Atlético Ottawa thrill at home with 3-0 win against Valour FC

After a win at Pacific FC and a Voyageurs cup win at home against York United FC, Atlético Ottawa was back home facing Valour FC and were looking to continue their winning ways in league play.  The Winnipeg side had more chances and control in the first half, but a stoppage-time penalty, taken by Ballou Tabla, gave Ottawa the lead going into the break.  Atlético managed to get two more past the Valour keeper to take this one 3-0. Now, to look at what the players and coaches had to say going into the game.

Head coach Diego Mejia was the only to speak during the pre-game conference. The first question that was asked was about how content Diego is with the team with having played so many games in a short stretch.  

“I am pretty happy because we had a lot of away matches and I think that is the hardest part of the season and we [played] really well [in] this part. We lost two points in Vancouver that I think  we deserved to win but it's soccer and the behavior of the team is really [good] right now. We improved a lot on defense and we are still a good team on offense.”

The Ottawa head coach appears to be fairly happy with the stretch of games that his side has put together, even though he felt they could have had a couple more points on the road. He feels the team has adjusted well to facing the different teams within the league and that is satisfying for the coach.

The match against Valour had the theme of “One Year Out” since the World Cup is coming to Canada, USA and Mexico next year. Coach Mejia was asked how excited he is for the tournament to be coming to Canada and his home country of Mexico:

“It's incredible to be part of one of the leagues that celebrate the World Cup. I think that the Canadian people are very good fans of soccer …  [Canadian Fans] are incredible so I think that you will be a good host for the World Cup and I am very happy to be part of this.”

When the Head Coach was asked about preparing for Valour, considering their last encounter  was a 5-2 win but VFC seems to have had a much better stretch since then, Mejia responded with:

“We work a lot of time on our model and I analyze the defensive patterns of the team that plays against us. It's a tough [league] because we play four times against the same team so I am very confident that we will find a new defensive patterns for Valour.  I am [sure] that the match won't be the same as the past match and I think that we are ready for that…”

The coach’s response talked about his confidence in the model that the team has developed and that the team knows that they must adjust to the team they play. Having already played Valour this season the team knows that in itself is a challenge they must overcome. It seems that the confidence in the model played a key role in Atletico’s victory this week, and now to move on to what the team said after the match ended.

Gabriel Antinoro, scorer of Ottawa’s third goal, was the first to speak from the team. He was immediately asked how it felt to score in this match: 

“It felt good. I feel like this year I've been getting a lot of chances and I'm not getting as many goals so to get this one finally.  Like last game I got an assist so it felt good to play well but also getting on the score sheet it feels good but the three points are more important but it felt amazing for sure.”

Antinoro also stated that the coaching staff has allowed the players to have more confidence with themselves on the pitch, as they are all trusted no matter what level of experience they have.  

The next question for the Atletico goal scorer was about what changes were made or said during half time that allowed them to go on a more attacking style:

“We felt like in the first half we were forcing too much. We were trying to score a goal in three or four passes, yes we're able to do that, we've done that before, but that's not our style that's, not our model. The way we play we like to keep the ball to tire the team out and then go. So, that's what was said by the coach at halftime, just keep the ball and the opportunity is going to come and that's what happened. We moved side to side, we kept the ball, we enjoyed the ball and the space opened and we were able to score two more goals.”

Of course the second of those two goals was the one scored by Antinoro himself. They stuck to the style of play that the team knows and it worked for them allowing them to pick up the three points. 

Head coach Diego Mejia was back for the post-game interview following his team's win. He comment his thought of how the match went against Valour:

“I think that the plan wasn't really good because we thought that they would give us space behind the defensive line then they defended really well… I think that for me was the best first half that [Valour] has had this [season], so the [in the] second half I think [our] players started to understand how they need to play and [where the] spaces were.  We played different matches, the first half terrible and the second half was amazing.”

The Atlético Ottawa head coach did not hold back, and said they needed to have played a better first half. The poor performance in the first half would have been a major story for this game if it wasn’t for the late penalty in the half and the excellent play the team had in the second.  Diego even stated that they adjusted to how Valour was defending and that is what ultimately gave his side the victory.

Atlético Ottawa came into this game looking to stay at the top of the Canadian Premier League table and continue to string some wins together in a window that saw them playing quite frequently. In the pre-match conference head coach Diego Mejia said that they were going to expect a different form from the Valour FC side which they had defeated 5-2 earlier in the season. He was quite right, and Valour came out the stronger side for much of the first half, at least until the penalty. 

This match was a true game of two halves and that was amplified in the post-match interviews done with Gabriel Antinoro and Diego Mejia. Ottawa was able to make adjustments during half-time, after playing “terrible” according to the head coach, and found the back of the net two more times securing the win at home against Winnipeg. Now Atlético Ottawa is looking for another win in the away match against York United FC at York Lions Stadium on June 22 at 1pm.  Don’t forget to join CCSG at the Glebe Central Pub for the watch party! This match was a true game of two halves and that was amplified in the post-match interviews done with Gabriel Antinoro and Diego Mejia. Ottawa was able to make adjustments during half-time, after playing “terrible” according to the head coach, and found the back of the net two more times securing the win at home against Winnipeg. Now Atlético Ottawa is looking for another win in the away match against York United FC at York Lions Stadium on June 22 at 1pm.  Don’t forget to join CCSG at the Glebe Central Pub for the watch party!