Kitchener goalkeeper Gomes comes full circle
OTTAWA — Ricky Gomes is back playing soccer on home soil for the first time in 12 years. And it feels great. “When I left Canada, I don’t think anyone really believed we would get a professional league,” the Kitchener native said in a phone interview.
“It’s a bit surprising to be back, but it’s good, that’s for sure,” Gomes added.
The former St. Mary’s High School goalkeeper headed overseas at 14 to pursue his soccer dream and realized it by playing in various pro leagues in Portugal, Spain and Scotland.
He was inspired by fellow Kitchener footballer David Edgar, who left Canada to train in England at a young age and ultimately made his pro debut with Newcastle United in the Premier League. In fact, Edgar’s dad, Eddie, was Gomes’ first goalie coach in Kitchener.
“His trajectory influenced me,” said Gomes. “That’s what gave me the example to do the same.”
And, like Edgar, who won a Canadian Premier League crown with Hamilton’s Forge FC last season, Gomes has turned to the domestic league for his next stop on the pitch.
Earlier this year, the 26-yearold signed with the expansion Atletico Ottawa, a club owned by Atletico Madrid, which plays in Spain’s La Liga. That tie alone was enough to persuade Gomes to give the upstart franchise a shot.
“Nothing really interested me more than coming to Ottawa,” he said. “I knew right away that it was going to be a club that was run properly.”
The CPL was supposed to start playing games in April but is now eyeing a mid-July or early August return.
Gomes was one of the first players on the field when the league got clearance to train last Friday and has been practising with Ottawa’s goalie coach, Jose Angel Oyonarte, and fellow keeper Nacho Zabal, from Spain, ever since.
“We can’t come into contact with all the players yet,” Gomes said. “But it just feels amazing to be back training.”
Friends and family are eager to see him in action and have been hounding him for information about tickets and return-to-play scenarios.
That support is a luxury he didn’t enjoy often while playing overseas.
“The CPL is massive for the country,” said Gomes, who has represented Canada on the international stage at various age levels since he was a teenager. “I left when I was very young because I felt like there were no options or opportunities for me to be a professional soccer player in this country. Now, with this professional league, I think kids are going to grow up dreaming and kind of see a light at the end of the tunnel where they can make it.”
Gomes can’t wait to get going in the nation’s capital.
“There is a lot of excitement around the team,” he said. “We really want to tap into the city as much as we can.”