The last time a professional soccer team from Ottawa qualified for a final, Carl Haworth was on the pitch. Having made a run down the left wing, he looked on as teammate Tom Heinemann scored the match-winner against Minnesota United in extra time to send TD Place into wild celebrations, and the Ottawa Fury to the 2015 NASL Soccer Bowl.

The Fury would go on to lose the final 3-2 to the New York Cosmos. Haworth, however, still has fond memories of both that moment and what it meant to the city’s soccer community.

Six years later, he has returned to the nation’s capital, now with Atlético Ottawa. On Sunday, the club will play its first-ever home playoff game in the Canadian Premier League’s semifinals, and Haworth and his teammates are looking to create a new special moment at TD Place.

“Our fans, they kind of live for those moments,” Haworth told CanPL.ca this week. “They’ve been showing up in big numbers all season, and we’re expecting even more for that playoff game and it really does give us that extra lift, that twelfth man out there. I’m looking forward to it.”

"We love playing here, we love playing in front of these fans"

After tonight's regular season finale at TD Place, @atletiOttawa's @ccaarrllitos spoke to https://t.co/o4P5Mt4VxA's @charliejclarke #CanPL pic.twitter.com/eGu8eeODko

— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) October 10, 2022

Atleti go into Sunday’s match against Pacific FC up 2-0 on aggregate after an excellent away performance at Starlight Stadium. They have found success all season, according to Haworth, largely in the same way as that 2015 Ottawa Fury side.

“I see a lot of similarities between that group and this group,” he said. “Very solid defensively, tough to break down, deadly on the counter-attack and just enjoying playing with this group of guys. Everyone gets along, guys aren’t ticked off if they aren’t playing they are just supporting the team and trying to push that next guy.”

Haworth initially joined the Fury in 2013 when they played in the PDL. Back then, he says, the team played at Algonquin College and were lucky if they got 100 fans to a match.

“It has been exponential,” said Haworth of the growth of the sport in the city, but he added it has been cool to see many of the same fans who supported the Fury back then still involved with Atlético Ottawa today. Those numbers continue to grow. 

“We can see it even in the grassroots, numbers are up in terms of registrations, [local] teams are coming out every game and they are engaging as well,” Haworth said. “They aren’t just coming once and then forgetting about it. They are coming once and then getting hooked, and they are coming back.”

Haworth played seven seasons for the Fury, across multiple different leagues and competitions, before they folded in 2019. He left the city for two seasons to play with Indy Eleven in the USL Championship, but a return to the nation’s capital was always on his mind.

“As soon as I left Ottawa it was kind of counting down the time until I would be back here,” he said. “The opportunity to play soccer in Ottawa again once it came about was a no-brainer. It was the easiest decision I’ve made in my career.”

He was one of many new faces to join this season’s Atlético Ottawa team, including new coach Carlos González and 13 other signings and loans before the season had even started in April. Despite the turnover, the group came together incredibly quickly and would go on to win the Canadian Premier League’s 2022 regular season title.

“The number of guys in this locker room that you could call a captain, that have that leadership quality, is [incredible],” said Haworth. “Even the younger guys have stepped in and played a huge role and kind of gelled within the group, found their place, also not afraid the speak up when things aren’t going right.”

He says in some ways on a team like this, the captain’s armband is just a symbol, and that the number of leaders within the group makes the job of whoever is selected to wear it incredibly easy. With that being said, it was a moment of immense pride for Haworth when he got to captain Atleti this past weekend in the club’s first-ever playoff match.

“Being able to lead this group after everything that I’ve gone through personally in terms of the team folding, leaving, coming back, going through injuries, it certainly meant a lot to wear that armband,” he said. 

After that victory, Haworth and Atleti sit 90 minutes away from following in the footsteps of the 2015 Fury team and reaching a final, one that would also be played at TD Place Stadium. He and his teammates, however, are under no impression that their job is done; they know that only 90 of 180 minutes of soccer in the tie have been played.

“Now it’s about not being complacent, not looking towards the final and what may be after this Sunday,” said Haworth. “It’s about just focusing and preparing for this game like we do any other game.” 

One of the club’s mottos this year has been to treat every game like a final. Do that once more, in front of the incredible fan support they have received all season, and they will be preparing for the true final and a chance to make even more history.