2024 CPL Regular Season — Match #1
Atlético Ottawa vs. York United
April 13, 2024 at 1 p.m. ET
TD Place in Ottawa, Ontario
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After 167 days of waiting, the Canadian Premier League is finally set to return on Saturday as the nation’s capital hosts the first match of the 2024 season, between home side Atlético Ottawa and Ontario foes York United FC.

Matchday one represents the beginning of a new era for these two clubs, both of which underwent serious change in the months that followed their previous appearance on a CPL pitch. With the start of a new season comes a wave of fresh optimism in both camps as the blank slate of the next seven months invites dreams of silverware, but hand-in-hand with that goes a pressure to hit the ground running.

2024 CPL SEASON PREVIEW: All you need to know about the 2024 Canadian Premier League season

All eyes have been on Ottawa throughout the off-season, as they’ve gone about collecting top-quality CPL veterans from almost every other team in the league. They’ve plucked the reigning Best Canadian U-21 Player Matteo de Brienne and Golden Glove nominee Rayane Yesli from Valour FC, and from Pacific FC they added two-time Player of the Year nominee Manny Aparicio and a 2022 Defender of the Year nominee in Amer Didić. Aboubacar Sissoko arrives as a two-time CPL champion from Forge FC, and Kevin Dos Santos has made up for burying Atleti’s playoff hopes last year by signing for the club from York United.

That’s even before getting to a name like Ballou Tabla, who returns to Ottawa after a year abroad in Turkey. Last time he was here, his seven goals and four assists led to a regular season title for Atleti and a Player of the Year nomination for himself.

Ottawa ended the 2023 campaign bitterly disappointed, finishing in sixth place and missing the playoffs despite sitting in the top five almost the whole year. A stunning 12 points dropped because of goals conceded after the 80th minute meant Atleti’s slide carried them out of the postseason just one year after winning the regular season.

RELATED: 2024 Season Preview: Atlético Ottawa || 6 questions ahead of Atlético Ottawa’s 2024 season

Hoping to play the role of Ottawa’s bogeyman yet again this week are York United, who have only ever lost once to Atleti in 15 meetings. The Nine Stripes went 3-1-0 against Ottawa in 2023, and it was their 1-0 win in early October (courtesy of Dos Santos’ 90th-minute winner) that put them in pole position for a playoff spot and all but put Ottawa out.

York went on to finish fifth last year, as Martin Nash’s side overcame a litany of obstacles en route to a second playoff appearance in club history. They may have bowed out to Pacific FC in the postseason, but getting to that point was an accomplishment considering the revolving door of their lineup, with only five players starting 20 or more games. Injuries, suspensions, and a cloud of uncertainty surrounding the club’s ownership situation all conspired for difficult circumstances in north Toronto, but the Nine Stripes still remained competitive.

Now, there’s renewed positivity at York Lions Stadium. Game Plan Sports Group and the Pasquel brothers have arrived to take over ownership and put their expertise and resources to work, with new technical/sporting director Jorge Villalpando also joining to help Nash put together a strong team.

This year’s squad will be noticeably different from last season’s, with 10 players leaving — including joint top scorers Dos Santos and Osaze De Rosario, plus key defender Paris Gee and starting ‘keeper Niko Giantsopoulos — but seven highly-touted newcomers in to replace them. One major area of change for York is the international contingent; six of their seven foreign players this year are new to the club, including a trio of Mexicans with strong pedigree in Oswaldo León, Orlando Botello and Josué Martínez.

RELATED: 2024 Season Preview: York United FC || 6 questions ahead of York United FC’s 2024 season

On Saturday, Nash will likely seek to balance his XI with returning core players and newcomers, though his hand may be forced in a couple areas by preseason injuries. Nash said on Thursday that he was still yet to decide his matchday 18, implying that everyone is either fit or close to being ready pending some testing on Friday.

Ottawa, meanwhile, reportedly have a healthy squad, not counting defender Jonathan Grant who tore his ACL in training camp and will therefore miss the 2024 campaign. Carlos González told media his squad is otherwise healthy.

Two of the CPL’s biggest off-season stories culminate in this much-anticipated clash to kick off the 2024 campaign. Will Atlético Ottawa’s superteam introduce itself to TD Place with a bang, and immediately exorcise one of last year’s demons? Or is this an opportunity for York United to assert themselves as an early team to watch this season, and a continued thorn in Ottawa’s side?

The road to the CPL Shield begins here.

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

3 THINGS TO WATCH

• York look to remain road warriors: Many of the changes at York United this year are for the better, but one thing Martin Nash and his coaching staff are hoping doesn’t change is their ability to win on the road. Last year, York had the best away record in the league with a 7-3-4 record and a club-record 24 points outside of York Lions Stadium. They’ve never lost at TD Place and would undoubtedly like to keep that streak alive this weekend, playing spoiler in front of what’s likely to be an excited Ottawa crowd. Naturally, a priority for York this year will also be improving their form at home, but that focus won’t come until next week; right now, Nash needs his side to be every bit as tough an away team as it was in 2023.

• New age of attacking football in Ottawa? Even when they’ve been successful under coach Carlos González, this Atleti team has sometimes been accused of playing a conservative, defensive brand of football. This year, however, the club — particularly CEO Fernando López — has asserted a desire to bring a more entertaining, attack-minded brand of play to the capital. On paper, this clooks like a team set up to produce that; with acquisitions like Ballou Tabla, Manny Aparicio, Kevin Dos Santos, and more, they’ve added 38 career goals and 26 assists in the Canadian Premier League, not to mention the experience someone like Kris Twardek has scoring overseas. González told media on Thursday: “I expect common sense. At the end of the day, we have offensive players so common sense says we’re going to be more offensive than in the past, probably.”

• First goal key to silencing early jitters: In two seasons under González, Atlético Ottawa have won 23 CPL regular season matches. They’ve scored the first goal in every single one of those, meaning they’ve never come from behind to win in this era. York, meanwhile, did not lose any games where they scored the first goal last year (and it’s only happened once under Martin Nash). All that’s to say: the first goal will be pretty important in Saturday’s matchup. Of course, these are two quite different teams compared to what they were last season, but an early goal in this game could be enough to drastically shift either side’s confidence level

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Atlético Ottawa: Ingham; Sissoko, Didić, Singh, Tissot; Bassett, Zapater, Aparicio; Tabla, Salter, Dos Santos

York United: Vincensini; Cordóva, Sturing, Abatneh, Ferrari; Adekugbe, Soumaoro; Voytsekhovskyy, Babouli, Bayiha; Ricci

ALL-TIME SERIES

Atlético Ottawa wins: 1 || York United wins: 5 || Draws: 9

Last meeting:

Oct. 1, 2023 — York United 1-0 Atlético Ottawa

KEY QUOTES

“It’s a completely new team, we’re trying to blend them into a great team together. We’re sure we’re going to have not an easy game, a game with a lot of emotions, against a team that has a lot of quality. … I think York is a team that they don’t need much to punish you, they’ve done that in the past against us. Although you maybe you feel that you’ve been better than them in the game, they have this capacity to create chances and capitalize on them.” — Atlético Ottawa head coach Carlos González

“It’s a long off-season, you just want to get competing for something. It was a decent preseason, the guys have been working hard and we feel like we’re in a good place physically. … [Ottawa] are very organized, I think [Carlos González] does a great job getting his teams organized; they have players that can hurt you in transition and the run of play. They’re very dynamic this year, just remains to be seen whether they come out and press right away or sit in a middle or low block and look to transition.” — York United head coach Martin Nash