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By the time the second half got underway, you sort of began to feel like “Yeah, this is going to work.”

At kickoff, traffic issues on Spruce Meadows Trail meant there were lots of empty seats at ATCO Field for Cavalry FC’s first ever game in the Canadian Premier League.

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But the fans kept streaming in.

By the time Jordan Brown scored the first goal in Cavalry’s history — sending home a header off a corner kick just 25:49 into the first half — the grandstand was beginning to fill-up.

When the teams returned to the field for the second half, there were only a few empty seats left.

By the final whistle, when the scoreboard showed Cavalry FC had won 2-1, more than 3,400 fans at Spruce Meadows were in an absolute frenzy.

The big question surrounding Cavalry FC — and the Canadian Premier League in general — has always been whether fans would show up.

One game doesn’t guarantee anything, but the early returns suggest there’s an appetite for professional soccer in Calgary.