William Blake — an English painter and poet — wasn’t thinking about the Canadian Premier League in 1794. They are separated by over two centuries. But his most famous work, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, could easily capture the spirit of Atlético Ottawa and Cavalry FC’s journeys to this weekend’s CPL Final.
Cavalry, of course, lost their innocence some time ago. They fell to Forge FC in 2019 and subsequently had to wait until 2023 for another shot at the North Star Cup. They then lost again. But last year, at ATCO Field, they slayed the dragon that is the Hammers and tasted victorious champagne. The fact that they kept a core of players through their journey, be it Marco Carducci, Sergio Camargo or Daan Klomp, made it all the sweeter.
Now, they’re set for their third final in as many years.
“It’s (brought) us a lot of heartbreaking experiences and then on the other side, a magical moment for us. I think those are the moments that stay with you but what happens in those 90 minutes is what you learn most from,” said Cavalry defender Daan Klomp, reflecting on the last few years.
Heartbreak, be it in life or football, can be something to draw on.
“I would definitely say we had a chip on our shoulder with the heartbreak that happened the year prior to that,” said Klomp. “Even in (2023), we came out with a high press, locked them in for the first half and kind of felt like this is going to be ours. That aggression we showed is the feeling that you have to bring again on Sunday. The aggression of playing hard duels, playing on the frontfoot but changing that mindset when you have the ball to be calm with it.”
Although he didn’t quote Blake, Cavalry head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. spoke at length about experience during his media availability on Friday. It is, he noted, something that’s helped shape a group that’s become part of CPL history by being the first club in the league to beat MLS and Liga MX sides.
“Experience matters,” he said. “First experience in Concacaf was just an experience of getting to know the level. Second experience, we got our first win and kept an excellent Pumas team to a one-goal game and even with 10 men. And I think we went through a drought of three years after getting to the first-ever CPL Final, to not get into a final, we had to learn.
"I think all those setbacks are just steps toward learning what it takes to win in playoffs. And I think we’ve seen us now get our healthy bodies right, get everything ready and dialed in. I think that experience matters.”
Atlético Ottawa, too, knows the value of experience even if many of their key players are young. Head coach Diego Mejía’s side led the league in U-21 minutes with 8,575, deploying a backline at times of Noah Abatneh, Loïc Cloutier and Sergei Kozlovskiy, the latter two of which had never played professional minutes until this season. They were wisely surrounded by a cadre of seasoned hands, be it Alberto Zapater, goalkeeper Nathan Ingham, Amer Didić or Manny Aparicio. Together, they put on one of the most impressive campaigns in CPL history, finding a mix of innocence and experience that earned Mejía a nomination for Coach of the Year.
Perhaps brushing up on his Sun Tzu, or maybe it was Machiavelli, Ingham stressed the importance of the work his teammates have done to get to this moment, four years after losing the 2022 final at home.
“A great war quote about a victorious warrior,” explained Ingham, “is he puts in the work and succeeds before the battle where a losing warrior will show up and hope for the best. I think they said it more eloquent than that but that’s the gist of it. I feel like we’re a group that has put in the work and is ready for that battle.”
As one of only two players remaining from Atlético Ottawa’s 2022 squad, Ingham said his club has taken a difficult path, one that’s tested him to grow as a player. But it means a lot to him to be back in the CPL Final, again hosting in Ottawa, with a group of players he believes in.
The fact that they’ve grown together, as exemplified by players like Cloutier who have quickly become integral to the way Mejía wants to play, speaks to the culture Ottawa has been able to build.
“We know we’re all young and we’re going to make mistakes. But if we want to get this game that we have this weekend, we have to go quickly out of the mistakes and to the next game. I think we’ve done that,” Cloutier told reporters on Friday.
And there’s been no sleight of hand, no writer’s ruse, to Mejía’s matchplan on Sunday. He said he knows only one way to coach: controlling the ball and attacking the final third. It is the style of football that punched their ticket to the final. But with cold weather expected, and perhaps a whiff of snow in the forecast, is it innocence or experience that guides Mejía decisions? An early snow or slick pitch could hinder the way Ottawa likes to play.
Given his six trophies as a player in Mexico, Mejía knows what works best for him.
“Forget about the points. You forget about the position. You need to play well,” he said.
“The only thing I know is how my team need to have the ball all the time, how we need to be aggressive all the time, how we need to try to push the defensive line all the time to play in the final third all the time. That’s the only way I know how to manage a team.”
Klomp and Cavalry also know, having won titles as a group together, what they need to do to win and believe in being adaptable.
“Ottawa, they’re a good team but they’ve got one style of play and that makes them predictable and that’s what we’re focusing on now,” he said. “I think you’ve seen the Pumas game, for example, I know I wasn’t there but it was quite similar conditions: cold, a bit rainy and we still managed to find ways to win.
“They’ve got one set of principles, mannerisms they want to keep performing and we’ve got multiple ways to win. It’s up to us to use the right tools on Sunday.”
