For Vancouver FC, Friday’s game against Calgary Cavalry was an opportunity for a historical win.
Vancouver had never beaten Cavalry, ever, although they did eliminate them from the 2025 Canadian Championship on penalties after a pair of 1-1 draws in their quarter-final tie last year.
“They’re a very good team,” Vancouver head coach Martin Nash, said.
“They’re the best team in the league defensively, so it’s going to be a struggle to create chances. Not many teams have created a lot against them, so we’re going to have to look at how we feel we can best create chances against them.”
Going in, a resurgent Vancouver had won four of their last five CPL games and were fresh off a remarkable 5-1 road win over FC Supra du Québec.
“We’ve been scoring at a decent rate, and scoring those goals has been part of the reason why we’ve been picking up a lot more wins,” Nash said.
It all came together with a 1-0 victory before hometown fans in Langley, thanks to a goal from Lys Mousset in the second half, for the Eagles fourth straight win at home in CPL play.
Mousset helped Vancouver capitalize on a first-half red card from Cavalry’s Eryk Kobza.
“I’m happy with where we are, considering the halfway point,” Vancouver FC head coach Martin Nash said afterwards. “I think we still have areas to improve on, and we can still get better.”
“I think we’re in a good spot right now. But we can’t rest. We’ve got another tough game next week, and we’re going to try and make this home field our fortress.”
CPLSoccer.com Player of the Match was VFC’s Kian Proctor, who finished with two tackles, one block, four clearances, one interception, three recoveries and seven out of nine won duels. He also chipped in with two chances created, two shots, two dribbles, 39 out of 45 completed passes and five out of six completed long balls offensively.
Vancouver will stay at home for their next match to host Atlético Ottawa at the Stadium at Langley Events Centre on Saturday, Aug. 1 at 3:00 p.m.