Final Score: Atlético Ottawa 2-0 Valour FC
Goalscorers: Del Campo 19′, Antinoro 32′
Game of the 2024 season: 15
CPL match: 499

Match in a minute or less

Atlético Ottawa defeated Valour FC at TD Place for the second time in a few days on Sunday, remaining unbeaten in 2024 and moving level with Pacific FC for first place in the Canadian Premier League standings. Ottawa got on the board first just under 20 minutes into the game, as Rubén del Campo seized on a loose ball in the penalty area after Valour failed to clear it fully after a free kick, scoring a side-footed volley through traffic to make it 1-0.

Not long after, Gabriel Antinoro doubled the lead by getting on the end of a Kris Twardek cross before dribbling into the box and scoring off the post. From there, Atleti did what they needed to do and saw out the win comfortably, finishing the game with their 2-0 lead.

Three Observations

Ottawa cruise to victory after strong first half, well-managed second

In the end, it was fairly comfortable for Atlético Ottawa.

The first half of this match was largely one-way traffic for the home side, as Ottawa outshot Valour seven to two, had 54.8 per cent possession and won 59.2 per cent of the duels. They scored twice by punishing Valour for mistakes, and didn’t seem particularly threatened at any point, keeping Valour to just two shots on target and 0.4 expected goals from the course of the 90 minutes.

Having played three games in a week, Ottawa’s energy naturally dipped in the second half as they went into conservation mode. Unlike on Wednesday, they didn’t seem particularly urged to press their advantage and continue scoring, and they were much more content to suffocate the match and limit any potential danger.

“We can be very satisfied with the game we [played] today,” head coach Carlos González said postmatch. “It was a difficult game to approach, with the last result very near; always, to play another game against a team in a short amount of time is not easy psychologically, in how you approach that game. I think the players understood it really well. I’m very happy for them, because we maintained consistency. We started strong for the first 45 minutes and we were able to manage the second half.”

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Ottawa’s second half was that very little of those 45 minutes were memorable, which means they did an excellent job mitigating Valour’s effort to at least find some sort of consolation.

González rotated his team a little bit to start this game, but many of the key players had played heavy minutes in the past week, with seven players — Manny Aparicio, Matteo de Brienne, Rubén del Campo, Amer Didic, Luke Singh, Ballou Tabla and Kris Twardek — starting all three matches beginning last Saturday. That’s why González was likely quite pleased to be able to take a few players off in the second half, getting Tabla, Aparicio and Del Campo a bit of rest.

This game was a full picture of what Atlético Ottawa can be this year: lethal and punishing early on to jump out in front, and then frustratingly conservative to ensure they hold onto the lead.

It’s another busy week for Atleti, who host Pacific in leg one of the Canadian Championship quarter-final on Wednesday, so they’ll be grateful that they were able to see this game out without too much stress in the late stages.

Similar mistakes, concerns for Valour as winless streak drags on

After losing 7-0 to Atlético Ottawa in the Canadian Championship just a few days ago, Valour coach Phil Dos Santos asked his team for a response in this rematch. He said on Saturday that this game would begin to “separate the adults from the kids,” suggesting that everything would hinge on how his players reacted on the field — “if our mindset is the same, the outcome is going to be the same,” he added.

It’s hard to imagine this was the response Dos Santos wanted. In the first half, Valour were plagued by many of the same problems as in Wednesday’s game; they lost concentration in key moments defensively, which allowed Ottawa to find gaps and score. The first goal began as a set-piece — a free kick given away by a foolish Noah Verhoeven foul — which was also the cause of two goals in the last game; just like on Wednesday, Valour’s defenders failed to mark properly and left Del Campo too open to run into the box and onto the loose ball.

The second goal, meanwhile, was another lapse in the backline’s focus as Zachary Sukunda didn’t notice Gabriel Antinoro totally unmarked off his right shoulder, allowing the young midfielder to sneak into the penalty area and score.

GOAL 🏡🏡@AtletiOttawa go up 2-0 over @ValourFootball as Gabriel Antinoro runs past two and beats a third defender before striking at net 💪

🔴 Watch the @tonybet_Canada #CanPL Match of the Week on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/tGZpK7FjQA

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 5, 2024

Shortly after that second goal, Dos Santos was forced into changing his goalkeeper as Jonathan Viscosi went down to injury. At the same time, though, he also opted to make another substitution, as he took Sukunda off the pitch and brought on Diogo Ressurreição to play in more of a central attacking role. The move looked, at the time, as if it might’ve been intended to make a statement by bringing off a player shortly after a mistake leading to a goal. However, Dos Santos clarified that the move was an early tactical switch, as he wanted to make better use of Dante Campbell.

“We had planned for scenarios, in case a midfielder goes down, or in case certain changes in the backline need to happen, and one of them was that move, bringing in Diogo,” Dos Santos explained. “At that point in time if felt that Dante was doing what he had to do in that position as more of a third centre-back, allowing Zach to step up, and I felt that it would allow us with Dante to maybe have a bit more balance to deal with transitions of Ottawa, and releasing Themi [Antonoglou] a little bit more forward than had I taken out one of my midfielders, put Dante in the midfield and kept Zach in the backline.”

Valour have now lost five straight games in all competitions to begin their 2024 campaign, and they have just two goals to show for it. This match might not have been the immediate response that Dos Santos was looking for, but he still nonetheless took a positive tone postgame, crediting his side for coming together defensively and keeping Ottawa much quieter in the second half — they had a slight possession advantage and outshot Atleti five to two in the latter frame.

“What I asked the guys is we absolutely needed to be better pros; to fight, to show a little bit more responsibility in the way that we play and approach the game,” Dos Santos said. “I think today the team displayed a little bit of what we could be … For a team to be consistent, we’re going to need to make sure that we deal with those moments a little bit better.”

Now, it’ll be off to York Lions Stadium, where Valour will play a York United team that’s in similar need of a statement victory.

Del Campo staking his claim to Ottawa’s top striker role

Rubén del Campo was the less highly-touted of Atlético Ottawa’s two midseason international signings last year, joining the club at the same time as Alberto Zapater. His start to life in the Canadian Premier League was difficult, and the Swiss striker went goalless in his 16 appearances for his new club in 2023.

After this game, though, he’s scored four goals in his last three matches, all within the space of a week. Although his goal in the first half of this game was the product of some poor defending from Valour and a shot that maybe could’ve been diverted, his choice to hit it goalward with a side-footed volley showed the confidence he’s feeling at the moment.

GOAL 🏡@AtletiOttawa get the scoring started vs. @ValourFootball off a set piece as Ruben Del Campo's touch gets past the 'keeper for 1-0

🔴 Watch the @tonybet_Canada #CanPL Match of the Week on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/sR1BOLH4wA

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 5, 2024

Coming into the 2024 season, Del Campo was Ottawa’s secondary option in the centre-forward position, playing behind Sam Salter. After Salter started the first two games and didn’t score, though, Carlos González turned to Del Campo beginning with the match in Halifax last weekend, and he has scored in each of his starts.

“He’s in a sweet moment. I’m happy for him, he’s been working for a long time, very hard. He deserves this moment he’s in, but at the end of the day we still have a long season. I expect a lot from him and I also expect a lot from Sam Salter, who I think is a great player that’s working very hard. He’s also

Del Campo is a player with excellent European pedigree, having played in the academies of clubs like BSC Young Boys and Atlético Madrid then professionally in the Portuguese top flight and Spanish third tier, as well as for Switzerland’s youth national teams. He was always expected to be an impactful player for Ottawa, and now finally it looks like he’s picking up the confidence he needs to do that.

This Atleti side wasn’t very clinical in the final third last year which meant that they struggled to close out games and see out wins. The club made a litany of personnel changes in the off-season, but at the centre-forward position they sought answers from within by sticking with Salter and Del Campo.

That means they need at least one, but ideally both, of those strikers to step up and finish chances at a good rate this year. Atleti can put an incredibly strong cast of creative playmakers on the pitch with the likes of Manny Aparicio, Ollie Bassett, Ballou Tabla and others, but that won’t help much unless somebody up front can capitalize.

So far, the signs are positive that Del Campo can be exactly what Atleti need in that spot.

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Alberto Zapater, Atlético Ottawa

After scoring a brace midweek, Zapater was shone in this game on the defensive side of the ball, winning possession seven times and winning five out of eight duels. He also had a successful dribble and created one chance, keeping things ticking along in midfield throughout the game.

What’s next?

Atlético Ottawa’s attention now turns back to the Canadian Championship, as they host Pacific FC in the first leg of their quarter-final tie on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET). Back in CPL action, Ottawa will be on the road next Sunday, May 12 when they travel to play Vancouver FC (4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET). Meanwhile, Valour will be in Ontario again to play York United on Friday, May 10 (7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT).

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