For the third time in six seasons it’s Cavalry and Forge playing for the league title.
The Canadian Premier League Playoff Final goes at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9 at Spruce Meadows’ ATCO Field where Cavalry FC will hope home field advantage with a sellout crowd will tip the scales in their favour.
“Tickets are going fast and it’s going to be amazing,” said Cavalry centreback Daan Klomp. “I think [the fans] know by now how much we appreciate them, the noise they make, I think it’s very intimidating on the opponents when they come to ATCO Field.
“And it gives us an extra boost too.”
As of the weekend prior to matchday, the team was expecting north of 6,000 fans to be in attendance at ATCO Field.
Buoyed by record crowds this season, Cavalry has enjoyed tremendous home success in 2024 with just one loss in 15 games.
“It’s almost sold out and is probably going to sell out and it’s exciting for us, as players, to play in front of that,” said Cavalry midfielder Shamit Shome. “And to have that bit more motivation and it’s huge for the city to host a final, the last time they did it was 2019.
“We had a chance to do it last year and we lost that chance and had to go to Forge in Hamilton. This is our redemption, to host this home final for the fans.
“We’ve probably got the best fans in the league in terms of the noise, the stadium, the ambience, they’ve been great and it just shows the game is growing in the city and the province.”
Cavalry earned the right to host the final via the 1-0 win over Forge FC in the semifinal on Oct. 27. Forge then knocked off Atlético Ottawa by the same 1-0 scoreline to advance.
“The amount that we worked for each other, our front four ran their socks off and probably did the most out of everybody both offensively and defensively,” Shome said. “It was a game where we had to adjust and, once we got that goal, hunkered down a little bit and we never felt like we were going to concede.
“Now that we’re at home, we can build on that foundation of not conceding, keeping a clean sheet and now playing football, scoring goals and being exciting and getting the crowd into it.”
Klomp, who described the training week as a combination of competitive with a relaxed mindset, said the group is feeling confident ahead of the winner-take-all match on the heels of the semifinal.
“That game was a lot about how solid we are defensively,” Klomp said. “I don’t think we gave a lot of chances away apart from the two cutbacks.
“That shows how we’ve been performing during the course of the whole season and it’s something that I think gives our attackers a lot of confidence that they can express their freedom up top knowing we’ve got it.”
The final features the four-time playoff champions and reigning CPL Shield winners as regular season champions in Forge and the two-time regular season champion Cavalry FC.
As finalists, both teams are through to the Concacaf Champions Cup in 2025 for the second straight year.
This season, the teams have each won twice and tied the other fixture in five meetings.
Not surprisingly, the finalists have their fingerprints all over the CPL Awards nominations with seven of the Players’ Player of the Year candidates from both teams as well as four of the five Player of the Year nods.
Cavalry striker Tobias Warschewski, the Golden Boot winner with a league-best 12 goals, is a finalist for both awards while Klomp and winger Ali Musse are up for the Players’ Player of the Year. Cavalry gaffer Tommy Wheeldon Jr. is also up for the Coach of the Year award.
“I think we have some amazing players on the team, and I think we could have another (nominee) in there in Shamit Shome,” Klomp said. “It’s us that get the credit, but it’s a whole team effort, we can’t do it by ourselves.”
The CPL Awards are held Nov. 7 at the Bella Concert Hall in Calgary and, for those not in attendance, will be broadcast from 6-7 p.m. on OneSoccer.
The CPL Final Matchday FanFest on Nov. 9 will include live pre-game musical performances headlined by Canadian pop sensation Lu Kala. The match will be broadcast by CBC Sports and available on all of its platforms.
For more information, go to cavalryfc.canpl.ca.
