For the second time in less than a week, Atlético Ottawa defeated Valour FC at TD Place on Sunday, beating the Winnipeg club 2-0 to maintain their unbeaten streak to begin the 2024 Canadian Premier League season.

After losing 7-0 to Atleti in the Canadian Championship on Wednesday, Valour head coach Phillip Dos Santos made a couple of changes to his team, putting Jonathan Viscosi back in goal and adding Jordan Faria, Gianfranco Facchineri and Juan Pablo Sánchez into his side. Meanwhile, Ottawa boss Carlos González likewise made a few changes and also rotated his ‘keeper, bringing Nathan Ingham back into the team. He also opted to give Ollie Bassett and Maxim Tissot a rest as Gabriel Antinoro and Aboubacar Sissoko came into the side.

This time, it took Ottawa just under 20 minutes to take the lead. After winning a free kick about 30 yards out from the net, Matteo de Brienne sent a ball into the box that Valour’s defenders got to first but were unable to clear, leaving it in the path of Rubén del Campo who picked it out of the air with his left foot and drove it into the net to make it 1-0. Del Campo, who also scored a brace against Valour on Wednesday, found the net for a third straight match for Atleti with the early go-ahead goal.

Things got even worse for Valour almost 15 minutes later, as they were caught out of their shape when Kris Twardek whipped a cross in from the right touchline, as Gabriel Antinoro was unmarked and snuck into the box between two defenders to find the ball. He finished quickly off the left goalpost to double the lead.

Valour’s frustrating afternoon continued when, about five minutes after the second goal, coach Phillip Dos Santos was forced into an early substitution, as Viscosi picked up an injury and Darlington Murasiranwa had to come in to replace him. Dos Santos also chose to use the opportunity to make another change, adding Diogo Ressurreição to his attack in place of Zachary Sukunda.

After halftime, Ottawa remained the aggressors although Valour did manage to create a little more in transition. González, looking to build on his team’s advantage, didn’t wait long into the half before bringing on Bassett, who replaced Ballou Tabla at the 58-minute mark.

Late in the game, Valour showed some life as they created a few good chances; Faria drew a very good save from Ingham around the 83rd minute with a shot from distance that the goalkeeper had to tip over the bar. However, the energy from Valour was not ultimately enough for them to make a dent in Atleti’s lead.

Ottawa thus saw out the win in comfortable fashion, improving to 3-1-0 on the season so far with 10 points to put them level with Pacific FC at the top of the table. Valour, meanwhile, are still looking for their first points of the 2024 campaign, having now lost each of their first four regular season matches.

BOX SCORE

Lineups

Atlético Ottawa: Ingham; Twardek, Didić, Singh, De Brienne (Morer 81′); Sissoko, Zapater, Antinoro (Roy 81′), Aparicio (Tissot 71′), Tabla (Bassett 58′); Del Campo (Salter 71′)

York United FC: Viscosi (Murasiranwa 36′); Campbell, Chantzopoulos (Mourdoukoutas 77′), Facchineri; Sukunda (Ressurreição 36′), Verhoeven, Sanchez, Antonoglou; Swibel (Hundal 64′), Binate, Faria

Goals

19′ — Rubén del Campo (Atlético Ottawa)
32′ — Gabriel Antinoro (Atlético Ottawa)

Discipline

18′ — Yellow: Noah Verhoeven (Valour FC)
47′ — Yellow: Amer Didić (Atlético Ottawa)
67′ — Yellow: Matteo de Brienne (Atlético Ottawa)
70′ — Yellow: Dante Campbell (Valour FC)
90+1′ — Yellow: Kris Twardek (Atlético Ottawa)
90+3′ — Yellow: Jordan Faria (Valour FC)