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Why Cavallini Signed With Forge FC
By He’s led the goalscoring charts in Mexico, proved himself with the Whitecaps, and carved out some 40 caps for Canada – but when Lucas Cavallini made his Forge debut, it brought back some familiar nerves.
“I felt great,” said the striker in a club interview. “It’s like I’m a little kid about to debut again. I breathe, I live for soccer, so it’s always nice to step back on the pitch, especially after a long time and a lot of work behind the scenes that I put in to get to this stage again.”
Cavallini’s Forge debut marked just his second competitive appearance in more than two years, with two successive serious right knee injuries having called an end to his time with Mexican top-flight side Puebla.
El Tanque has a reputation as strong, physical striker who can frustrate defenders, but given his recent history, Forge still put him through his paces before bringing him in.
“All the signals in my body say that I’m 100%, I’m ready to go, and I’ve just got to go at it – don’t hold anything back,” he said. “The past is the past, and I’ve got to focus on the present.”
For Cavallini, that means bringing the same aggressive edge that has defined much of his career. Something he says, with a grin, that he’s always had.
In a physical league like Canada’s top flight – we do get pretty chippy here – he’s looking forward to asserting himself in a competitive environment.
“It’s a really intense league, a lot of passion and physicality,” he said. “It’s a really great league that is growing as well.”
Even with a lengthy spell on the sidelines, Cavallini wasn’t short on options for his next move. While multiple Canadian Premier League clubs expressed interest in the striker, Forge was the pick of the litter – and not just because it was the closest side to his roots south of Mississauga.
“Honestly, I was just willing to get back on the pitch no matter what,” admits Cavallini. “I think it was a club that really showed a lot of interest in me.
“I had a lot of guys, teammates from the national team, who said it’s a good club, that they’re serious, that it’s one of the best clubs in the CPL. For being a CPL club, they actually do a lot of things really well here behind the scenes, and this and that.”
Cavallini says he’s thankful for the interest expressed in him from other Canadian Premier League clubs, but locking in a place to play professional football close to his family and friends was a nice feather in a rather large Forge cap.
“It’s been years since I’ve lived in Ontario, so I think it’s what I needed for the time being. I think there’s a good team here, there’s a lot of quality, a lot of familiar faces,” adds Cavallini, who is familiar with the likes of Kyle Bekker and Manjrekar James, both of whom know him from the Canadian national team setup.
While it looks like Bekker’s injury will preclude him from playing for the remainder of the season, Cavallini is looking forward to getting more minutes with Manjrekar, who scored a goal during the duo’s last spell on the pitch. Cavallini is still awaiting one to call his own, for now.
Goals won’t be the only thing the veteran striker will contribute in the Hammer, though.
At 33, Cavallini arrives as one of the most experienced players in the squad, bringing a wealth of experience from Uruguay, Mexico, the Whitecaps, and the national team itself. That’s something that will rub off on the young faces in the Forge squad that Bobby Smyrniotis seems to have a knack for picking.
“He knows the type of player I am, the experience that I have, and what I’m going to help bring to the team, to the players, to the young guys, and just to influence everybody,” says Cavallini. “That’s why I came here, too. I want to help this team as much as I can, and I mean – three potential trophies is what’s on the mind right now.”
That’s something that wasn’t considered a remote possibility when Cavallini left for Uruguay as a young teenager. The landscape has changed completely, with Cavallini impressed by the number of opportunities young domestic athletes now have in their own backyard.
“I haven’t been here in like 17 years, but the fact that I’m coming here and seeing the growth in soccer – it’s changed completely. A lot of opportunities for young guys… At that time, my generation, we didn’t have that. We had to go abroad and leave.”
Cavallini now finds himself at the other end of the age spectrum, freshly returned from a nearly two-year gap without significant minutes.
“For me, I’m 33 now – I lost two years of my football career. I still think I’m 31, right?” he says. “As long as I take care of myself, I’ve always been professional. I’ve always taken care of myself. I’ve always invested in my body. I think that I can make the best out of it still, and make my career longer.”
How much longer remains an open question. For now, Cavallini is taking it day-by-day and step-by-step. Whatever happens this season – and those to come after it – remains to be seen.
After nearly two years away, simply being on the pitch again is a good place to start.
Source: Forge FC
