CPL Champs to Concacaf Champions Cup: How Cavalry are preparing for Pumas 🇲🇽

Although they’re no longer strangers to the Concacaf Champions Cup, Cavalry FC are in uncharted territory again this February as they eye up a matchup with Mexican side Pumas UNAM.

Last year’s first-round tie against Major League Soccer outfit Orlando City SC was the first time the Cavs had set foot outside of Canada for a competitive match, but their 2025 Concacaf experience will be even more alien to them.

“This is a new test for us,” said Cavalry midfielder Charlie Trafford. “You can watch as much video and study and be on the pitch as much as you want, but once we get into the game, it’s a different beast down there — their tempo, their pressing, how fast they play, how ruthless they are.”

This iteration of Cavalry FC is certainly more battle-hardened than ever, though. Not only did they make their continental debut in 2024, they also ended the year — for the first time in club history — by lifting the North Star Cup as Canadian Premier League champions.

The whole season was a fight for Cavalry, who never found themselves in first place all year — a first in their club’s history. However, a run of outstanding late-season form lifted them all the way to the playoff title, which means they enter this year’s Champions Cup clash with a new level of confidence.

In total, 13 of the 18 players who featured in last year’s two-legged loss to Orlando are returning for this year’s clash with Pumas, which means the memories of that 6-1 defeat on aggregate remain strong — as do the lessons learned from those two matches in Langford, B.C. and Florida.

Photo courtesy of Concacaf

Although Cavalry started well in leg one at Starlight Stadium, Orlando’s Duncan McGuire finished off a lightning-fast attack from the wings just after the 20th minute, and by halftime it was 2-0 for the MLS side.

By the time they got to Orlando, with the score 3-0 on aggregate, Cavalry were all but eliminated.

This time however, as they eye up another opening game in B.C. as their “home” leg, Cavalry are intent on coming out of it with their hopes intact as they head down to Mexico City.

“I think we were a bit naïve,” Trafford said of last year’s matchup with Orlando. “We came out with great energy, for 25-30 minutes we looked really good, comfortable pressing. It’s when you get tired you start to drip, against that level of opponent, the quality and how sharp they are, a small mistake, little bits of indecision or mistakes, you get punished so quickly. A two-legged tie, we can’t be giving up two, three goals in quick succession and eliminating ourselves.”

The Cavs took some of those lessons into 2024, and the next time they met MLS opposition they had improved. They played the Vancouver Whitecaps in the Canadian Championship, and although they lost the tie on away goals, they won the second leg over 90 minutes at BC Place, which in itself was an accomplishment.

“Even a few months after that game when we played Vancouver Whitecaps in CanChamp and we don’t get a result away from home at BC Place, it felt more like a cup performance in what we need to do,” Trafford said. “I think there was just a bit of naïveté within the group, and it’s good to see the growth; we’ve kept a lot of continuity in the team and the same faces coming back.”

Cavalry head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. has a strong foundation of experience to build on as he prepares his side to play in the Champions Cup this year, with so much of the 2024 team back.

However, the Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City is a new stage entirely; it’ll be near-impossible to completely prepare the Cavs for something they’ve never faced before.

Photo courtesy of Concacaf

The stadium itself is hallowed ground; it hosted the 1968 Olympics, and in 1986 it was the stadium where Diego Maradona’s Argentina kicked off their FIFA World Cup, en route to Maradona lifting the trophy for what would be the only time in his career.

It’s a 69,000-seat bowl, in which Cavalry will be up against a well-organized Mexican foe with far more experience than them in the nuances of continental competition and Concacaf refereeing.

Only two players in the current Cavalry squad have any experience playing against Mexican opposition, and neither of them at club level. Diego Gutiérrez faced Mexico while representing Canada at the 2017 Concacaf U-20 Championship, and Callum Montgomery took on El Tri‘s U-23s in Guadalajara during the 2021 Concacaf Olympic Qualifiers.

Cavalry assistant coach Nik Ledgerwood may also have some wisdom to impart, having played for Canada against the Mexican senior national team twice — including a 2018 World Cup Qualifying game at the Azteca in Mexico City.

This is a challenge Cavalry know is coming though, and they relish it. They demonstrated in 2024 that they can overcome adversity, and finally proved themselves able to deliver in big games.

They won’t be the first CPL team to fly the Canadian flag in Mexico, but Cavalry are dreaming of being the first to get a result there.

Momentum has been trending steadily in Cavalry’s favour over the past few months; can that carry them into the history books?

The journey begins Feb. 6 at Starlight Stadium. Objective number one will be keeping that game tight, avoiding the mistakes of last year’s first taste of Concacaf action.

If they can do that, Cavalry will travel to Mexico City believing anything’s possible.