Cavalry FC launch/2019 off season thread

[Blackjack15]

2 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

...very Calgary Foothills looking so far. A lot of people will argue that something extra is needed with the 14 or so signings still to come to justify the ticket prices, but I guess on the flip side that winning the PDL championship suggests they were more than a typical PDL team last season in preparation for what was to come.

2 hours ago, Stryker911 said:

Surprised to see this with the headlines on Sportsnet. 4 more signings for Cavalry.

Carducci, Serban, Zator, Elijah Adekugbe

https://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/cpls-cavalry-fc-signs-ex-whitecap-goalkeeper-carducci/

This was expected but nonetheless really good in the sense that TWJR will have a foundation to build on and an advantage in terms of roster building with all the best foothills players making the jump! Realistically the  PDL (Now called League Two) is the best U23 League in North America and the fact that they won it all with a majority canadian roster is very impressive, these players fit into the ''up and coming pool'' the CPL wants. 

Who else should we expect Wheeldon Jr to sign from the Foothills? Nico Pasquotti and Jordan Haynes are safe bets (7th and 8th player) 

With Moses danto and Ali Musse going to Winnipeg (Valour FC) and Bruno Zebie, Jackson Farmer and Ajeej Sarkaria going to FC Edmonton

There's Nathan Ingham but he left mid season to go sign with Pittsburg Riverhounds of the USL and is York Region Native (Newmarket) - {York 9} plus Carducci will be the No1 GK

That's the best 14 players i can think of, unless you add Joel Waterman which the Cavalry drafted in the U-Sports Draft and maybe Kyle Jones who was up there in number of appearances 

[Bison44]

Danto and Musse are off to WPG??  Is that just a educated guess?

[masster]

3 hours ago, Ansem said:

My point still holds though... too soon! BBTB would have a point when the rosters are mostly done and you'd be looking at PDL/USL level teams charging near MLS pricing. Even he knows that its too soon which aggravates some of us.

The guy said as much. He said 'with the 14 or signings still to come'.

[Unnamed Trialist]

On 12/11/2018 at 7:47 PM, IceCreamMan said:

Did everyone get the Season Ticket brochure sent out today. Nicely presented I thought and priced reasonably. I assume Supporters Section is the place I want to be?

2019 SeaonTicketing.pdf

Nicely designed document, like a lot of what we are seeing out of CPL. That is encouraging, as it also suggests shirts are going to come out nice, and merchandising.

And a properly balanced offer of prices, so good for them. Since the vast majority of seating is conventional, we can let the fans themselves decide on the small exceptions that make less sense. 

[masster]

2 hours ago, Bison44 said:

What kind of guys should Calgary sign??  If they lock up 4 guys from Calgary, have a history with the coach, are (relatively) young and decent pedigree (USL), why the sideways comment?  Carducci, Zator and Serban all probably could have stuck around somewhere in USL, but came to play in their home town.  And probably part of that was they knew a Calgary CPL team was coming (ie like Ledgerwood did).  Wasnt part of the selling point for CPL that each team was going to have local talent??  "It looks very  Calgary foothills so far"...if they didnt snap up the best local guys it would be a shame!!!!  Geeeshh!  These are exactly the guy that I hoped would benefit from the CPL, 22-24 years old and now have a chance to make a starting 11 and showcase what they can do...all in their hometown inspiring the next generation of Alberta kids.  Lots of boxes to check, but having a hometown face somewhere in the roster is accomplished by these signings.  

Of course these are all deserving players and logical singings. That doesn't negate the point that the only things differentiating Cavalry 2019 from Foothills PDL 2018 so far are marketing, stadium and ticket prices.

You will get a segment of the market saying..."You are charging me x% more to watch the same product?"

I don't think pointing that out is a crime.

I get the same feeling from looking at York9. So far, it looks like a L1O all-star team.

I hope that the CPL will do more to elevate itself above the existing soccer landscape in these cities, because I feel that will be necessary to attract those that have not been engaged in their local soccer scene up to this point.

[BenFisk'sBiggestFan]

I expect half the CPL roster to be guys like these 4 signed by Cavalry. That doesn’t mean they will be the best players in the league, but these are the guys we need to expect. A lot of these types of players just don’t get a chance. Some of them will surprise us, and some will be glued to the bench. Just wait till the first couple seasons, at some point a bunch of people will be calling for Herdman to call up one of these “PDL” or “League 1 all star” players. Just because a guy didn’t play pro last year doesn’t mean they aren’t good enough to. 

[Shortdutchcanuck]

2 hours ago, Complete Homer said:

The issue is the obvious spin. Almost all the signings have USL or NASL (or 2. Bundesliga!) experience

The foothills last season were not just a PDL team, it was a team that intentionally sought out pros who were willing to join them in the build up to launching the Cavalry, and walked all over the PDL in the interim.

BBTB knows this, he isn't ignorant on the circumstances. Why he chooses to intentionally misrepresent and undermine is beyond me, but it is very transparent 

Spins can work in both directions though.  Pointing to Edwini-Bonsu's Bundesliga 2 experience when he last played in the Oberliga is quite the spin in the positive direction.

As pointed out already, a long way to go. I think we are all waiting with excitement but some apprehensions too.  

If Forge FC ends up being Bekker and Nanco and a L1O all star team I'll be a little disappointed though still supportive.  These Calgary signings are all good signings and we should all be happy for these young Canadians.  But hopefully for the sake of Cavalry FC fans there is still some 'spice' to come. 

If BBTB gravitates naturally towards skepticism that just balances out some of the overly optimistic spins we've also seen on here (including my own initial hopes for the league that included fringe MLS players like Ricketts, most Canadian USL players, and some Bundesliga 3 and Scottish Championship players like Straith and Aird).

[Complete Homer]

44 minutes ago, Shortdutchcanuck said:

Spins can work in both directions though.  Pointing to Edwini-Bonsu's Bundesliga 2 experience when he last played in the Oberliga is quite the spin in the positive direction.

I was actually referring to Ledgerwood, who has 69 games across 4 seasons at that level of 2. Bundesliga and a longstanding career as a professional in general, as the most extreme example of how ridiculous it was to group those players as PDLers without the context of why they were there

To be honest, I forgot Edwini-Bonsu ever had a sniff at 2. Bundesliga...and he isn't even on the team we were talking about

I do agree that there is plenty of pie-in-the-sky thinking on this board too, but I disagree that naive optimism is the equal and opposite of vapid negativity

Granted, I will admit that his previous behavior colors our interpretation of his actions. Calling anyone who wants a Canadian league a Neo-Nazi tends to leave a bitter taste in their mouths

Edited December 12, 2018 by Complete Homer

[Shortdutchcanuck]

3 hours ago, Complete Homer said:

I was actually referring to Ledgerwood, who has 69 games across 4 seasons at that level of 2. Bundesliga and a longstanding career as a professional in general

Sorry, Ledgerwood makes more sense.  I always thought of him as a Bundesliga 3 player and forgot he played some games in 2.  That would have been early on in his career if I remember right though.

Ledgerwood is a good player, and all of the Cavalry signings have good potential.  I'm just personally hoping there's a little more coming to get us truly excited.

Either way some of these young Canadians will far exceed our expectations in 2019 (and some not so much), and that will be awesome to watch.

[HalifaxBlue]

Anyone who regularly watched Foothills, how does Wheeldon like his teams to play?

[HalifaxBlue]

55 minutes ago, HalifaxBlue said:

Anyone who regularly watched Foothills, how does Wheeldon like his teams to play?

And, was Ledgerwood used as a midfielder or a fullback mainly?

[masster]

6 minutes ago, HalifaxBlue said:

And, was Ledgerwood used as a midfielder or a fullback mainly?

He was used in the midfield for 1 or 2 matches that I saw.

[BenFisk'sBiggestFan]

As Jeff Paulus would say. "Wheeldon plays boring soccer."

(Ok, I have never watched to foothills play)

[Kent]

On 12/12/2018 at 6:13 PM, Complete Homer said:

I was actually referring to Ledgerwood, who has 69 games across 4 seasons at that level of 2. Bundesliga and a longstanding career as a professional in general, as the most extreme example of how ridiculous it was to group those players as PDLers without the context of why they were there

Um, except this is what he actually said. "...very Calgary Foothills looking so far. A lot of people will argue that something extra is needed with the 14 or so signings still to come to justify the ticket prices, but I guess on the flip side that winning the PDL championship suggests they were more than a typical PDL team last season in preparation for what was to come."

I am pretty sure if any other poster said exactly what BBTB said there wouldn't have been any uproar. I get it, he has frustrated me plenty over the years as well, but I think it's worthwhile for people to not have "outrage" as their default setting before reading his comments.

[Rocket Robin]

What is Rocket Robin doing in this forum?  

Well Toronto FC II of USL earlier today announced some players NOT returning and on that list is::  

Malyk Hamilton.   A midfielder/forward and played soccer in the West Ham (England) academy in past years.  Only 19 years old and he's from …….CALGARY!     

[shermanator]

Here's a great in-depth interview with everyone's favourite PDL level talent, Nik Ledgerwood and Marco Carducci. 

 

[Ansem]

 

[MtlMario]

4 hours ago, shermanator said:

Here's a great in-depth interview with everyone's favourite PDL level talent, Nik Ledgerwood and Marco Carducci. 

 

Enjoyed the interview but was hoping for a little more talk of CPL.

[Keegan]

Interesting that CPL Argentina posted about the development of the stadium and having 1000 season ticket holders and then former Saprissa and San Jose defender Andres Imperiale commented saying he would be supporter 1001.  If we attracted internationals like that to the league we would be laughing.  

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by Keegan

[shermanator]

An update on the stadium from CTV: https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/construction-underway-on-new-soccer-stadium-at-spruce-meadows-ahead-of-cpl-launch-1.4232797

And a few renders of the new stadium from the video in the segment:

 

[Keegan]

Wow - a proper football feeling to that stadium.  Almost like Craven Cottage meets League two. 

[SthMelbRed]

"but you are going to be playing at altitude, you’re going to be playing on real grass..."

Anybody know how high above sea level it is there? Will this become our pre-Azteca training base from now on?

[Sébastien]

35 minutes ago, SthMelbRed said:

"but you are going to be playing at altitude, you’re going to be playing on real grass..."

Anybody know how high above sea level it is there? Will this become our pre-Azteca training base from now on?

A little less than 3,700 feet, which is about half of Mexico City.

This brings up an interesting point though. With development of CPL infrastructure, CSA will have many more venues to choose from depending on upcoming opponent/location, including time zones.

[rob.notenboom]

It’s only a little over 1000 meters above sea level. As far as I know and from what I’ve read, there might be an effect but it’s negligable. 

Having scaled several dozen mountains in the Canadian Rockies I haven’t noticed much of an effect even up to and above 3000m. But I’m a bit of an outlier in that sense. I’ve been with others who have felt the lower oxygen levels, but only one terribly acutely and then we were above 9000ft for over 24hrs. 

Having said all of that, from Sea Level to 1000m there is a drop of atmospheric oxygen percentage from 20.9% to around 18.5%, so that is not nothing. It may have somewhat of an effect in both directions. 

Makes me want to go back and climb some mountains. ?

[Gopherbashi]

3 hours ago, rob.notenboom said:

It’s only a little over 1000 meters above sea level. As far as I know and from what I’ve read, there might be an effect but it’s negligable. 

Having scaled several dozen mountains in the Canadian Rockies I haven’t noticed much of an effect even up to and above 3000m. But I’m a bit of an outlier in that sense. I’ve been with others who have felt the lower oxygen levels, but only one terribly acutely and then we were above 9000ft for over 24hrs. 

Having said all of that, from Sea Level to 1000m there is a drop of atmospheric oxygen percentage from 20.9% to around 18.5%, so that is not nothing. It may have somewhat of an effect in both directions. 

Makes me want to go back and climb some mountains. ?

Not intending to argue technicalities, but wouldn't it be the partial pressure of oxygen that decreases, not the percent of air that's composed of oxygen?