A statement victory. A huge opportunity seized.
Atletico Ottawa ended their three-match winless streak in all competitions in style with a resounding 3-1 victory over Vancouver FC on August 30 to re-ignite their title race with Forge.
Following Forge’s 4-1 defeat to Cavalry FC –the Hamilton-based side’s first loss of the campaign, ending their 23-match unbeaten run in all competitions this season (20 in the league)– Ottawa had the chance to cut Forge’s lead atop the CPL table from six to three points.
Ottawa sits in 2nd place with a 12-7-2 record (43 points); Forge sits atop the table with a 13-7-1 record (46 points) following August 30 matches.
Despite falling 1-0 down for the fourth consecutive game, Atletico demonstrated their resilience, tenacity, and offensive firepower and rallied back with three unanswered goals, including the match-winner by Golden Boot leader Sam Salter, to complete the comeback in front of an energetic home crowd of over 4,500 to secure three crucial points.
Ottawa has the youngest team in the CPL this season and lead the league in u-21 minutes by nearly 600, but despite that, have had the composure to navigate adversity and overcome deficits. Despite getting battered by Forge to fall four points behind in the title race, then going 2-0 down in the first half against Cavalry the next weekend, Ottawa never gave up. They scored two late goals in quick succession to nab a crucial point to ensure they were only six points behind Forge. To win the CPL Shield, that tenacity, focus, and grit Ottawa has must remain.
“When we lost against Forge (on August 17), many thought that Forge would be the CPL Shield winners this year,” Atlético Ottawa head coach Diego Mejía said pre-match. “With eight games still to play, that’s tough to hear, but the most important match for us right now was this match.”
“The consequences (of our) good results give us this opportunity to still lift the Shield, which is amazing, as it’s one of our goals; we want to fight for that Shield,” Mejia said post-match.
Salter’s 14 goals this season put him three ahead of second-place Tiago Coimbra (Halifax Wanderers) in the 2025 Golden Boot race, and equals the CPL single-season goal-scoring record held by Alejandro Diaz. Salter is one goal shy of being in sole possession of the highest scoring campaign in CPL history, and with 40 career goals, he is three away from becoming the CPL’s all-time leading scorer surpassing Diaz’s career tally of 42. With seven games left this season, it’s a realistic possibility for Salter to break both records.
Atletico superstar David Rodriguez also picked up a goal and an assist against Vancouver; he leads the assist chart with six helpers in 20 matches –one ahead of Cavalry’s Sergio Camargo in one less match– and also rises to third place in the Golden Boot race with nine goals in 20 games, tying York’s Julian Altobelli. While Salter (10G, 4A) and Rodriguez (9G, 6A), have been Atletico’s main offensive threats, they have the depth and talent to overwhelm any defense.
“We have really good players: starters, and subs. It doesn’t matter who starts and who comes off the bench; it’s always the same mentality offensively, and today was a great team effort.”
Following Atletico Ottawa’s humiliating 3-1 loss to Vancouver FC in the first leg of the Canadian Championship semifinal, both goalkeeper Nate Ingham and head coach Diego Mejia were confident in Atletico’s ability to overcome a two-goal aggregate deficit with their offensive firepower and the support of their passionate, dedicated fans at TD Place.
A convincing win against Vancouver FC will give Ottawa confidence that they do have the talent and offensive firepower to turn around a two-goal deficit. If they play anything like they did yesterday: dominating possession, playing fluid, attacking football, and creating numerous, high-quality chances, Ottleti cannot ever be counted out. If Ottawa were to win the second leg on September 18 by two goals –an identical 3-1 scoreline would do– the tie would go to pens.
Ottawa has scored 42 goals this season, averaging 2.0 per game, the most in the league, and has conceded only 22 goals in 21 games, 1.05 per game, the second fewest in the league despite having the youngest defensive core in the CPL. Atletico are a threat on both sides of the ball and, barring a few poor performances, have been the most consistent and dangerous team.
Having eight of your 15 shots be on target and register 2.04 xG (three led to goals) is quite an effective day at the office for Ottawa’s offense and it proves Ottawa are consistently an offensive threat to any opponent but as Mejia has preached, they can always be more clinical. Ottawa missed numerous chances tonight and failed to link up on several passes in the final third; they recorded a season low 65.4 percent passing accuracy in the final third. Credit to Vancouver for staying compact in their shape to interrupt Ottawa’s fluid ball movement.
On the other side, defender Enmanuel (Roni) Mbomio Angue (20), on loan from parent club Atletico Madrid, made his professional debut against Vancouver and fit in wonderfully in Ottawa’s backline. Mbomio led Atletico in passes (100), final third entries (11), and clearances (3), and alongside 17-year-old Sergei Kozlovskiy –who was recently called up to Canada’s u-17 side squad ahead of three September friendlies– shut down Vancouver’s lethal and skilled attack after Vancouver took a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute.
In the last matchup, Ottawa’s backline allowed Vancouver’s attack too much space behind to run into; it was not the case today. Ottawa was compact, disciplined and unified on defense, and limited Vancouver’s ability to open up passing lanes and create high-percentage attacking threats. Vancouver had 16 shot attempts and only two on target (two additional shots off the post), which indicates a strong defensive outing by Ottawa, who kept everything to the outside, and a lack of clinical edge by Vancouver.
Similar to Ottawa’s loss against Vancouver on August 13, an errant pass by Ottawa led to a Vancouver goal. It was a poorly hit pass by Noah Abatneh (who previously completed all 100 passes he attempted) that led to the eventual match-winner by Hugo Mbongue that day. Yesterday, Nathan Ingham misplayed a pass trying to play out from the back, which saw Nicolas Mezquida intercept it and slot it home to give the visitors a lead in the 25th minute.
It took less than five minutes for Ottawa, who’d been the better team to that point and spent much of the first half-hour on the front foot, to respond. David Rodriguez forced a turnover just outside Vancouver’s penalty area before smashing a sensational strike from 20 yards out into the bottom left corner to get Ottawa back on level terms.
Ten minutes after that, Salter played clean-up, tucking home a cross from Rodriguez from the edge of the six-yard box to give Ottawa their first lead of the match before halftime. It was all set up by Ballou Tabla who spun around an oncoming defender before launching the perfect through-ball pass into the Rodriguez’s path.
At the half, Ottawa was dictating the flow and pace of the match, controlled the possession battle (66-34 percent), and outshot Vancouver 10-6 (4-1 on target). Ottawa led the xG battle 1.28 to 0.88 despite registering only one big chance, one less than Vancouver.
Vancouver pressed for an equalizer in the second half, throwing everything at Ottawa. They outshot Ottawa 10-5, but Atletico recorded four shots on target to Vancouver’s one. Ottawa continued to dominate possession, finishing with 61 percent of the ball and handily won the xG battle 2.04 to 1.60 despite having four fewer shots from inside the box (11-7), two fewer big chances (4-2), and five fewer final third entries (59-54).
Vancouver played well overall and kept the game close until the 80th minute, but a common theme for Vancouver this season has been the little details in both boxes costing them dearly (i.e., failed clearances and missed scoring chances). As Vancouver pushed for an equalizer, they sent their midfielders and backline forward, which created space for Ottawa’s talented forwards (Ballou Tabla, Salter, Rodriguez, and Gabriel Antinoro) to run into to create quality chances in transition.
Ottawa really wanted to extend its lead to two goals to seal all three points. They found success in the second half, generating numerous quality chances with their intricate passing and linkup play, especially in transition. They were able to move defenders out of position to create shooting lanes and high-percentage shots on target. Ottawa also got into scoring positions quite often, but simply failed to capitalize: missing the net a handful of times and having several shots stopped by Callum Irving.
It wasn’t until the 80th minute that the nail-biting, back-and-forth match was sealed.
Rodriguez’s low, powerful cross across the face of the goal was directed on target by Salter before it deflected off Vancouver defender Aidan O’Connor —who attempted to clear his lines— and past his goalkeeper Callum Irving to seal Ottawa’s victory.
Up next, Ottawa hosts Pacific FC on September 6. Ottawa is a perfect 3-0-0 against Pacific FC in 2025, winning by a combined scoreline of 6-1.
Vancouver hosts Valour in a massive six-pointer clash on September 5. If Vancouver wins, they will go one point behind Valour (written before Valour plays Pacific on Aug.31). If Valour wins, they will be seven points ahead of last-place Vancouver.
