As final preparations wrap up ahead of Sunday’s Canadian Premier League final at TD Place, Saturday afternoon was the annual media day. The event, held the day before the championship match, gave the media a chance to speak to players and coaches from both clubs.

Atlético Ottawa were represented by defenders Drew Beckie and Maxim Tissot, as well as recently-crowned Coach of the Year Carlos Gonzalez, while Forge FC sent defender Daniel Krutzen, leading goalscorer Woobens Pacius and head coach Bobby Smyrniotis.

As first-time finalists, a lot of the focus from an Ottawa perspective was about the “worst to first” narrative. Gonzalez, who took charge of the team ahead of this season, has evolved the club from eighth-placed finishers a season ago to regular season champions. Then they defeated reigning North Star Shield winner Pacific FC in the semifinals, qualifying them to host Sunday’s final at home. 

Max Tissot revealed that he said “see you in the final” to a few of his former Forge FC teammates back in August, and it turns out he was correct. For Tissot, from nearby Gatineau, Quebec, playing in a final at home means even more.

“Credit to them for a fourth final in four years, but obviously I want to win it for our team,” he said. “Being a local guy it would mean a lot to me.”

Gonzalez spoke a lot about the team’s mentality, and the idea that every match all season is a final. That’s a phrase that lots of teams in all sports use, but now, however, that is actually true for Atlético Ottawa.

“We started to say since the start of the season ‘one more, match one more final’. It is starting to make sense since a few months ago. It started to make sense now heavily,” said the Ottawa boss.

The most striking thing that the Ottawa boss said, however, was that all of the pressure is on the visiting team Forge when asked if his Ottawa side were considered the favourites for this match. It initiated some mind games between the two coaches, as both looked to take any advantage they could ahead of such a pivotal match.

“The reality is that we are playing against probably the best team of the CPL,” said Gonzalez. “Forge has played in the last four finals, they have won two, they have lost the last one. So I think there is only one favourite. They have the pressure to win, we have the desire to win. I think this is the difference.”

Smyrniotis fired back when asked to respond to Gonzalez’s claim later in the event, saying that his side isn’t feeling any pressure, and that it’s in fact Ottawa who need to come out and perform in front of their own fans.

“We have got two North Star Shields back at home, I can go to sleep easy at night and so can a lot of the players,” said Smyrniotis. “Pressure is maybe playing in the Azteca, these are games that you come out and enjoy. [We] are playing in our fourth final, we have played in a lot of big matches, so we are coming out here to enjoy the game.

“They are the ones who are playing in front of a big crowd, which I hope it is [with] what the numbers are looking like. If it could be even larger, even better. They are the ones who are going to have to come out and play some football and entertain all these fans that are coming out here.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Pacius, who said that he’s treating the match like he would any game.

“It’s a final, but at the end of the day it’s a game like every other game,” said the young striker. Of course as a striker you want to have the perfect ball, and in a final it’s all about details, so I want to make sure to be ready for that occasion.”

Krutzen agreed, and said that most important thing is remaining focused and coming away with the victory.

“We’ve talked about it the whole week with the team; coaches told us to just stay sharp for 90 minutes. They’re obviously going to have that one, two, three chances maybe but it’s our job to keep them away from our goal and try to stop the counter-attack.”

Ottawa are treating the match the same way, with Tissot saying that it’s important mentally that the occasion and the moment aren’t bigger than the match itself.

"I think there's definitely a little bit of mind games going whenever you have a final"

Here's some reaction from media day, and a preview of tomorrow's Canadian Premier League final here in Ottawa ?️#CanPL pic.twitter.com/3GPjpRVZ1n

— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) October 30, 2022

The 2022 Canadian Premier League Final will be played Sunday, Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. ET between Atlético Ottawa and Forge FC, at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa. Tickets are available here, and the match will be broadcast live on OneSoccer, Fubo TV, and Telus Optik TV channel 980.