| Final Score: Atlético Ottawa 0-0 Vancouver FC Goalscorers: N/A Game of the 2025 season: 108 CPL Match: 703 |
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Match in a minute or less
Atlético Ottawa kept their CPL Shield hopes alive in an at times nervy 0-0 draw with Vancouver FC on Sunday in the nation's capital.
Both sides had decent scoring chances, but a mostly cagey match saw a tentative-looking Atleti look far from their usually dominant selves at home.
The draw means that they go into the final week of the season needing a win in Halifax, and a Forge loss against York United at home, in order to lift the CPL Shield.
Vancouver FC are now unbeaten in their past five matches. Atleti haven't lost in their past eight, but four of their past five matches have ended in draws as they bled critical points in the CPL Shield race.
Three Observations
Atlético Ottawa keep Shield hopes alive in difficult draw with Vancouver FC
Atlético Ottawa did enough on Sunday to ensure the CPL Shield race reaches the final leg.
But in an at times anxious 90 minutes at TD Place they didn't look especially convincing. In fact, for large stretches of the match, Atleti looked more nervous to lose than they did determined to win against a fearless Vancouver team more than willing to play spoiler once again in the CPL Shield race.
Particularly in the first half, Atleti were a shade of their dominant selves, allowing Vancouver to have plenty of the ball and then trying to force passes between the lines when they got the ball back. When they did get into attacking areas, it felt tentative with players often electing to move the ball backward to maintain possession instead of pressing their advantage.
At half-time, Atleti had just one shot attempt, none on target, and 0.04 expected goals.
They woke up as the match opened up for the last 15 minutes of the game, and forced some good saves out of Callum Irving. Gabriel Antinoro even hit the post on a shot from long range that looked sure to nestle in the bottom corner. But the 0.93 expected goals they managed on the day was their second lowest at home all season, behind only the 0.63 they put up in a 0-0 draw with York United back on August 3.
Three points would have put them level with Forge at the top of the table, albeit still behind on the head-to-head tiebreaker. They now head to Halifax needing a victory, while keeping half an eye on the out-of-town scoreboard where they need top-of-the-table Forge to lose to York at home on the final day of the season in order to lift the Shield.
At the Wanderers Grounds, however, they will face a heavily motivated Halifax side who, with a win, will clinch a second-ever home playoff match. The Wanderers could also still move up into third place, and have lost just three times at home all season.
Still, Atlético Ottawa manager Diego Mejía has been around the game long enough to know that anything can happen on the final match day. All his side can do is take care of their own business.
"We will see at the end, when the referee whistles for the last time of the season, we will see," said Mejía. "But I have a lot of confidence in the team."
Vancouver FC put in another outstanding defensive shift in the capital; go toe-to-toe with Atlético Ottawa
Atlético Ottawa will be happy to know that they won't be seeing Vancouver FC again this year, especially at TD Place.
The last time VFC were in town, a resilient defensive effort saw them advance on aggregate in the TELUS Canadian Championship. On Sunday, they held Atleti scoreless in a 0-0 draw, again frustrating the hosts in attack.
But unlike their last trip to the nation's capital, there was no Eagles-branded bus parked in front of Callum Irving's net. Vancouver FC went toe-to-toe with one of the league's top teams, creating several chances of their own and holding onto the ball for long stretches.
In particular, their aggressive press did an outstanding job of forcing mistakes from the Atleti backline, leading to three corners inside of the opening 15 minutes. Atleti never truly looked comfortable playing out of the back throughout the game, and that lack of rhythm manifested in their disjointed attack further down the field.
When Ottawa were able to play through that initial line of resistance, Vancouver had a compact back four that sat deep, stayed together and took away the central channels.
"I think the least dangerous area is probably the wide area," said Vancouver FC head coach Martin Nash after the match. "So you kind of give them that and try to trap them and not let them out. And they're so dangerous they can get out of it. But I thought if you don't let them split you and get the ball into central areas, it makes it a lot tougher for them, and then you can get numbers behind the ball."
The clean sheet was Vancouver's first since July 13 against Cavalry in the league. But it was the fifth consecutive match that the Eagles have limited their opponent to a goal or fewer during an outstanding final stretch of the campaign.
Atlético Ottawa become first team to go undefeated at home in a CPL season
Even in a reasonably disappointing home draw on Sunday night against the last-place team in the Canadian Premier League, Atlético Ottawa managed to make another bit of league history.
With an 8-6-0 record in their 14 regular-season matches at TD Place, they became the first team in CPL history to go undefeated at home in a campaign.
"I think it's incredible," said Atlético Ottawa defender Brett Levis. "Speaking personally, this is by far the most successful team that I've played on. To go undefeated in any league, in any sport, around the world, at home, I think is pretty incredible. It's probably few and far between.
"It's important to reflect on what we've done throughout the season."
Forge, of course, will have the opportunity to match the feat should they get a result against York United at home next weekend.
But it is an outstanding accomplishment for a side that, throughout the years, had struggled to earn results in front of its brilliant home support. Atleti finished the home portion of their schedule with nine more points than any other season in club history.
Credit certainly needs to go to Mejía and his squad for implementing and executing an attacking and possession-based style of football that led to results wherever the club played this season.
Atleti know now that they will be at TD Place at least once more during the 2025 CPL Playoffs. At long last, it feels as though they established the grounds as a fortress this season.
What They Said
"I think that I feel really proud of the team. We push all the time. They play with heart all the time. And these are the kind of matches, the last matches of the season, even more with that kind of rivals that have nothing to lose. So I think that the performance was good, we need to be more clean in the last third to try to score goals." — Atlético Ottawa head coach Diego Mejía
"I'm very pleased with the performance. We didn't set back, I think even the two cup games, we probably held more possession today than we had been, which is one thing I wanted to do. I didn't want to be under pressure all game. I thought we held our own. I think it was a very even game." — Vancouver FC head coach Martin Nash
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Brett Levis, Atlético Ottawa
The veteran was outstanding in Atlético Ottawa's back three, making several key interventions as he won 10 of 12 duels, won three tackles, and made a pair of interceptions, while completing 65 of 71 passes.
What’s next?
Both clubs play their final regular-season game on Saturday, October 18, as all eight CPL teams play at the same time in The Outcome at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT.
Atlético Ottawa head to Halifax to take on the Wanderers, while Vancouver FC host Cavalry FC in Langley.
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