Cavalry FC has arrived in the Concacaf Champions Cup.
The Canadian Premier League side earned a 2-1 comeback victory over Pumas UNAM Thursday night at Starlight Stadium in Langford, B.C. in the first of the two leg opening round fixture in the southern Alberta’s first competitive match against a Liga MX side.
The victory marked the first time a CPL team has defeated a Liga MX club in the history of the competition and first ever win by a CPL team in the Cup.
"I think the whole team did it today, I'm just happy for the guys," reigning CPL Golden Boot Winner Tobias Warshewski told OneSoccer post-match. "When you concede just before halftime a goal like that, I think everybody was a little head down into the locker-room.
"But we showed character today in the second half and I think we deserved the win today."
Cavalry fielded an attack-minded starting 11 led by Warshewski, playmaking wingers Ali Musse and Jay Herdman and attacking midfielder Sergio Camargo.
Nicolas Wähling, an outside forward, was pressed into action as the starting right back with full back Fraser Aird unavailable.
Pumas, in the midst of a busy set of ties with their regular season underway, countered with a rotated side without many of its regulars.
Amid winter conditions on Vancouver Island, the home ground for Cavalry in the Cup due to pitch conditions in a southern Alberta winter, travelling fans for both sides witnessed a cagey first half with well-organized defences.
Pumas broke the deadlock on the precipice of halftime when Santiago López, a Canadian international at the youth and senior level, opened the scoring with a well struck rebound past Cavs goalkeeper Marco Carducci.
"We said we needed to start well, we needed to contain them," said Cavalry FC head coach and GM Tommy Wheeldon Jr. "I thought we were defensively disciplined and had some nice moments with the ball in the first half, but we knew we had some decisions to make in the second half.
"I think the goal forced our hand to attack a little bit more on the counter and I think it probably raised our lads...I'm just so proud of the way the lads responded against a very good team."
Undaunted, the Cavs struck back in the second half via the set piece.
Towering central midfielder Charlie Trafford found room in the box for a clearcut volley off a signature curling corner from Musse to draw the Canadian side even in the 57th minute.
Warschewski then showcased his skills with a brilliant finish in the 80th minute, with the attacker taking a header from Herdman, juggling it to himself and firing in a volley.
GOAL 🐎🐎@CPLCAVALRYFC TAKE THE LEAD ON AN UNBELIEVEABLE GOAL FROM TOBIAS WARSCHEWSKI 🐎#CanPL | 🔴 Watch LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/qMMr5eGbLP
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) February 7, 2025
Cavalry travel to Mexico City for the second leg of the fixture on Feb. 13. Pumas’ home ground, Estadio Olímpico Universitario, has a capacity of close to 70,000.
This marks Cavalry FC’s second foray into the continental competition after debuting in 2024 in an opening round defeat to the MLS’ Orlando City SC.
"This is only the first half of it and whilst it's an exceptional result, we know they're an outstanding team," Wheeldon Jr. added. "They're one of the big four in Liga MX and they're three times champions of this (Cup). We're not going to go in there thinking this leg is won and I'm sure we've probably spurred a response from them.
"The bigger the challenge, the greater these teams rise so we want them to play their best effort because we want to be able to face it. We're in this competition to get better and we can only get better playing teams like Pumas."
The 2025 iteration of the Concacaf Champions Cup features 27 teams, 18 from Mexico, the United States and Canada, six from Central America and three from the Caribbean zone representing Haiti, Dominican Republic and Jamaica.
Forge FC, the other CPL side in the Concacaf Champions Cup, opened their continental competition on Wednesday with a 2-0 home loss to Mexico’s C.F. Monterrey.
For more information, go to cavsfc.com.
TRAFFORD BRINGS US LEVEL! 💪🏻pic.twitter.com/M621ga961z
— 🏆 Cavalry FC (@CPLCavalryFC) February 7, 2025
