Vancouver FC v Cavalry FC — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Canadian Premier League · Saturday, 25 July 2026. Final score 1–0 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 55% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals55%45%Over
Over 3.5 goals35%65%no pick
Both teams to score54%46%Yes

The result model puts Vancouver FC at 19%, the draw at 24% and Cavalry FC at 57%, from expected goals of 0.91 and 1.77.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Canadian Premier League has produced over 2.5 goals in 58% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Vancouver FC have 6 in 13 this season (3 of 7 at home), Cavalry FC 5 in 12 (3 of 7 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 54% and 53%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 13 and 12 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 57% and 58%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 57%.

Head to head. These sides have met 10 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 40%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 57%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 50%, from expected goals of 0.91 for Vancouver FC and 1.77 for Cavalry FC. Folding in 30% of that view gives 55%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Vancouver FC1346%31%54%
Cavalry FC1242%17%42%

Head to head

18 May 26Vancouver FC 0–2 Cavalry FCU2.5
18 Oct 25Vancouver FC 2–2 Cavalry FCO2.5
18 Aug 25Cavalry FC 5–4 Vancouver FCO2.5
14 Jul 25Vancouver FC 0–0 Cavalry FCU2.5
19 Apr 25Cavalry FC 1–1 Vancouver FCU2.5
29 Sept 24Cavalry FC 0–0 Vancouver FCU2.5

More: Vancouver FC season stats · Cavalry FC season stats · Canadian Premier League table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.