A place in the TELUS Canadian Championship Final is on the line Thursday night in the capital, where Atlético Ottawa and Vancouver FC both find themselves 90 minutes away from booking a trip to BC Place on Oct. 1.
The visiting Vancouver FC have a 3-1 lead on aggregate after leg one back in Langley; can the high-scoring Atleti punch back in this return fixture?
No Canadian Premier League side has ever advanced to the final in a full CanChamp tournament, so one of these two sides will make history in this clash. Although Forge FC played in the 2020 final (in June 2022), the unique circumstances of Covid-19 meant they earned their spot by winning the 2020 CPL championship at the Island Games; so, no CPL side has ever won a Canadian Championship semifinal.
Vancouver FC, despite a frustrating league campaign that has them at the bottom of the current CPL table, have captured lightning in a bottle in this cup run. Entering the 2025 tournament, they had never won a game in the Canadian Championship, yet now they find themselves with a two-goal lead in the semifinal.
The Eagles won the preliminary round in a penalty shootout against provincial rivals Pacific FC, then took down reigning CPL champions Cavalry FC in the two-legged quarter-final — again on penalties after a dramatic 2-2 aggregate scoreline.
Between then and the semifinal, Vancouver went through a handful of changes, including a coaching change, but new interim gaffer Martin Nash managed to keep the cup magic alive. They stunned Ottawa with a 3-1 result in leg one, where goals from Michel Cavalcante, Hugo Mbongue and Nicolas Mezquida gave them quite the cushion heading into this second leg.
With no away goals rule in the Canadian Championship, there's a tad more breathing room as well for VFC, but they need to be on their toes against an extremely dangerous Atlético side.
Ottawa currently sit second in the CPL standings, just two points off the top. They may be behind on aggregate, but few teams are better-suited to overturn such a deficit than they are. Atleti have scored 46 league goals this season in 23 matches, putting them well on track to break the CPL's single-season team record of 51.
They've come back from deficits before, including against Vancouver FC this year; earlier in the season, they went down 2-0 in Langley before fighting back for a 2-2 draw.
With such potent attacking weapons as CPL Golden Boot leader Sam Salter and assists leader David Rodríguez in the mix, there's no denying that Ottawa have the firepower to come back in this tie.
Atleti head coach Diego Mejía has mentioned on a few occasions this year that it's been tough for his team to play against low defensive blocks. With Vancouver leading, it's likely they'll play that way for at least some of the match. However, Mejía said Wednesday he's not too worried.
"We need to score goals, I think we’re capable of that," he said. "We’re the best team at scoring goals this season, and at creating chances. Only the first seven matches in the league, we played against high blocks or mid blocks. The other matches in the league we played against low blocks, so we’ve trained a lot in the situation."
Both teams know that the winner on Thursday night will be headed to Vancouver for a clash with the Whitecaps, after the MLS side dispatched Forge FC in the other semifinal on Tuesday. That kind of local derby would be a dream for VFC, but they know there's a tough 90 minutes ahead to get there.
Meanwhile, Atleti manager Diego Mejía has spoken repeatedly about accomplishing something special with his team this year; certainly, getting to a final would be a step toward that.
Canadian Championship History
Last meeting: Aug. 29, 2025 — Atlético Ottawa 3-1 Vancouver FC (CPL)
Atlético Ottawa:
All-time record: 5W-1D-5L
Best finish: Quarter-finals (2023, 2024)
Vancouver FC:
All-time record: 3W-1D-2L
Best finish: Preliminary Round (2023, 2024)
Key Quotes
“We know we need to come back, we've come back in a lot of matches before. I have a lot of confidence in the roster. We're going to play with our fans. I think if we play in our model, if we don't commit easy mistakes, we will have a lot of chances to pass through to the final.” – Atlético Ottawa head coach Diego Mejía
“We were here a couple weeks ago, and we played quite well and lost 3-1. The guys know that we're going to have to be dialled in. No one's switching off in any moment of the game, and you can't give them any goals. We have to work hard; if we can score a goal or two ourselves, it'll put more pressure on them. It's interesting to be two goals up, but we're going to have to work even harder in this game than we did at home to be able to see out the tie.” – Vancouver FC head coach Martin Nash
