For most of June, Cavalry FC looked like a team riding high into the horizon. They were battle-tested, fluid, and full of belief. They had gone ten matches unbeaten across all competitions. They had found different ways to win. They looked like contenders again.
Now, barely a month later, that gallop has slowed to a crawl.
The 1-0 defeat to Pacific FC last Sunday marked their third straight loss. A feat that’s so rare that it’s just the second time in the club’s storied CPL history that such a run has occurred.
They’ve collected just one win from their last six league matches and, with their Canadian Championship dreams also dashed by Vancouver FC, it’s clear something has shifted.
From the outside, it may look like a full-on derailment. A free-falling team that can’t score and can’t hold leads. But look closer, and you’ll find a more nuanced truth.
Cavalry’s current struggles are a product of small margins, untimely absences, and a forward line that’s misfiring. Not a collapse of identity or structure.
The slump is real. But so is the fight that remains. Because if there’s one thing this club has proven, year after year, it’s that it knows how to recover and when to peak.
A tale of two attacks
In May, Cavalry couldn’t stop scoring. They hit 18 goals in their first nine league games, which made them one of the most potent sides in the CPL.
They were free-flowing, ruthless, and confident.
But since then, the tap has run dry: just five goals in the last eight CPL matches, and they’ve been shut out in four of their last six league games too.
This isn’t just a finishing problem, though that’s part of it.
In their recent loss to Pacific, they fired 16 shots but registered only 1.13 expected goals (xG), with just one effort above 0.2 xG. A lack of sharpness in the final third? Certainly.
But it’s also about decision-making. Cavalry made the right runs, found good spaces behind Pacific’s wing backs, and had 56 final third entries.
Yet those moments fizzled out through hesitation or over complication.
Loading ...As Tommy Wheeldon Jr. said post-match, “We had them pegged in and had 11 shots in the second half, but only one of them made the goalkeeper work. That’s the only difference, really. They went up the other end… and scored while we were pushing for the win.”
That’s the razor’s edge on which this team is teetering right now.
At the centre of the goal drought is none other than Tobias Warschewski – last season’s Golden Boot winner, who is now mired in a concerning goalless spell.
The German forward has been central to Cavalry’s identity under Wheeldon: a facilitator and finisher rolled into one. But without his spark, and with Jay Herdman unable to provide consistent width or danger from the left, the forward line looks toothless.
Then there’s the absence of Goteh Ntignee, brought in to revive that attacking firepower, who’s now serving a three-match suspension. And Ali Musse, one of Cavalry’s most intelligent creators, who has been sidelined after his own red card.
Wheeldon Jr. summed it up with trademark honesty: “I want the boys to [push]… I don’t want to sit here and take a draw and then go back home. No, we’ve got to get back to winning ways, but that starts with scoring goals.”
Injuries have stripped the core
While offence has been an issue, it’s impossible to overlook the missing spine of this team.
Shamit Shome, Cavalry’s midfield engine and creative heartbeat, was in sparkling form before injury cut his campaign short. His absence left a vacuum in tempo and chance creation.
Michael Baldisimo, brought in to fill the midfield void after Charlie Trafford’s retirement, has also spent most of the season in recovery. Only now is he beginning to re-integrate.
Left back Bradley Kamdem-Fewo, another foundational piece, has also just returned.
These aren’t peripheral figures. They are core starters. Losing them simultaneously has exposed depth issues and thrown off Cavalry’s usually well-oiled system.
But there’s relief on the horizon.
These injuries, frustrating as they’ve been, are not long-term. As Shome, Baldisimo, Kamdem-Fewo, and others return to full fitness, Cavalry are slowly regaining the pieces that made them so formidable earlier in the year.
With their spine restored and suspensions clearing, this challenging stretch feels less like a collapse and more like a pause. The kind every big contender has to navigate.
Is it time for another second-half surge?
Here’s the thing: we’ve seen this story before.
Last year, Cavalry were sixth after 14 matches, coming off a loss to York, no less. They finished second, just two points off the Shield, and went on to win the CPL Final.
In the second halves of the 2023 and 2024 seasons combined, their record is staggering: 20 wins, 5 draws, and 3 losses from their final 14 matches each year. This stretch of the season isn’t just something they survive; it’s where they thrive.
Which is why, even amid the current gloom, Wheeldon Jr. remains optimistic. “We like being the hunters,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity to respond.”
And that’s what this next phase is going to be all about. An opportunity.
Matches against Forge and Atletico Ottawa loom large. By the end of August, we’ll know if Cavalry’s response is real. But it’s worth noting: they’re still third in the table. They’re still alive. And they’re still capable of going on a tear.
The slump isn’t imagined. It’s real, tangible, and concerning. But it’s also reversible. The fundamentals haven’t evaporated. The process, in many ways, is intact.
What’s missing is execution. And time.
But time remains. So does belief. And so does a proud culture built on accountability, intensity, and resilience. The cavalry may be wounded, but the cavalry will charge again.
In the words of skipper Marco Carducci: “Trophies aren’t won in July and August. There’s a long season ahead.”
