Lucas Daniel Cavallini (born December 28, 1992) is a Canadian professional
soccer player who plays as a
forward for
Liga MX club
Tijuana
Tijuana ( ,["Tijuana"](_blank)
(US) and [< ...]
and the
Canada national team.
Early life
Cavallini was born in Canada to an Argentinian father and a Canadian mother. He played youth soccer in Canada with Club Uruguay, Weston Wolves SC, NY Hearts, and Clarkson Sheridan SC. He left Canada at age 16 and went to South America to develop his soccer talents.
He began playing for
Nacional's youth development squads in 2010 in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Club career
Nacional
In June 2011, he participated in the
2011 U-20 Copa Libertadores
The 2011 U-20 Copa Libertadores (known as the 2011 Copa Movistar Libertadores Sub-20 for sponsorship reasons) was the first edition of this U-20 club competition. Players born on or after 1 January 1990 were eligible to compete. The tournament w ...
. In the first game,
Nacional beat
Libertad 1–0 with a goal by
Romero. In the second match, they beat
Jorge Wilstermann 3–1 with goals from
Bueno, Marchelli and again
Romero. In the third and final game,
Nacional drew 0–0 with
Universitario, and qualified for the quarterfinals. On June 20, they were defeated by Mexican side
América 1–0, which led to their elimination.
His development in the youth squad lead him to sign a senior contract with the club in early 2012.
Loan to Juventud
In mid-July 2012, he was loaned to
Juventud de Las Piedras
Club Atlético Juventud is a sports club from Las Piedras, Canelones in Uruguay. CA Juventud won promotion to the Primera División Uruguaya to start in August 2007.
History
The club was born from a group of youths from Las Piedras, Uruguay ...
to make his professional debut and have more chances in the first team. In his second match with the club, he scored his first official goal in the 1–0 home victory against
Central Español
Central Español Fútbol Club, usually known simply as Central Español is a Uruguayan football club based in Montevideo.
History The F.U.F era
Together with Peñarol, Central founded FUF (Uruguayan football federation) in 1923 after being expel ...
. On October 7, he was the man of the match against
Bella Vista, assisting and scoring a goal in his team's 2–0 victory. His third goal came six days later, in a 1–1 away draw against
Fénix.
CA Fénix
After a slow start during his first season on loan with
C.A. Fénix, Cavallini emerged as the club's most prolific goal scorer in the Apertura of the
2014–15 Uruguayan Primera División season. He joined them permanently before the start of the 2015 Apertura.
Peñarol
Cavallini joined
Peñarol
Club Atlético Peñarol (; English: ''Peñarol Athletic Club'') —also known as ''Carboneros'', ''Aurinegros,'' and (familiarly) ''Manyas''— is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The name "Peñarol" comes from the Peñarol neigh ...
on January 10, 2017. He scored his first goal against
Montevideo Wanderers
Montevideo Wanderers Fútbol Club, usually known simply as Wanderers, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club are currently members of the Primera División and play at the Estadio Viera. Beside football, the cl ...
on February 26. He was loaned to
Liga MX side
Puebla on August 31, 2017.
Puebla
Cavallini was loaned to
Liga MX side
Puebla on August 31, 2017, becoming the first Canadian to play in Mexico's top tier since
Isidro Sánchez Macip in 2010. He debuted for the club against
Cruz Azul
Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...
on September 9, coming on in the 64th minute for
Félix Micolta in a 0–0 draw. He scored his first goal for Puebla against
Necaxa on September 16. After scoring 13 goals in 25 matches for Puebla in the
2017–18 season, the club would sign him to a four-year contract in June 2018.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
In December 2019, Puebla and
Major League Soccer side
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...
agreed to a transfer, with Cavallini signing a three-year deal with the club ahead of the
2020 MLS season. He made his debut in Vancouver's season-opening 3–1 loss to
Sporting Kansas City on March 1, 2020. Cavallini scored his first regular-season goal for Vancouver on September 6, netting the opener in a 3–2 victory over
Toronto FC
Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...
In August 2022, he joined
Whitecaps FC 2
Whitecaps FC 2 is a professional soccer team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada that serves as the reserve team of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer.
History
Prior to the MLS Next Pro iteration the team played its h ...
on loan for a match in
MLS Next Pro
MLS Next Pro is a men's professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer. It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and will expand to 28 in 2023. The league comprises 27 reserve sides for MLS clubs ...
.
Tijuana
In February 2023, Cavallini returned to Mexico and signed with
Tijuana
Tijuana ( ,["Tijuana"](_blank)
(US) and [< ...]
. On February 10 he made his debut for Xolos against
Atlético San Luis
Club Atlético de San Luis, commonly known as Atlético San Luis, is a Mexican professional football club based in San Luis Potosí, replacing San Luis Potosí's Liga MX team San Luis FC after its relocation. San Luis was promoted to Liga MX in ...
, coming on as a substitute in an eventual 1-0 victory. Cavallini scored his first goal for Xolos on March 3 against
Atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth.
Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...
.
International career
Cavallini launched his international career for Canada at 18 years old, debuting for the
U-20 team in 2011 during the
CONCACAF U-20 Championship in Guatemala. Cavallini earned three call-ups to Canada's U-23 National team.
Cavallini's performance, along with the fact that he "plays in a different type of league (down in Uruguay)", according to head coach
Stephen Hart, earned him his first call up to the senior roster to face
Trinidad & Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of Gr ...
in a friendly match on August 13, 2012. Cavallini debuted for Canada as a second-half substitute for
Terry Dunfield
Terence Dunfield (born February 20, 1982) is a Canadian former soccer player, coach and pundit who is head coach of Toronto FC's under-17s team, as well as soccer analyst for TSN and colour commentator for OneSoccer.
As a player he was a midf ...
against Trinidad, a 2–0 victory.
Cavallini made his World Cup qualifying debut in Canada's 8–1 loss to
Honduras. Following that match, he declined a call-up from interim coach
Colin Miller for the
2013 Gold Cup, citing personal reasons. Then coach Benito Floro gave an interview in October 2014 where he elaborated on Cavallini, saying that he had reached out to the player and had not heard back from him. Floro however pointed out that there is a place in the team for him in the future. In May 2015, Cavallini stated in an interview with
Tenfield
Tenfield is a broadcasting corporation which holds the commercial rights to broadcast the Uruguayan football and basketball. It was founded in 1998 by the Uruguayan business-men Francisco "Paco" Casal, and the former football players Enzo Franc ...
that he regretted becoming
cap-tied
Cap-tied is an adjective, used primarily in association football, to describe a player who has represented a senior national football team in more than three games (including at least one competitive game) and as a result is unable to represent a ...
to Canada.
Despite his comments, Cavallini was called up to face
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
in an October 2015 friendly. In an interview regarding his return to the national team, Cavallini stated that he never said he wouldn't play for Les Rouges again, and that his comments were wrongly translated. He mentioned that his lack of appearances were related to personal matters and timing including the birth of his daughter.
Cavallini was named to the Canadian 40-man provisional team for the
2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup
The 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 14th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF, and 24th CONCACAF regional championship ove ...
by Canada coach
Octavio Zambrano
Octavio Zambrano Viera (born February 3, 1958) is an Ecuadorian football coach. He is a former player with international coaching experience. Zambrano has coached in North America, Latin America, and Europe. He holds a UEFA "A" diploma and a USS ...
on June 6, 2017. He was confirmed as part of the final 23-man squad on June 27.
Cavallini scored his first goals for Canada on September 9, 2018, netting a brace in an 8–0 victory over the
U.S. Virgin Islands in a
CONCACAF Nations League qualifier. On May 30, 2019, Cavallini was named to the final squad for the
2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup
The 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 15th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was primarily hosted in the ...
. He scored a
hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three.
Origin
The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...
in a 7–0 win over
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
during the group stage on June 23, and had a chance to score his fourth goal from a penalty spot, but his
panenka went over the crossbar. On March 29, 2021, Cavallini scored his second hat-trick with Canada, as a substitute, in an 11–0 win over
Cayman Islands in the team's second
2022 World Cup qualifying match.
In July 2021 Cavallini was named to the Canadian squad for the
2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup
The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 16th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF.
The tournament was originally scheduled t ...
. In November 2022, Cavallini was called-up to Canada's 26-man squad for the
2022 FIFA World Cup.
Honours
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
*
Canadian Championship:
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...
Career statistics
Club
Notes
International
:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cavallini goal.''
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavallini, Lucas
1992 births
Living people
Soccer players from Toronto
Association football forwards
Canadian people of Argentine descent
Canadian people of Italian descent
Canadian soccer players
Canada men's youth international soccer players
Canada men's under-23 international soccer players
Canada men's international soccer players
Canadian expatriate soccer players
Uruguayan Primera División players
Liga MX players
Club Nacional de Football players
Juventud de Las Piedras players
Club Atlético Fénix players
Peñarol players
Club Puebla players
Vancouver Whitecaps FC players
Whitecaps FC 2 players
Expatriate footballers in Uruguay
Expatriate footballers in Mexico
Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay
Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico
2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players
2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players
2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players
2022 FIFA World Cup players
Designated Players (MLS)
Major League Soccer players
MLS Next Pro players