| Final Score: Cavalry FC 0-2 Atlético Ottawa Goalscorers: Dos Santos 9', Salter 61' Game of the 2025 season: 48 CPL Match: 644 |
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Match in a minute or less
Atlético Ottawa will head into July atop the Canadian Premier League, after beating Cavalry FC 2-0 at ATCO Field on Saturday for a second win of the year in the den of the champions.
The visitors found the net early, as Kevin Dos Santos poked a clever finish in at the near post less than 10 minutes in. The Cavs went on to probe Ottawa's penalty area repeatedly throughout the rest of the first half, holding a heavy advantage in possession, but they were unable to finish their opportunities.
Around the hour mark, the Cavs gifted a second goal to Ottawa, as Marco Carducci played a pass out of the back that Manny Aparicio picked off easily, playing it to Sam Salter to score his ninth goal of the year.
Seeing out the clean sheet victory, Ottawa tightened their grip on first place in the table.
Three Observations
Atlético Ottawa continue to soar with 4th-straight clean sheet, cleverly-designed win
It's getting old now when we keep talking about Atlético Ottawa's young back three, but they're just so consistent in almost every game. Atleti have kept a clean sheet in four straight CPL matches now, and that's down to a variety of factors: their U-21 defenders, Nathan Ingham having perhaps his best season yet, and Ottawa controlling the ball for so much of each game.
That was all part of the picture on Saturday again. Noah Abatneh, Tyr Duhaney-Walker and Loïc Cloutier were outstanding in the back three, as usual, and kept the Cavs' biggest stars largely pretty quiet. Ingham was as steady as always, making six saves and helping steward the young defenders, keeping things calm with his collected goalkeeping.
And then there's the way Ottawa controlled the game outside of their backline. They did not have a majority of possession — just 46 per cent over the 90 minutes, in fact. However, they were clever and pragmatic in when and where they went searching for the ball. Late in the game with a two-goal lead, they allowed the Cavs to play into them, which is why the home side had over 60 per cent possession in the second half.
Before then, however, Atleti did a good job retrieving and keeping the ball when they wanted to. Diego Mejía deserves a lot of credit for designing an effective game plan; he was clearly aware that Cavalry would try to press his team, making it hard to cycle the ball from side to side as they did against Valour and York in recent weeks.
Instead, Ottawa were more direct with the ball, inviting Cavalry into traps. That was never more evident than in Atleti's first goal, where they triggered the press and got the Cavs to step forward, before Juan Castro played a ball over the top to Kevin Dos Santos — onside but completely uncovered — to carry into the box.
Oddly, ATCO Field has been quite a fruitful venue for Atlético Ottawa over the years, which can't be said of any other CPL team who plays Cavalry there. Atleti have played the Cavs nine times in Calgary and won six, their only ever loss coming back in May 2023.
Although both of Ottawa's visits to Calgary this year have been difficult games, perhaps closer than either scoreline suggests, it's nonetheless remarkable that Atleti have gone into the home of the reigning champions twice and won each time. That alone could be useful for them come the end of the season, with the head-to-head tiebreaker very likely now to fall in Atleti's favour.
Even when it looked like the rest of the league might start catching up, Mejía's side proved again that they have what it takes to be a championship-calibre team in the CPL.
Déjà vu for Cavalry as poor errors, frustration lead to home defeat
Last time Atlético Ottawa travelled to Calgary, near the end of April, things played out in relatively similar fashion to this game on Saturday. On that occasion, the Cavs failed to reward themselves for a good first half, before five nightmare minutes — a Bradley Kamdem own goal, followed shortly by a Kamdem red card and then another Atleti goal in transition amid the chaos — led to a home defeat, ending up 3-1 in Ottawa's favour.
This time, things didn't unravel quite so quickly for Cavalry, but again they leave frustrated after a home defeat to Atlético where they didn't do much wrong, but enough to lose decisively.
The opening goal was a well-designed piece of play from the visitors, but Tommy Wheeldon Jr. won't like that his team fell into the trap so easily. After conceding, the Cavs were inarguably the better side for the rest of the first half; they created a few golden opportunities to score the equalizer, but always seemed an inch or so off when it came to the final ball.
"What's happened is we've been punished for two errors, and that's it," Wheeldon Jr. said when asked postmatch. "They made the saves and blocks and things like that they needed to do, and they were flawless in that. That's the tale of the game, really."
There's no doubt that Cavalry have been largely excellent in the past couple of months; entering Saturday, they were unbeaten in their last 10 in all competitions. That, surely, will be Wheeldon Jr.'s focus in conversation with his side as they now enter a lengthy break.
The Cavs' next match isn't until July 8, when they play a Canadian Championship match against Vancouver FC. So, with this quick breather to reset slightly — and, more importantly, get everyone back to full fitness — they'll likely come out guns blazing when we see them next.
On that topic, among the positives for Cavalry on Saturday was the evidence they're getting healthier. Diego Gutiérrez made his first start of the CPL season and looked solid in midfield; as one of the CPL's best ball distributors and box-to-box talents, having him at 100 per cent in a few weeks will be huge. Likewise, Eryk Kobza came off the bench and is nearly fully fit. In pregame remarks, Wheeldon Jr. also mentioned that Michael Baldisimo and Bradley Kamdem are just a few weeks from their returns, so it'll be a deeper Cavalry side we see toward the end of July.
Salter leading historic Atleti attack, aiming for records in Golden Boot chase
With nine goals in 13 games to begin the 2025 CPL campaign, Sam Salter is on pace to absolutely shatter the league's single-season scoring record. At this rate of around 0.69 goals per game, he's on track to his 19 goals in a 28-game season — well beyond the current record of 14 set by João Morelli in in 2021.
With his goal on Saturday, though, Salter isn't far off his career best in the CPL, which was the 11 goals he scored for the Halifax Wanderers back in 2022. At this point, it would be a shock if he didn't pass that mark, probably by the end of the summer.
Bizarrely, every single Golden Boot winner in CPL history (in a full 28-game season, that is) has had exactly seven goals at the midway point of the campaign. Entering this weekend, two players — Salter and York's Julian Altobelli — were already at seven with multiple other players in range of the mark before they hit their team's 14th match.
Amid the best Golden Boot race the CPL has ever had, though, Atlético Ottawa have a chance to be the best attacking team in league history as well. They've scored 30 already, putting them on pace for over 64, easily above the all-time record of 51 set by Cavalry in 2019.
As a club, Atleti have only hit 40 goals in a CPL season once (last year). This year, however, with much greater focus on the attack, they've been scoring at will.
"It's the most fun in football, when you can score and enjoy those wins with the team," Ottawa midfielder Manny Aparicio said postgame. "We know we have some great weapons up front, so as the midfielders and defence we just grind it out and try to set them up in the best way possible, and we know they're going to finish them off."
As a team, Ottawa have a full commitment to both sides of the ball; Salter is the one who has to be consistent with his finishing, but he's also the beneficiary of some extraordinary build-up play, coming from all areas of the pitch.
There's certainly nothing flukey about the rate at which Atleti have been scoring, even if individual goals like Salter's on Saturday come easier than others. This team is a comprehensively overwhelming foe on both sides of the ball.
What They Said
"My first goal as a coach, when I arrived here to this league, was to build a game to be protagonists on the ball. The second part is to work with them on a little bit of defensive principles. I think right now we're a very, very strong team. I watch the behaviour of my players, the development of the young players, and it's incredible the level they have." -- Atlético Ottawa head coach Diego Mejía
"Refresh, reset, reload. That's what we've got to look at. I said to the lads, we put a game plan together. A couple of things didn't go our way in a 90-plus minute game. So what we've got to do is just draw a line in the sand, move on, reload, and now we'll go again." -- Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Manny Aparicio, Atlético Ottawa
Aparicio was absolutely everywhere in this game, stopping Cavalry attacks before they could even begin by picking off the ball cleverly. He won eight duels and made five tackles, winning the ball and assisting Sam Salter's goal. Aparicio's ability to cover ground and press opposing players tirelessly made him a nuisance to Cavalry all evening.
What’s next?
These sides will have the next weekend off, and Atlético Ottawa return to CPL action on Saturday, July 12 when they host Forge FC (3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT). Cavalry will resume their league campaign on Sunday, July 12, with a trip west to play Vancouver FC (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).
Before then, however, both sides will wrap up their TELUS Canadian Championship quarter-final ties on Tuesday, July 8. Atleti travel to York United, looking to hold onto their one-goal aggregate lead (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT), before Cavalry host Vancouver FC looking to break a 1-1 deadlock (9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT).
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