Tommy Wheeldon Jr put it best the day before the CPL final: To be the best, you got to beat the best. Forge is the CPL’s first dynasty. They have won four out of the first five North Star Cups including the last two seasons.
The 2024 edition of the CPL final was a rematch of the 2023 and 2019 finals in which Forge prevailed. In 2024, Wheeldon Jr’s team prevailed over Bobby Smyrniotis and Forge. Cavalry beat the best and now are the best.
It is the first North Star Cup in Cavalry’s history. They erased the pain of 2019 and 2023 on a cold but sunny day at Atco Field in Spruce Meadows in Foothills County just south of Calgary. It is safe to say Cavalry slayed the dragon.
First-half dominance from Cavalry
Once the match kicked off, Cavalry immediately put their foot on the gas.
They were throwing everything at Jassem Koleilat and Forge was having trouble organizing and creating any attacking output. The likes of Noah Jensen, Béni Badibanga, Kyle Bekker and David Choinière struggled.
Tobias Warchewski won the CPL Golden Boot with 12 goals in the regular season. He was a big factor in the final as he won a penalty kick (some might argue it was soft) and calmly scored from the spot.
Cavalry was not finished and neither was Warchewski. The native of Dortmund Germany displayed excellent footwork and determination with the ball and found Sergio Carmargo for the second goal. It was bedlam at ATCO Field.
Forge don’t go down quietly
Forge always was a team that was hard to keep down. They did not go down without a fight.
Unlike in the first half, Forge made sure to start transitions quickly and do what Cavalry did to them in the first half. That was to suffocate them near their 18-yard box.
In the shadowy 18-yard box near the Foot Soldiers, Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson pounced on the loose ball to make things interesting. It looked like the ball entered another dimension but it ended up in Marco Carducci’s net.
Forge kept pushing but Cavalry led by CPL defender of the year Daan Klomp did a good job in the box. Calvary had a few chances on the counter but Jassem Koleilat made some big saves to keep Forge in the game.
Calvary held on and Wheeldon JR and his team and their fans will celebrate long into the night.
Final MVP
With his goal and an assist, Warschewski was the final’s MVP. After leaving York United in 2022, he went back to Germany and took a year off from soccer. Then, he signed with Cavalry this season and now he has made history.
It looks like that sabbatical paid off.
Warchewski is also the first CPL final MVP in the history of the league.
Cavalry is the third different CPL champion after Forge and Pacific FC, who won their first North Star Cup in 2021.
