulled out the gritty victory.

“We found a way to win on Tuesday,” Wheeldon said. “But if you don’t score, you don’t win games.”

On Sunday they flirted with opportunities.

It seemed as if the floodgates were about to burst.

Ali Musse was the Cavs’ biggest threat, often controlling the ball in the final third of the field, but was blocked by defenders and did not receive much help from his teammates when he went to throw the ball into danger.

The agile attacker managed a few passes, but those passes never found a friendly foot, or a head, and nothing really made it difficult for Pacific goalkeeper Sean Melvin to move away.

Melvin, however, made a very good save against new Lleyton Brooks late.

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So… alas… no punctuation.

“We are disappointed not to win, given the chances we created and the way we played for most of the match,” said Cavalry goalkeeper and captain Marco Carducci, who saw few threats against him on his side with his teammates. team – for the most part, offering the usual top-notch defense.

“Having this as the first home league game, you also want to put on a show and entertain the fans,” Carducci continued. “So, as a group, we’re disappointed we weren’t able to do that.”

Cavalry thought they had scored late in the game, but youngster Lucas Dias was offside in what would have been his first goal in Calgary colors.

And that misstep somehow created a huge opportunity for the Victorian team at the other end, when attacker Reon Moore slipped behind the Cavs defense and was only thwarted by Carducci, who ran out for a tackle and somehow hold on to a well-delivered ball that was headed for the home net.

“No, it wasn’t easy… and it happened fast,” Carducci recalled of the game-saving stop. “To be honest, he’s still a little blurry. Obviously happy to make a great save near the end of the game, but frustrated to miss an opportunity like that. Again, I think we had the most opportunities, so passing up one like that is not what you want to do.”

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His coach agreed, adding, “We can’t let Marco make a late stop when we’re throwing the kitchen sink at them.”

Of course, you have to give Pacific credit for bringing a lock-the-door, park-the-bus game plan to Spruce Meadows and executing it to perfection in its first road game of the football season.

“In the first round of games (on the schedule), you’re seeing their discomfort,” Wheeldon said. “They prepared very, very well defensively and tried to play on the counterattack. We expected a 4-5-1 block. They entered a 4-4-2 block and did it very well.

“They made it difficult for us. But it’s up to us to be the protagonists and we have to be better at it.

“The guys were looking forward to competing,” Wheeldon continued. “We started our season in January when we were preparing for the Concacaf Champions Cup. Everyone wants time to play. But the simple thing about playing time is that if you play well and do your job, you’ll get more. It is now up to us for our players to start the game and those who finish the game to have an impact.

“We just have to be more ruthless. I think it’s that simple.”

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Next up for the Cavalry is another home game against incoming Vancouver FC, who lost 1-0 to the Cavs last Tuesday in a Canadian Championship one-off, Friday night at ATCO Field (7 p.m., OneSoccer, OneSoccer.ca). .

“We could have been better and we should have been better,” Carducci added. “We are going to continue building. We know this is a long season. It is a 28-game season. It is not a three-game season. So now we will focus on the next steps.”

FREE SHOTS

Caballería’s starting eleven was: goalkeeper Carducci; defenders Fraser Aird, Tom Field, Daan Klomp and Bradley Kamdem Fewo; midfielders Shamit Shome, Sergio Camargo and Diego Gutiérrez; and forwards Ali Musse, Willy Akio and Toby Warschewski… The club’s substitutes were: goalkeeper Jack Barrett; defenseman Michael Harms; midfielders Lucas Dias, Charlie Trafford and Max Piepgrass; and forwards Malcolm Shaw and Lleyton Brooks… The Cavs scratch players were: goalie Mitchell Barrett; defenders Eryk Kobza (pinched nerve), Callum Montgomery (foot) and Caden Rogozinski; and midfielders Jesse Daley (leg), Maël Henry (hamstring) and Niko Myroniuk.

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