Vancouver FC's number one discusses preparing psychologically for a season-defining derby game.
Underdog stories are a large part of cup football’s beauty, and goalkeepers will often have a pivotal role to play in them. As Vancouver FC prepare to face their neighbours and CONCACAF Champions Cup finalists Vancouver Whitecaps in the Canadian Championship final, they will hope that Callum Irving can do just that for them.
The 32-year-old has already played a major part in the Canadian Premier League side reaching this stage, making his mark in two penalty shootouts and producing an important save to deny Atletico Ottawa’s David in the semi-final.
A major factor in underdogs coming out on top is believing that they can do it, and Irving had to work on that when it came to penalties despite telling Goalkeeper.com that he enjoyed facing them growing up.
“You need to have that feeling when you're in goal and you're standing there and a guy's 12 yards away, that confidence and an understanding, and a while back I lost that,” he says. “So, for me this season, to be a part of two shootouts where I was able to make two saves in one and a save in another that ultimately lead to wins, for me personally, was a bit of vindication for the work that I put in with my goalkeeper coach.”
Rapid fire penalties was the technique used “to break the cycle of my mind overthinking every single time a guy was to step up”. In addition, while Irving describes himself as a “very calm” goalkeeper, he made a conscious choice with goalkeeper coach Niko Giantsopoulos to celebrate when he stopped penalties. “I just tried to change things like that,” he says. “Ultimately, that's what I think changed my mentality on it, and broke a little bit of that hump and made me feel that little bit more confident.”
The expectation is that Irving will have to face rapid fire shots if he and Vancouver are to celebrate at the end of the final, with the Whitecaps’ attacking talents including the prolific Thomas Muller plus Canada internationals Ali Ahmed and Jayden Nelson.
“You have to have a baseline of confidence in your own ability when you're playing against guys of that quality. I like to think that's the level that I can compete at,” Irving declares. “I trust my preparation, I trust my experience, I trust the work that I put in and I trust in my ability. 90 minutes is what matters, so you put your resumes to the side when the whistle blows and you have to compete.”
He continues: “I'm looking forward to the challenge, and I know that it's going to be a challenge, but I think if you play football and you don't look forward to a challenge like that, then you're probably in the wrong sport, the wrong job.”
Having already been an underdog in this run, Irving states that the biggest lesson is “you still have to compete and win the game”. He adds: “A game is not won through a headline or through a previous record, through statistics, through anything except for what you do in the 90 minutes that are given to you.”
While some might be tempted to focus on the opposition they will be facing, Irving suggests that he and Vancouver’s backline aren’t “trying to hyper focus on anything different for this game” and are instead focusing on continuing the development of the defensive principles they’ve worked on since Martin Nash took over.
He also sees why there might be more focus on him as a goalkeeper from the outside in this scenario, suggesting that “it’s only natural”. Even so, Irving states: “I think everything you do in a game like this is done as a team, and my main focus will be preventing them from getting any clearcut chances through my communication and helping the guys in front of me. That'll be my main focus, and then hopefully I don't actually need to do too much goalkeeping beyond that. That would be the dream.”
Irving also refuses to let the calibre of opposition change his mentality going into the game. “It’s just understanding that you're playing against a quality of opponent you haven't faced yet in the season,” he says. “I think every game you have to kind of prepare the same, so that's what I'm trying to do. I'm just trying to maybe embrace the moment a little bit more, soak it in a little bit and try and let that motivate me.”
Vancouver haven’t had a long build-up to the final, playing their most recent CPL match on Sunday, and Irving believes this can be a positive for him and the team. “I think your mind can do a lot more than your body believes it can,” he says. “If you're feeling a bit fatigued, once it comes to game time for a game like this, you can push through any tiredness, any soreness and get yourself going. But I think it can be difficult to sit for a week, a week and a half, building up to such an important game where you have so much time to think. You have so much time to overthink and get in your own head.”
One thing that will still inevitably come to mind, especially for an underdog goalkeeper, is the idea of being the hero on cup final day with Irving already having had that feeling during this run. When asked about whether it had come to his mind, Irving responds: “I'd be lying if I said it didn't, but when the thought comes, I try and push it away. It's only natural that your mind's going to wander a little bit, and you tend to wander towards personal glory a little bit sometimes."
Even so, he reiterates that the ideal outcome is that “I barely even have to touch the ball. That would be my dream scenario, not standing on my head to secure us a cup victory.”
In addition to personal glory, Irving is aware that he can show the young goalkeepers like 17-year-old Felipe Jaramillo - who is on loan at Toronto II - and 18-year-old Jakob Frank what is possible as a VFC goalkeeper. He says: “Jakob's in the environment every single day, and he sees the work that it takes. I think you can only be motivated if you're a young player seeing where this club has gone in three short years. So, I think it's huge.”
Irving can also take his own inspirations ahead of the final, including the experience of beating the Whitecaps during his Pacific days, even if he admits that “the Whitecaps were in a different place at that moment in time than they are now”
He has also looked to English football. “You've seen some great teams win the FA Cup that were underdogs, their whole season lying on the line for that. Wigan come to mind winning the FA Cup as pretty big underdogs. It's happened multiple times in the past, so there's so many things you can lean on in world football in terms of the underdog story. And so I think the motto that you're saying to yourself coming into this game has to be, ‘Why not us?’”
