| Final Score: Atlético Ottawa 2-0 Halifax Wanderers FC Goalscorers: Salter 10', Tabla 47' (PK) Game of the 2025 season: 57 CPL Match: 653 |
Match in a minute or less
Atlético Ottawa were back to winning ways to kick off matchday #15 of Canadian Premier League action, as they defeated the Halifax Wanderers 2-0 at TD Place on Friday, allowing them to maintain their lead atop the table at one point ahead of second-place Forge.
They found the net early in both halves in this game, as Sam Salter had them ahead by one inside just 10 minutes, before Ballou Tabla doubled his team's lead in the 47th minute by converting a penalty that David Rodríguez did well to win.
From there, despite a late Wanderers flurry of chances, Ottawa did what they needed to and kept their lead intact, picking up three crucial points on a day when Forge also managed to secure a victory of their own over in Hamilton vs. Pacific FC.
Three Observations
Fast start allows Ottawa to set the tempo in crucial win:
While Ottawa will be pleased with the response they had in their latest game, a 1-1 draw with Forge, one where they scored a late penalty to tie things up, they'll rue the early goal they conceded to Kyle Bekker on that day.
With Bekker finding the net after a late run into the box, which allowed him to capitalize on some sloppy Ottawa defending, that gave Forge a crucial lead, one they did well to protect the rest of the way. In the end, they did eventually bend enough to break, as Ottawa held 69% of possession and attempted 23 shots, but it was still a good road point for them to take, one that'll frustrate Ottawa.
In a tightly-contested title race, it was a good opportunity to create some daylight between their closest competitor, but they'll be pleased that they at least kept the gap the way it was, and didn't get leapfrogged.
With that result in the back of their mind, however, it certainly fuelled their approach to this game. Against a Forge team that's been very good defensively, going down early meant that they spent most of the game trying to break down a low block, which is never easy to do against any team, let alone the team with the top defensive record in the league.
Because of that, they wanted to avoid such a scenario against the Wanderers, who themselves had done well to frustrate Ottawa this year, winning one and drawing the other of their first two meetings, in which Ottawa had never even led at any point.
It didn't take long for them to change that in this game, however, as Ottawa had a lead after just 10 minutes, and it'd be one they'd do well not to give up despite the Wanderers pushing to claw back a result.
Despite having the lead, Ottawa did well to get on the ball a lot, as they still finished with 52.6% possession, which is impressive considering how long they led. Typically, teams might start to sit back with a lead, but not Ottawa, who got on the ball and kept their composure.
Then, when they lost the ball, they made sure not to run around too much, either, as they tried to defend their box. For the most part, they did that quite well, too - Halifax did have 13 shots, and 20 touches in the box, but just 1.4 xG, as only two attempts rated higher than 0.18 xG (a 49th minute header from Tiago Coimbra worth 0.24 xG and a 64th minute Ryan Telfer chance worth 0.43 xG).
That's a credit to Ottawa's game plan, which they executed quite well, and it all started with the early goal. Of course, it goes without saying - it's easier to play with a lead, but that seems to be doubly as true for this Ottawa side.
The numbers speak for themselves in that regard - Ottawa now have a record of 6W-1D-0L when they open the scoring and have now gone 15 games without losing when scoring first. For a team that wants to get on the ball and control the tempo, having a lead is the best way for them to stay true to that philosophy, and they showed that off once again in this victory.
"That's the ideal scenario for us," Atlético Ottawa assistant coach, Diego Campos, said after filling in for the suspended Diego Mejía."In all of the matches, we want to score first."
Wanderers unable to turn dangerous wide opportunities into goals:
While it might've felt like a commanding Ottawa win given the margin of victory and how the game unfolded, the Wanderers still had several chances to make things interesting, however, especially in the second half.
The first half was a bit of a write-off for the visitors, as they held just 43.2% of possession and had just five shots, with only two of them coming inside the box and none being worth more than 0.15 xG, but they turned things up in the second stanza.
Granted, their hand ended up being forced a bit once Ottawa went up 2-0 before most players would've even broken a sweat after the half time break, but they still pushed to at least get something out of the game, trying to replicate the comeback Ottawa famously got against them during the first game of this season, which saw Ottawa turn a 2-0 deficit into a 2-2 draw in this same stadium.
Unfortunately for the Wanderers, they were not able to replicate that, and they'll only have themselves to blame, as they had several glorious chances to put Ottawa on the back foot. In particular, Telfer's 64th-minute chance will loom large, as he had the chance to settle himself and take a touch before firing a shot at the edge of the six-yard box, but then inexplicably sent the shot wide.
He finds the bottom corner with that chance, and it's game on, giving the Wanderers 25 minutes of runway to get a point, or more. Instead, they continued to chase proceedings, and that miss ended up summing up their offensive efforts, as they only hit the target with one of their 13 shot attempts.
It's not as if they were taking speculative shots, either - Telfer, Coimbra, Andre Rampersad and Jason Bahamboula all had dangerous shots inside of the box, but Bahamboula was the only one to test Ottawa goalkeeper Nathan Ingham, stinging his palms with a 0.02 xG attempt from a tight angle. Instead, most of their other chances were like Telfer's - they all rolled harmlessly past the post, sitting inches away from delivering the Wanderers the goal they desired.
It was that kind of day for the Wanderers, however, as they'll rue both goals they conceded, with the first coming from a stroke of luck for the CPL's Golden Boot leader, Sam Salter, before they doubled their lead on a penalty. Ottawa was full value for those opportunities, make no mistake - but the Wanderers will have felt they had enough juice to respond, especially in terms of what they created out wide, where they sent over 75% of their attacks.
What this shows, however, is that you have to make your own luck - and when seeing the Wanderers' lack of shots on target, and their few high-xG opportunities, they didn't do enough of that. Against an Ottawa team that's been on a roll defensively, conceding just one goal and keeping five clean sheets in their last six CPL games, that was never going to be enough to trouble them.
Because of that, it'll be back to the drawing board for the Wanderers, who will want to return to what was working offensively in their three previous games, in which they scored six goals, showing that this is more of a blip than anything to start worrying about quite yet.
"These are opportunities for us to look at things, fix them and move forward," Wanderers head coach, Patrice Gheisar, said afterwards. "If this were the 28th game, I'd be really disappointed, but luckily, it's only the 15th game, so we've got 13 games to fix some stuff."
Ottawa finds joy between lines despite Wanderers' press:
Early on, this game almost ended up having a different start, as the Wanderers came out aggressively with their high press. Much as they've done in their previous two games against Ottawa, they pressed in a 4-2-2-2, one that almost looked like a 4-2-4 at times, and that almost led to some early chances, including one that saw Jason Bahamboula pick off an Ottawa pass to create a dangerous counter-attack that was only narrowly snuffed out by an Ottawa defender.
To Ottawa's credit, however, once they weathered that early storm, they did well to adjust. Instead of letting the Wanderers outnumber their back three in possession, they created an overload in central areas, as David Rodríguez dropped deeper than usual to get on the ball.
That ended up providing crucial support to Ottawa's midfield pivot of Juan Castro and Manny Aparicio, who both ended up being pivotal for their team in the build-up. In particular, Castro literally didn't set a foot wrong in midfield, completing all 48 of his pass attempts, doing so despite attempting five long balls and four passes into the final third.
Along with the work Aparicio did on both sides of the ball, as he had the third-most touches of any player with 84 and also contested a game-high 20 duels, that ended up being a big asset to Ottawa. In particular, the latter stat with Aparicio is quite key, as Ottawa also went long from their centre backs and goalkeeper quite often (the four centre backs they used attempted 13 long balls, while Ingham attempted 17), leading to a lot of second balls in central areas.
Through that, it forced the Wanderers to adjust their press, as they went from that 4-2-2-2 to more of a 4-3-3, as they tried to drop a body back to help their midfielders deal with Ottawa's central overload, and that allowed Ottawa's centre backs to get on the ball more.
What that shows, however, is the challenge of defending this Ottawa team, which is why they've scored a league-high 33 goals in 15 games, doing so despite holding a lot of the ball in many games. They do a great job of creating overloads all over the pitch, using their wing backs and midfielders to target an area where they feel they need extra numbers, and then attacking into that space as often as possible.
Usually, that space has been in and around opposing boxes, but in this game, with the Wanderers pressing high and keeping a solid bank of four at the back, Ottawa had to focus on targeting gaps in the midfield, and ended up doing so rather successfully.
It took some sacrifice from some players, especially Rodríguez, whose heat map looked more like that of a wing back, but that ended up paying off for his team in the final third. That Ottawa finished with 35 touches in the box and four big chances created, with Rodríguez getting eight of those touches in the box, shows that the approach paid off for all parties involved.
Yet, this helps explain Ottawa's offensive success this year. Salter's 10 goals and Rodríguez's brilliance will steal a lot of the headlines, but their success is largely down to the fact that all 11 of their players are involved in the attack, helping turn the wheels in a high-octane system that then churns out high-quality opportunities for those in the front seven to get on the end of, as was the case in this game once more.
What They Said
*"Nathan (Ingham) and our defensive line are our first attackers. Our model, I don't want to say that depends on them, but they are a very important part of it, because if they weren't playing like they were today, maybe we'd struggle trying to play like this. They have the courage (to play like this), and that's the most important thing, because in the end, you can have the quality or the technique to play, but if you don't have the courage, you cannot play like this. And they have accepted this way of playing, and when we're clear in our build-up play, we can break the pressure and then create chances." **-- Atlético Ottawa assistant coach Diego Campos
*"It comes from trust. The coaching staff gave us a plan, and they've been like, and a lot of coaches say this and they don't mean it; 'Here's the game plan, here's what we're gonna do, and if you make a mistake doing this, it's on me, period. It's not your fault. This is what I want you to do, and if that's playing through tight spaces, or playing around them, whatever the case is, if you make mistakes doing the right thing, it's not a mistake.' And they live and die by that. Football's about trust, especially in relationships with coaches. We trust them, and they trust us in return, and that goes a long way, there's a fearlessness there." **-- Atlético Ottawa goalkeeper Nathan Ingham
*"I think the game from our end was starving for a goal. Emotionally, the moment when you feel that you have to climb two floors is difficult, but if you get that one goal, now you only have to climb one more floor - it's a lot easier. You feel a bit more of a push, and I just felt that first goal, unfortunately, never came." ******-- Halifax Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Juan Castro, Atlético Ottawa
Castro was a consistent force on both sides of the ball for Ottawa, playing a big role in midfield.
He did some of his best work on the ball, as he completed all 48 of his pass attempts, including four passes into the final third and five long balls, while also completing four dribbles and creating one chance, but he was just as good defensively, completing one tackle, one block, and one interception, while also nabbing eight recoveries and winning seven out of 13 of his duels.
What’s next?
Atlético Ottawa will head out on the road for their next match, as a visit to Vancouver Island to take on Pacific FC at Starlight Stadium awaits them on Saturday, July 26th (5:00 p.m. PT/8:00 p.m. ET). Meanwhile, the Wanderers will be back in Halifax for another top four clash, as they host Forge FC at Wanderers Grounds on Friday, July 25th (6:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. AT).
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