Cavalry FC ready to face biggest rival Forge FC on Thursday night

CALGARY -

So far so good for Cavalry FC in the soccer bubble in Winnipeg.

Cavalry has played three matches and has a pair of wins and a draw. 

They're in second place in the Canadian Premier League standings, gaining seven out of a possible nine points. 

Head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. says he's pleased with the results so far.

"We're seeing some good things and we're seeing some things we can be better on. That's just the nature of the course here," Wheeldon said.

"Like I said after the Ottawa game, we weren't going to get too high on it and after the Halifax game, we didn't score but we didn't concede, so we're not going to get too low on it. Playing against Forge is a great test for us early on in the season."

Each team will play eight games in the bubble in Winnipeg and then hopefully be able to play some games at home.

Cavalry will face Forge on Thursday night and if the past is any indication it will be a great match.

Forge won the first league championship in 2019, beating Cavalry at Spruce Meadows. They repeated last season in the Halifax bubble.

The two teams don't like each other but Wheeldon says the bubble in Winnipeg has forced them to interact.

"I got in the elevator with them yesterday to break a few barriers," he laughed.

"When you're in close quarters that's all you can do. Listen, they're great competitors. They're the champions right now and they've got on their sleeve what we'd like to have on ours. It's a great test for us to see where we're at."

Forge doesn't like where they're at right now with just one win and two losses in their first three games.

But Wheeldon says he's seen this movie before and there's no way his squad will be taking Forge lightly.

"We don't underestimate them by any means. They're only a point different after the first three games of the 2019 season and we seen how they went on a run. They're pretty much the same side.  They haven't had a ton of changes which is strong for them," Wheeldon said.

"I think we've got some tactical nuances. We've got different types of players now that we want to try and just give them something a bit different that they haven't perhaps seen from us before.

"Because when you play each other so many times you get into patterns.  You've got so much data and analytics.  There's so much scouting and sharing and coaching.  So now the game in this country you've got to have a few more As, Bs and Cs up your sleeve."

Kickoff for Thursday's game is 6 p.m. MT.