CCSG Player Ratings: Matchday 10 @ Pacific FC (7/6/25)
Perseverance. In the face of a woeful run of form, with a team that seemingly couldn’t find a way to keep the ball out of their own net, despite still being lethal going forward, Atlético Ottawa finally managed to keep their first clean sheet of the 2025 season against a professional opponent. Claiming all three points in their 1-0 win over Pacific on Saturday, Nathan Ingham was finally rewarded for what has been a positive season for the veteran CPL Keeper. What’s even more important is that the back three in front of him looked confident, and were able to get the better of the bounces for the first time in what feels like forever. That this result came with the rest of the team looking good, but not executing to the same degree as they have been the rest of the season, is a good sign because it shows that this team is able to win games in an uncomfortable manner.
Every win to this point in the year has been by multiple goals, and those goals have certainly come in bunches. While we as fans are certainly used to these types of wins from this team – especially at Starlight Stadium, where this marks the third consecutive season we’ve registered a 1-0 victory at the ground – this team had yet to show us the grit and tenacity to hold on to a close lead rather than claw back from a deficit. Yes, this result can certainly be attributed to how poor the Pacific attack has been, as they’ve not scored since May 10th, but I’d rather lift up our backline, which has received the brunt of the criticism over the past few weeks.
Finally
When talking about the brunt of my criticism so far this season, Tyr Duhaney-Walker has been a focus in the games where he’s been heavily featured. Two of those games, he came on in the first half following injuries to the starting centre backs, and the other saw him sent off. As such, I feel compelled to give him his flowers after what was his return to last year’s form that saw him receive so much praise. In his previous matches, you could point to a major error that directly led to a goal from the opposition. Saturday, it was Tyr’s interventions in the penalty area that prevented the opponent from having a scoring chance. Namely his challenge against Marco Bustos in the second half that saw the entire stadium appeal for a penalty from referee Fabrizio Stasolla. It was this type of one-on-one defending that endeared the 21-year-old to the Atléti faithful over the previous two seasons.
In addition to that, Tyr’s performance in possession was also quite positive. Some of that could be attributed to Starlight Stadium’s smaller pitch, which diminishes the necessity of playing long balls, which have not entirely been Tyr’s strength. Instead, he was able to simplify on the ball and find short passes to his wing backs and midfielders to build up play, while his counterparts still looked to try and find the balls in behind and on the switch that have characterized the buildup this season.
Speaking of his counterparts, both Loïc and Noah put in equally impressive performances in this win, and while Pacific still found their chances, the defence as a whole absolutely looked its most stable form. From a statistical perspective, it was a really impressive performance from Cloutier, who managed to accrue 13 defensive actions while winning all five of the duels he contested. The only real downside to his performance was his inaccuracy on long balls, completing just one of nine attempts. Given how well he’s switched play this season, that feels far more a byproduct of the smaller field not allowing those same plays to come off as easily. In the middle of the three, Abatneh was not called upon as frequently as Cloutier, but still managed to also win all of his duels while marshaling the back three for the first league clean sheet of the season.
I had mentioned that it was important for the team to have managed to find a way to grind out a win and I think that’s especially true for this young back line. Leading into this game, Atlético Ottawa had conceded two goals in each of their last four matches, resulting in a 1-2-1 record. Conceding that frequently is certainly no marker of success, and to have accrued five points in that span is nothing short of a miracle, owing much to our clinical front line. We’ve had a number of mistakes be punished, and even more go unpunished, in that stretch as well as the previous five games to start the season. To have a game to build our young players’ confidence, given the gauntlet that still remains for the rest of this season and potential limits on availability for defenders, is truly vital. We’ve got three games in the span of nine days, and as far as we know, only four centre backs are available to play 810 minutes in defence.
Who’s Still Here
I think it may be underreported just how injury-ridden this team is. Yes, the Amer Didić injury is well reported, and any casual fan of the team would know how impactful a loss he is to any team in this league. Other than that, there were a number of players who were not selected for the 18, which raises questions as to how much we’re asking of our starting XI. In the middle of the park, Noah Verhoeven has not seen the team sheet since May 10th against Valour, and Kevin Ortega hasn’t seen the team sheet since May 13th against Forge. There have been no reports as to their status, but given they had been included in the rotation of players earlier in the season ahead of a player like Jason Hartill, it would be safe to assume that they are out injured. This situation will be compounded further next week against Valour, as Coque is set to be suspended for yellow card accumulation. Zapater will likely fill in next to Manny Aparicio, but without players behind them, and having played midweek as well, it will be a task to ensure fatigue doesn’t catch up with the lineup.
Out wide, Brett Levis has been in and out of the lineup, with his ankle injury last week taking him out of the game within the first ten minutes of play; on the right side, Iker Moreno has been missing in action since the third game of the season against York. With rumours circulating that the loanee is set to be recalled and sent to Puebla in Liga MX, and with Levis’ injury status uncertain, we are in danger of running both Gabriel Antinoro and Kevin dos Santos into the ground. Joaquim Coulanges could provide relief down the left while we wait to hear what may come of Brett Levis, though, given the selection made by Diego Mejía against Vancouver, Levis may be preferred as a centre back option rather than wingback if healthy, depending on who else is available. Down the right, it seems Abou Sissoko has been asked to fill that role, but this feels very much like a band-aid rather than a true solution.
Yes, the starters have been impressive so far this season, but we went into Saturday with only 14 of 21 healthy senior outfield players available. While most of these injuries would be considered depth pieces, that still is going to have a major impact on this run of games, as rotation is going to be very difficult to manage. We are already asking players to play roles that they potentially weren’t expecting to play so frequently, particularly this early in the season. Fortunately, they have risen to the occasion in the absence of so many. Hopefully, players are going to be able to get back to full health to contribute in the second half of the season. We’re already anticipating someone coming in to replace Amer Didić given the severity of his injury, but we may need more than just one additional player to replace the minutes we’ve lost and might continue to lose.
It’s always good to get out of a funk. Now it’s about building from this. This team had an opportunity to make it to the semi-finals of the Voyageurs’ Cup last season, and did not take it against a Pacific team that was by no means in form. York has been calamitous in some respects, but threatening in many others. Over two legs, we’ll need to be at our best to take advantage of any mistakes they will make. We had to win on ostensibly the last kick of the game against them in April, and given how tough they’ve always played us, Wednesday is a real tone setter for the upcoming stretch of matches, where we will be headed back on the road again after Sunday night. Hopefully, we can get the result that we all wish, and maybe finally get to play an MLS team. But for now, that’s just a dream.
About Patrick
Having joined CCSG in 2022, Patrick started his footie career playing at the age of 4 and began watching the pros around the same time. While the first pro team he supported was Manchester United, as soon as Atlético Ottawa came to town, he was immediately on board. His wealth of footie knowledge has been a constant asset, along with his role as caretaker for ATO's Wikipedia pages.
