Final Score: Atlético Ottawa 3-1 Vancouver FC
Goalscorers: Acosta 12′, Antinoro 62′, Haworth 90+5′; Diaz 55′
Game of the 2023 season: 61
CPL match: 428

Match in a minute or less

Atlético Ottawa moved up to fourth place in the Canadian Premier League table on Sunday, beating Vancouver FC 3-1 at TD Place to complete an impressive nine-point week that also saw them defeat Valour FC and Cavalry FC.

Vancouver’s newest signing, Brazilian midfielder Renan Garcia, nearly gave the visitors the lead with a powerful strike from distance five minutes in, but his effort came back off the crossbar. Miguel Acosta gave Ottawa the lead a few minutes later, running onto a loose ball at the edge of the penalty area and curling it into the bottom right corner. Rocco Romeo blocked what was going to be a goal to double the lead from Sam Salter later in the opening half, heading the ball off the line for a brilliant last-second clearance.

VFC found an equaliser ten minutes into the second half, with Alejandro Diaz scoring in his first game for the club. The reigning CPL Golden Boot winner (with rivals Pacific FC) jumped and headed the ball across goal to beat Nathan Ingham after a great pass over the Ottawa backline from Garcia. The match wouldn’t be tied for long however, as seven minutes later substitutes Carl Haworth and Gabriel Antinoro combined to give Ottawa the lead again, with Antinoro heading home what would be the winning goal.

Haworth added a goal of his own in stoppage time, putting the ball into the empty net after being the first to react to a rebound after a save from Callum Irving, sealing an important victory.

Three Observations

Ottawa completes nine-point week, jumping from eighth to fourth in the table

Last weekend, before they took on Valour FC at TD Place, Atlético Ottawa were sitting dead last in the Canadian Premier League table, and seemingly getting quite frustrated that they weren’t on course to defend the regular season title they won a season ago. “Worst-to-first-to-worst” quips were being made by supporters of rival clubs, and it was clear that they needed a spark to get them back into contention.

Two goals and a clean sheet against Valour, in front of their loyal fans, has proven to be what they needed. They jumped two places in the table with that result, and they carried the confidence they gained from that win into Wednesday’s match at ATCO Field in Calgary. Cavalry had won three matches in a row going into that meeting, but Ottawa played the style of football that they have used to win that matchup on the road on several occasions — locking things down defensively, and hitting Cavalry on the counter-attack. That lead to a second 2-0 win in a row.

On Sunday they made it three wins from three in the span of one week, beating Vancouver FC 3-1, back in front of their home supporters. Alejandro Diaz’s equaliser to cancel out Miguel Acosta’s opening goal briefly silenced the home fans, but they were sent back into a frenzy when Gabriel Antinoro headed home Carl Haworth’s lofted cross from a few yards out seven minutes later.

Haworth himself added a goal in stoppage time to seal the victory, and keep the celebrations going that were already beginning in the nation’s capital.

I will never get tired of this 🫶♥️🤍#ForOttawa | #PourOttawa pic.twitter.com/PcXVFLgfoD

— Atlético Ottawa (@atletiOttawa) July 16, 2023

The three wins — which are three of their six victories for the entire season — moves them from eighth place all the way up to fourth. They are two points back of third-place Forge FC with a game in hand, and just five back of league leaders Pacific FC. This win saw them leap over York United and the Halifax Wanderers — the latter of whom Ottawa travels to play next weekend.

Head coach Carlos Gonzalez was of course thrilled with the huge week after the match, but made sure to mention that the work is incredibly far from over. He’s well aware that while you can jump that quickly with a string of good results, you can fall down again just as fast.

“I think we are starting to be very solid,” said Gonzalez when asked what he likes about his side at the moment. “This is like the basement of a house. If you want to build a house you have to do it from solid pillars. Now we’re starting to be solid, starting to hold onto those pillars in certain moments that we’re suffering. In the first games we were wobbling a little bit, we were not as solid.

“Adding to that, of course the team has a lot potential offensively, I think we have clear ideas of how to attack, and I think the team is little-by-little being more complete. This has to continue because this doesn’t stop here, in a week we play against Halifax and this league we know is so equal that if you have bad games you’re going to return to the position you don’t want to be.

“Let’s stay humble, let’s say that now we’re in a position that we wanted to be in, and continue working with more energy than ever because now things are going the right way.”

After a busy week, they now have a bit more time to rest, recover, and get some training sessions in before travelling to Halifax next weekend, where they will try to win a fourth match in a row for the first time in club history.

Diaz and Garcia impress on VFC debuts, combine for equalising goal

Vancouver FC made two signings this week, adding one of the league’s best-ever goalscorers in Alejandro Diaz on loan from Norwegian club Sogndal, as well as experienced Brazilian midfielder Renan Garcia. Both made their debuts for the club, and in Garcia’s case his CPL debut, on Sunday.

Moments into the match, Garcia nearly scored a Goal of the Season nominee with one of his first touches of the ball in the CPL. Nobody put any pressure on him as he possessed the ball well outside the penalty area, and he decided to have a shot himself, which came back out off the crossbar. Ottawa goalkeeper Nathan Ingham was beaten, but the shot just didn’t have enough dip to find the back of the net.

The two players combined well in the 27th minute, after Diaz made a run behind the Ottawa backline. Garcia spotted his fellow debutant and played a long pass up the pitch, over the Ottawa defenders to Diaz, whose volley went high and wide. It didn’t come off for them, but the quality that both of them have was clear to see with the movement, and the vision to then find the runner.

Ten minutes after halftime they combined again, and this time it was more fruitful. Diaz made another good run, this time to the back post as Garcia floated a cross into the penalty area, and the Mexican striker did what he does best — put the ball into the back of the net — with a header back across goal.

Diaz scoring in his return to the league where he had so much success with Pacific FC always seemed like a real possibility. He has now scored against Ottawa five times in his career, the second-most he’s scored against any single opponent. The most he’s scored on one opponent is nine goals against Valour FC.

GOAL🦅

It's a @vanfootballclub DEBUT GOAL for Alejandro Diaz! He equalizes the score with @atletiOttawa at 1-1🍁⚽️#ForOttawa🏠 | #VancouverFC🦅

TUNE IN | 🔴https://t.co/7JFAUhgjL6 pic.twitter.com/gK2Kc4or3d

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) July 16, 2023

The chemistry with their teammates is something that will grow with time and they will get into more of a rhythm in their new surroundings, but both played quite well at times in this match. They’ve both been brought in to be key contributors for this side, and the early signs are that they very well might have the desired effect.

“Diaz had one good service, and he stuck it in the back of the net,” head coach Afshin Ghotbi said after the match. “We saw Renan’s quality with his shot from distance and his ability to control the game, win duels, and play simple balls out of the midfield.

“I’m not worried about those two, it’s more about my own players integrating with them. That’s a process that sometimes you can’t cheat, but we don’t have time, we have to get it right as fast as possible. That’s my responsibility and my job, to challenge them to be as quick as possible in the team.”

Home side responds well to equaliser, but had prior chances to put the game to bed

It can be easy for a team to put their heads down and get frustrated after conceding a goal, and it has happened to Ottawa this season, but they showed an important resilience after conceding the equalising goal on Sunday afternoon that says everything about how much confidence and togetherness the club is playing with at the moment.

Within a few minutes of the ball hitting the back of the net from Alejandro Diaz’s headed goal, Carlos Gonzalez made a triple sub to liven up the attack, and it worked to perfection. Noah Verhoeven, Zach Verhoven and Jean-Aniel Assi all came off at the hour mark, replaced by Gabriel Antinoro, Malcolm Shaw and Carl Haworth, respectively.

They responded immediately after checking into the game, scoring less than two minutes after coming on. Haworth relentlessly battled with Vancouver’s James Cameron on the right side of the penalty area, refusing to give up on the play as the two of them fought for possession, but eventually the Ottawa captain found a bit of space. He floated a cross to the back post, where Antinoro was there to head it in for his second goal of the season. He made an immediate impact on his last goal as well, scoring the second-fastest goal in CPL history against Forge FC, less than 30 seconds into their match on June 25.

“Carl spoke to me right before we came in, when we went to warm up,” Antinoro said, adding that Haworth told him to ‘be ready’. “We trained to fill every spot in the box, so I knew the ball could go there, or at least I could drag a defender [away] for someone else.”

Having picked up two wins already this week, Carlos Gonzalez’s side is full of confidence, and they tapped into that to find the game-winner, and eventually a third goal as well off the boot of Haworth in stoppage time.

“We’ve developed the level from last season, we are starting feel good things from last season that we did, and we are putting more new things on the field,” said Gonzalez after the match. “Although the results weren’t as good, people who saw games and saw the dynamics of games and how it came to those final results, it could still feel like a small flavour that we’re getting near to it — that the team was evolving, that the team was giving the right steps.”

While the result ended up in their favour, and they should of course celebrate a third win in a row, it also must be said that they did have chances to seal the three points earlier in the match, and put the game to bed before halftime.

Ollie Bassett had an opportunity for a shot from the right side of the six-yard box after receiving the ball from Sam Salter, a position that he has scored from before, but his effort went high and wide of the net, frustrating the reigning CPL Player of the Year. Zach Verhoven was also left disappointed after breaking in behind the Vancouver backline and charging toward the net, but his shot was right at Callum Irving.

Sam Salter came closest to doubling the lead in the first half, nearly taking advantage of a poor pass from Irving. The pass went to Jean-Aniel Assi, who played it to Salter. Salter took a touch to beat Irving before getting a shot away, which was brilliantly headed off the line by Rocco Romeo. Salter also challenged the Vancouver goalkeeper with a shot from distance in first half stoppage time, but he was able to react in time and push the ball over the crossbar.

The chances were there to maybe score two or three and not allow Vancouver FC to feel as though they had a shot at winning this game, and if Ottawa can be more clinical earlier in matches going forward, they have a chance to continue to shoot up the table.

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Miguel Acosta, Atlético Ottawa

Playing at left back as opposed to his usual spot on the right, Miguel Acosta scored the game’s first goal and put in a strong performance defensively in a winning effort.

What’s next?

Atlético Ottawa hit the road again and travel to the east coast to take on the Halifax Wanderers on Saturday (4 pm AT/3 pm ET). Vancouver FC head home and will host Cavalry FC at Willoughby Community Park later that night (4 pm PT/5 pm MT).

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