2024 CPL Regular Season — Match #91
Cavalry FC vs. Atlético Ottawa
September 15, 2024 at 3 p.m. MT/5 p.m. ET
ATCO Field in Calgary, Alberta
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here

Matchweek 23 of the Canadian Premier League season ends at ATCO Field on Sunday afternoon, with Cavalry FC hosting Atlético Ottawa.

This match is a “six point game” at the top of the table, with the potential for the Cavs to equal Atlético Ottawa’s 37 points with a victory, or the gap between the two sides to grow to six points if Ottawa are able to come away with the full three points.

The Cavs will be motivated to get back into the win column after falling 2-1 to Forge FC in Hamilton last week. Daan Klomp found the back of the net just after the hour mark to cut Forge’s lead in half, but they were able to find another to pick up a result. Ottawa fell behind in Winnipeg on Monday to an early goal from Shaan Hundal, but battled back in the second half and tied the game up thanks to a penalty from Rubén del Campo. It was del Campo’s 10th goal of the season, as he became the first player this year to reach double digits in the CPL.

Sunday’s game will be the fourth and final regular season meeting between the two sides this season. The first two ended in draws, a 1-1 tie at TD Place in April and a 1-1 draw at ATCO Field in June, before they met most recently on August 3 at TD Place. Ali Musse made his mark in his return from injury in the latter match, scoring twice off the bench to lift the Cavs to three points on the road, on either side of a goal from Sam Salter.

Cavalry are dealing with several injuries, as Malcolm Shaw, Eryk Kobza, Charlie Trafford, and Maël Henry will all be sidelined for this match. Henry is dealing with a longer-term injury, with head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr hoping that Henry will be available by the playoffs, but he suggested that his season might be over. Tobias Warschewski, meanwhile, is back in training and potentially able to play on Sunday. The club also added a new player to the team on Friday, with midfielder Jay Herdman joining on loan from Vancouver Whitecaps FC through the end of the season.

Ottawa’s Alberto Zapater picked up a knock midweek and will be evaluated before a decision is made on if he can play. Maxim Tissot is back in training and could feature soon as well, while Matteo de Brienne is back after serving a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation.

All CPL and Canadian Championship matches will be broadcast live on OneSoccer, available as a linear channel on Telus’ Optik TV (Channel 980) as well as online at OneSoccer.ca, through the OneSoccer app and on the fuboTV Canada platform.

3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Bassett set to make history for Ottleti: Ask many Atlético Ottawa fans who the club’s best-ever player is, and the majority of them would probably say Ollie Bassett. Bassett has won nearly everything in the capital — the 2022 CPL Shield, 2022 Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year, and 2023 Golden Boot — and is set to rewrite another record on Sunday. If he plays against Cavalry, Bassett will break the club’s all-time appearance record with his 87th in all competitions, and is currently tied on 86 with Miguel Acosta after last week’s match. Bassett also holds the club records for goals (25) and assists (11).
• Cavalry looking to close gap on Ottawa: Sunday’s match is another one of those “six-point games” at this stage of the regular season. With a win in front of their home crowd, Cavalry FC could climb up to 37 points and catch up to Ottawa, one of their CPL Shield rivals. A loss, however would see them end the weekend in fourth, six points back of Ottawa and still way back of league-leaders Forge FC. Every point is important at this stage of the season, but especially so when two teams — the past two winners of the Shield — are battling it out to inch closer to the regular season title.
• Rubén del Campo leading Golden Boot race: With his goal in Atlético Ottawa’s 1-1 draw with Valour FC on Monday, Rubén del Campo became the first Canadian Premier League player to reach ten goals this season, and as a result leads the Golden Boot race heading into matchweek 23. York United’s Brian Wright is the closest challenger with nine goals, while several players are tied on eight. Cavalry’s leading scorer is Tobias Warschewski, who has seven and returned to training this week after dealing with an injury. Del Campo will look to add to his tally as Ottawa try to grow the gap between them and the Cavs.

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Cavalry FC: Carducci; Aird, Montgomery, Klomp, Field; Gutiérrez, Shome; Musse, Camargo, Wähling; Wright

Atlético Ottawa: Ingham; Twardek, Didic, Singh, Iliadis, de Brienne; Bassett, Sissoko, Aparicio, Tabla; del Campo

ALL-TIME SERIES

Cavalry FC wins: 4 || Atlético Ottawa wins: 8 || Draws: 3

Last meeting:

August 3, 2024 — Atlético Ottawa 1-2 Cavalry FC

KEY QUOTES

“They used to be somewhat of a bogey team for us, but we changed that last year when we beat them at their place and went on our run to winning the shield. I think this year, we’ve done very similar where we’ve taken four points from their home, which is big against a team that’s one of the challengers for the title.” — Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr

“Every weekend is gonna be so important. Only six games left. It’s true that this is a game against an opponent that they are fighting for similar things than us, but as usual [we’re] focusing on us, thinking that we have the tools and we are in a good dynamic, so we can go there and and grab the three points.” — Atlético Ottawa head coach Carlos González