Getting To Know Your Coaches: A Forward Press Report
On October 5th, about 35 to 40 Atlético Ottawa premium club-level season-ticket holders gathered at Happy Goat on Laurel Street. They met for an exclusive Coaches Social with the club’s coaching staff, a chance to hear more about the people behind the team, ask questions and meet them afterwards.
Happy Goat, a proud Atlético Ottawa sponsor, provided sandwiches, charcuterie boards, snacks, cookies and brownies, along with a complimentary drink ticket for each guest. There were also door prizes, including Happy Goat gift certificates, four tickets to Cirque du Soleil and several mystery goodie bags. Sadly, this author did not win one, so the contents remain a mystery.
The crowd was polite and attentive… definitely not Dub-section energy!
Questions had mostly been submitted when people RSVP’d, with time at the end for three live questions. The coaches sat together in the back of the coffee shop while a club representative acted as emcee and passed the microphone around.
Head coach Gustavo “Gus” Leal, whose nickname is pronounced “Goose,” did much of the talking.
One theme that came through strongly was his enthusiasm for developing young players. Gus said youth players have good days and bad days. On the bad days, the job is to coach them through the struggles. On the good days, it is important to show them exactly what they are doing right.
He also talked about the differences between developing players in Brazil and Canada. In Brazil, children grow up playing soccer year-round, and youth clubs might play around 70 matches in a season. Canadian kids are more likely to treat soccer as a summer sport and combine it with hockey, basketball or another activity.
Still, Gus sees enormous potential here. He believes Canada is ready for a soccer awakening and is impressed by the talent coming through.
He also said Canadians have made him feel very welcome. When he walks to the stadium, people recognize him, say hello and stop to talk. He seemed genuinely pleased by that.
Assistant coach Drew Beckie received perhaps the most dangerous question of the night: whose coaching style does he prefer, Diego Mejía’s or Gustavo’s?
Drew laughed and admitted he had been afraid that question was coming.
Rather than picking a winner, he explained that coaches structure training differently and work through different cycles. Mejía had his own pattern, while Drew is now learning Gus’s system. He sees strengths in both. Having worked with four Atlético Ottawa coaches, Drew said that when he eventually gets his own opportunity to coach, he expects to take pieces from each of them and develop an approach of his own.
Assistant coach Alexandre Gomes, who is Brazilian and a native Portuguese speaker, was teased about learning English. After working with Gus in Mexico, Alexandre had already put considerable effort into learning Spanish. Then Gustavo called to tell him they were going to Ottawa.
Congratulations, Alexandre. Time for another language.
Language, in fact, became another question that evening. Gus talked about coaching in Slovakia, where players spoke Slovak, Hungarian, Spanish and English. His approach is to explain and demonstrate the same idea three different ways, increasing the odds that everyone understands at least one of them.
That multilingual approach continues in Ottawa. Gus speaks Portuguese with Manu Aparicio, Spanish with some players and English with others. Rather than seeing that diversity as a complication, he sees it as a strength, especially when it comes with so much talent.
Strength and conditioning coach Ibrahim “Ibby” Soukary also talked about his journey back to Ottawa and how meaningful it was to return home.
Ibby was also at the centre of one of the funniest stories of the evening. Gus had just watched Brazil tie with Morocco in the FIFA world cup before boarding a flight to Ottawa. When he landed and met Ibby for the first time, Ibby was wearing a Moroccan jersey.
Excellent timing.
Ibby defended himself by calling Morocco the “Brazil of Africa,” pointing to similarities between the two countries. Gus seemed unconvinced.
Then came the story many supporters had been waiting for: the now-famous victory dance from the September 30 match against Cavalry.
Gus explained that a Cavalry assistant coach had said some inappropriate things to Gabi Antinoro. Gus stepped in and responded with a few words of his own, which earned him a yellow card. We will just glide past that part.
Later, when Antinoro scored Ottawa’s third goal deep into stoppage time, Gus wanted to celebrate in the direction of the Cavalry bench. Unfortunately, he realized he was stepping outside his technical area while already sitting on a yellow.
So he jumped back.
Then the referee turned away, so Gus stepped forward again.
Then the referee looked back, so Gus jumped back again.
And an iconic CPL meme was born.
Gus admitted his dance was essentially a “nyah nyah” aimed at the Cavalry assistant coach. The emcee suggested supporters need to choose a song to accompany the video. Sadly, no one had an immediate suggestion.
Gus and Alexandre have also recently attended their first Ottawa Senators game and first Redblacks game. Gus joked that perhaps he was a good-luck charm, since Atlético won its home game against Cavalry and the Sens also won their match. Someone unhelpfully pointed out that the Redblacks did not.
Gus also said he has long admired American football and believes soccer can learn from its defensive organization and set plays. Shades of Ted Lasso? Perhaps.
After the Q&A, guests were invited to meet the coaches. Surprisingly few people went up, which meant there was actually time for conversation. I had a chance to speak with Gus about San Luis Potosí, where his daughter was born. When I mentioned I might visit in February, he assured me I would have a good time.
Not a bad travel endorsement.
And not a bad evening for an Atlético Ottawa supporter.
About Michelle:
Michelle developed an interest in soccer while studying Spanish and became an Atlético Ottawa fan in 2025. When she isn’t cheering on Atleti or conjugating Spanish verbs, she’s working in fundraising, volunteering with the Help Bolivia Foundation to support Indigenous youth, getting on the air as a licensed amateur radio operator, and plotting her next trip to Latin America.
