For the final time in this regular season, Ontario foes York United and Atlético Ottawa will lock horns on Sunday, as Atleti continue their pursuit of the CPL Shield and York battle for position in a heated playoff race.
The Nine Stripes are hoping they can continue a strong run of home form at York Lions Stadium, where they've won two in a row (and four of their last five). In matchweek 22, York seriously impressed in a 3-1 win over a Cavalry side that had just routed Forge a week prior.
York thus find themselves in the thick of a battle for third place in the CPL table. Cavalry currently occupy the spot with 33 points, but both the Halifax Wanderers and York United are close behind with 32. There are plenty of benefits to finishing third rather than fourth or fifth — namely, avoiding the midweek knockout match that the fourth and fifth sides play at the start of the playoffs, just a few days before the semifinal qualifier at the home of the third place side.
That's why York will be so keen on bagging all three points this week. With Cavalry and Halifax playing each other on Saturday, York would leapfrog at least one of them with a win against Ottawa (or both of them, if they draw).
However, beating Atlético Ottawa is much easier said than done. Atleti remain second in the table with 46 points, three back of Forge at the top, which means they too are desperate for a win to keep pace in the regular season title race.
Ottawa have won two games in a row, against Vancouver FC and Pacific FC in succession. Last weekend, they had to wait until late in the day until they finally beat a stubborn Sean Melvin, but they managed to emerge with a 2-0 win.
Atleti's chase for the CPL Shield has been difficult, and with Forge at the top of their game it's been tough to gain any ground. However, with the two sides set to face each other next week, it's important that Ottawa keep them within reach.
York and Ottawa are well known for their heated matches between each other, with several recent meetings turning into high-scoring, dramatic affairs. They played to a wild 4-3 result in Ottawa's favour in the Canadian Championship quarter-finals, and Atleti knocked York out of last year's CPL Playoffs on penalties.
However, the Nine Stripes haven't beaten Ottawa in the last six meetings, after losing just two of the first 19 times they played each other. Last time out in August, the two sides played to a fairly sluggish 0-0 draw at TD Place, but there's still no love lost between these rivals.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
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Plenty of goals, or another cagey draw?: It seems there's no in-between when these sides clash. Either it's a dry 0-0 (which has happened twice this year), or it's a high-octane, back-and-forth thriller. Both Ottawa and York have already set club records for goals in a season with 44 and 36, respectively. There are outstanding attacking players on both sides, like Ottawa's Sam Salter (the CPL Golden Boot leader) and David Rodríguez, and York's Julian Altobelli. The question, with this being the clubs' sixth meeting of the season, is whether the two sides have figured each other out, or whether managers Diego Mejía and Mauro Eustáquio can devise a new tactical curveball to gain an edge.
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López fitting in brilliantly at York: One wrinkle in York's lineup, new since the last time since these sides met, is that Leonel López is now a nailed-on starter for the Nine Stripes. The Mexican midfielder has now started five games in a row since making his club debut off the bench in the last match against Atleti, and he has scored in each of York's last three home games. His extensive Liga MX experience and quality on the ball is evident in how he can control games and create dangerous attacking opportunities, and he'll be a handful for Ottawa's midfield of Manny Aparicio and Juan Castro to deal with.
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Atleti's defensive situation unclear: After they went so long with the same back three, Atlético Ottawa have had to make several changes in recent weeks due to various injuries and unavailability. Loïc Cloutier's return last weekend was a huge boost, but Noah Abatneh remains questionable to be available, as does Tyr Duhaney-Walker. Sergei Kozlovskiy may be back in the mix, depending on when exactly he got back to Ottawa after being away in Spain with Canada's U-17s. In the meantime, Brett Levis has done a good job deputizing at left centre-back, but it's not his natural position. Rony Mbomio, however, has been thrown straight into the lineup despite joining the club just a few weeks ago and has done well. Still, Diego Mejía will want some stability in his backline heading into the playoffs to ensure whichever trio he lands on has time to develop as much chemistry as possible.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
York United: Urtiaga; Sturing, Adekugbe, Singh; Ferrari, López, Kibato, Botello; Reid, Altobelli, Ferrin
Atlético Ottawa: Ingham; Mbomio, Cloutier, Kozlovskiy; Dos Santos, Castro, Aparicio, Antinoro; Rodríguez, Salter, Tabla
ALL-TIME SERIES
York wins: 8 || Ottawa wins: 6 || Draws: 11
Last meeting:
August 3, 2025 — Atlético Ottawa 0-0 York United
KEY QUOTES
"It's important. It's the last six games, it's six finals. We have our goals to go after, and we know how important this game is because of how tight it is. We know what [Ottawa] bring on the field, we know what we've been successful doing against them. ... It's going to be in the details." – York United head coach Mauro Eustáquio
"We know that York is a really tough rival. We've played a lot of times against them; the first match they tried to be more aggressive, the last matches they tried to rest in defence a little bit more. With the necessity that each team has, we'll watch a very interesting match. I think they will wait for us, some mistake we can commit." – Atlético Ottawa head coach Diego Mejía
