2024 CPL Regular Season — Match #37
Atlético Ottawa vs. York United FC
June 15, 2024 at 1 p.m. ET 
TD Place in Ottawa, Ont.
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here

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In a rematch of the first game of the CPL season, Atlético Ottawa are getting set to host York United at TD Place in an all-Ontario matchup this Saturday afternoon.

Just over two months after these same two teams did battle at TD Place to kick-off the 2024 campaign, both enter this second matchup in much different form this time around, however.

For Ottawa, they’re looking to keep up a streak that started in that opening game, a 2-1 comeback win over York United, as they’re yet to lose a match since. As a result, they sit atop the CPL table with a record of 6W-3D-0L (21 PTS) in nine games, sitting seven points ahead of second place.

The only team not to lose in CPL play so far, they’ll look to extend that run to double-digit numbers now, continuing their near-perfect start to the year.

In fact, it’s hard to think of much that has gone wrong for them, as they lead the league with 17 goals, have conceded the second-fewest goals with six, and have relied on a strong mix of individual contributors and strong team play along the way.

Of course, their big challenge now will be to maintain this streak, which won’t be easy. Having established themselves at the top of the table, they’ll enter each game with a target on their back, serving as a measuring stick for sides wanting to push up the table.

“There’s a good rivalry between us when we’re playing against York,” Ottawa’s head coach, Carlos González said this week. “It’s not easy, these are tough games, equal games, so it’s going to be about the details. But we’ve been focused mainly on our way of playing, breaking them down in our way, maintaining our solidity, playing a complete game, growing and developing as a team, and at the end of day, looking for all three points.”

York will certainly enter this game with that sort of mentality, too, as they get set to tackle a crucial stretch of their campaign.

Currently sitting in sixth place, but only one point behind the fifth and final playoff spot and three points behind second place, they can easily make up ground with a run of wins here.

Especially after only having played one game under new manager Benjamín Mora, who was hired earlier this month before helming his team’s 2-2 draw with Vancouver FC last weekend, they’ll look to build from that result in their new manager’s first game.

Given that he will be working on the fly as he finds his feet with his new team, they’ll see that game as a building block, with the weeks to come expected to be crucial for their growth.

At the same time, however, there’s no better way for them to accelerate that growth than with a win over the league leaders, especially given that it could vault them right into the top four if other results in the league go their way, which will be a big motivating factor heading into this one.

“I think it’s the best scenario we can ask for in the situation that we are in,” Mora said this week. “(We want to) develop a new style of play, develop our tactics, establish our ways, and no better (reference) to have than the first place team in the table at the moment.”

Otherwise, in terms of player availability, Ottawa remains without Maxim Tissot and Kévin dos Santos through injury, while York is without a whole host of names including Brian Wright and Mo Babouli through injury, although Mora hinted a few players could be back this week, but he remained coy when asked who those names might be.

All CPL matches are available to stream on OneSoccer, FuboTV, or on TELUS Optik TV Channel 980.

3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Ruthlessness in both boxes key: It’s often said – the big key to winning games isn’t how teams performs between the boxes, but instead how they perform inside of them. The last meeting between these two teams is a prime example of that, as York put Ottawa under all sorts of pressure and even took a 1-0 lead, but they were unable to capitalize on several dangerous opportunities, and then couldn’t offer enough resistance to slow-down a second-half Ottawa push that saw them turn around the score and claim a 2-1 win. Yet, that’s ended up being a theme for Ottawa this year – no matter how they play, they can pick up points out of games with how ruthless they can be in an opponent’s box, as well as how tidy they can be in their own box. That’s why they’re the lone CPL side to score in every game, and have conceded more than two goals in just one game, showing how strong they’ve been in both boxes. As York find their feet under Mora’s tutelage, look for their new boss to preach a similar mentality to his group. Certainly, this group as the ability to be dangerous across the field, but their ruthlessness has let them down before, which they’ll want to clean up against an in-form Ottawa side.

• Ottawa’s defence continues to grow: For all that’s been made of Ottawa’s attack this season, their defence has arguably been just as, if not more important to their success. Their most recent win was a prime example of that, as they kept a clean sheet in a 2-0 road win over Valour. Plus, most impressively, they’ve been able to find that strong defensive play thanks to the collective, as their ability to defend as a team has been key. Certainly, they’ve got pieces at the back and in goal who can help them win games, but that wouldn’t matter if they weren’t defending as a team. Not only that, but they can defend in multiple ways, too – against Valour, they were able to grind out a clean sheet by sitting on the ball more and controlling the tempo of the game more. In particular, their midfield group of Ollie Bassett, Alberto Zapater, Manny Aparicio and Aboubacar Sissoko played a big role in that, helping Ottawa control the tempo of the game in a tough road environment. Sometimes, a good defence can be a good offence, and Ottawa’s has proven that – even if they’re just as comfortable of putting their head down and sticking to their “Atlético DNA” that they rely upon defensively. “We are the most offensive team in the CPL at the moment,” González said. “We’ve been the team that has scored more goals, we are also a team that is not receiving goals, and that’s our main goal, but our target is also to be a team that manages the different phases of the game well.”

• New-look York back five taking shape: It was the big thing to watch with Mora’s arrival – how might he look to put his stamp on his team? Might it be the insertion of some new faces? A change in style? A change in formation? Turns out, the biggest tweak would be the latter of those three options, as Mora’s first York United XI was lined up in a 5-3-2 instead of the 4-2-3-1 they’ve mostly used over the last few years. Within that, the mission was simple – be strong in wide areas on and off the ball, be heavy in the midfield, and be comfortable in using vertical play in possession. Because of that, look for Mora to continue to grow in that 5-3-2. In particular, a key area of success against Vancouver was in midfield, with Elijah Adekugbe putting in a strong performance, supported by Josué Martínez and Juan Córdova in a modified trio. From the work they did to push the ball forward, to still providing important cover defensively, it made sure they didn’t have too many growing pains in their new set-up, which is key. Otherwise, a key area to watch is at the back, as the insertion of three centre backs ended up yielding a strong defensive performance by the underlying numbers even if they conceded two goals. By having an extra centre back on the pitch, it’ll allow York to bring a bit of balance they’ve sometimes lacked at the back, which could be key for them if they’re to maintain their usually strong offensive play with some sturdier defensive play. “When you come to a new team, you try to organize some things in different phases of the game, different moments and different zones of the pitch, and we need to understand that,” Mora said. “We need to first establish organization, how we shape the team, our distances, heights, width, depth, all of those concepts of the collective game is very important to establish.”

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Atlético Ottawa: Ingham; Twardek, Didić, Singh, de Brienne; Tabla, Sissoko, Zapater, Aparicio; Bassett, del Campo

York United: Vincensini; Ferrari, Abatneh, Sturing, León, Martin-Pereux; Córdova, Adekugbe, Martínez; Zeppieri, Voytsekhovskyy

ALL-TIME SERIES

Atlético Ottawa wins: 2 || York United wins: 5 || Draws: 9

Last meeting:

April 13, 2024 — Atlético Ottawa 2-1 York United

KEY QUOTES

“We focus on our performances, we focus on the growth of the team, and we focus on what at the end of the day is going to give us the result – that is the work we do every single day, and the process (we follow). So the idea is the same, the idea that we speak of in the locker room is the same, it’s to keep going, we know that we have still details that we can improve on, I think that we have players that can still grow, so if we continue on that path, we continue with that dynamic, we are ambitious, and maintain our attention, I think that the results will come to our side, so we’re not thinking too much about the results – we’re more thinking about the process.” — Atlético Ottawa head coach Carlos González

“What I think of these games is thinking of my team for 70% (of the preparation), and then thinking of the opponent for the other 30%. We have a system that we’re working on, we know what to do in the attack, we know what to do without the ball, we know what to do in the different zones, so regarding the opponent, I respect Ottawa. They’re the top team in the league at the moment. They are organized, they play good football, they are aggressive, they press well, they have good players in the middle and up front, and their fullbacks go very high. So we know that we have to be very focused, but we’re going to Ottawa to play our game, and we’re not going to speculate – we’re going to go and play, we’re going to go and try to get the ball, and that’s our plan – to play football.”— York United head coach Benjamín Mora