CCSG Player Ratings: Matchday 14 @ Cavalry FC
Stability. Even through the first ten games of the season, you could argue that the team was stable up front in and amongst some chaos in the back. As the young players really began to settle themselves into their role, which maybe took a tad longer than it otherwise would have without a veteran defender alongside them, the mistakes that were resulting in goals for the opposition started to occur less and less. Now, through an entire month of June with an entire u21 defence playing in each of the four league games, Atlético Ottawa have kept four consecutive clean sheets in the league for the first time in their history. Knowing how this team thrived in the past, and the stark contrast in how the team has succeeded so far this season, that fact should shock even the most die hard supporters. Yes, circumstances would dictate that some of those non-clean sheet results should have been so if this team was truly serious about mounting any sort of title challenge, but the games still need to be played. With every passing week, the confidence and experience of our young defenders grows, and this clean sheet streak will feel normal if they can keep getting it done to this extent. Add on Sam Salter continuing to put the ball in the back of the net, and a midfield pivot of Castro and Aparicio that does literally everything you could ask for on the pitch, and you have a truly stable spine all the way through the ten outfield players.
He's Who We Thought He Was
Tyr Duhaney-Walker has returned. After a rough April and May in a more limited role than we had imagined, Tyr has finished off June with his best performance of the season, one that was far more reminiscent of the end of last season when I was singing his praises. With the structure of the back three, Tyr was tasked with one of the most difficult defensive duties in the CPL as he matched up against Ali Musse. Right from the beginning Tyr needed to be on his game, with Musse’s first foray into the Atlético Ottawa penalty area coming in the 14th minute - Tyr’s sliding challenge was inch perfect to get the ball off the Somali international and away for a corner. In all, Tyr managed to win all four of the tackles he attempted on Saturday, as well as come out on the winning end of three quarters of his ground duels.
As I’ve reiterated profusely, my concerns with Tyr have never really been about the work he does as a 1v1 defender. What truly rounded out his performance this week was how he managed on the ball. Yes, the 66% accuracy on long balls is an encouraging sign for a player whom I’ve criticized for being unsuccessful in progressing the play, but more importantly than that Tyr was exceptionally calm on the ball through the entire first half. Much of what Atlético Ottawa was trying to do in the first 45 minutes focused on drawing the Cavalry press as far forward as possible. As such, the three Atlético Ottawa defenders were below their 18-yard-box with the Cavalry front three right on top of them. In previous games, we’ve seen Tyr make critical errors on the ball in the defensive third, but today he and the rest of the defense managed to navigate a persistent press from a talented Cavalry attack, with Noah Abatneh continuing to stand out with 98% pass accuracy.
Watching this backline slowly come into their own is an absolute treat. Our four young centre backs have had a real trial by fire since Amer Didić went down against Pacific. Confidence is paramount for young players, and our defenders are now showing that in their play, just as much as our attackers have through the entire season. Loïc Cloutier has made a few really key clearances and tackles over the last few weeks, Noah Abatneh has settled so well into the middle centre back role and is starting to use his body in a far more confident manner to hold up against opposite number nines, Sergei Kozlovskiy is providing a real threat when switching the play, and finally Tyr is getting back to the level he showed last year and is beginning to grow into what the system demands from him on the ball. These young players are still going to make mistakes through the rest of the season, but the rate at which these mistakes are happening is already diminishing from where it was at the start of the year. The faith Diego Mejía is showing in his players, albeit somewhat by necessity, is being repaid by everyone on the pitch.
The biggest benefactor of this improved defensive play is undoubtedly Nathan Ingham, and I’d be remiss to not praise the goalkeeper after he had another stellar performance on Saturday. The six saves he made are the most he’s made in this stretch of clean sheets, but all four of the clean sheets he’s kept in June have seen him play at a high level. Sometimes you’re able to keep clean sheets simply because the defense in front of you denies the opponent the ability to create any chances. It’d be reasonable to say that the Pacific and York games were more along those lines, but even in the Valour match and in this one, Nate was able to be confident in his own play because he didn’t need to worry about what was going on in front of him. The saves he made and the way he controlled his box were evidence of that on Saturday. That he’s been rewarded with four clean sheets is a testament to how the defensive unit is working and how he’s upped his game with it seeming clear that he’ll play every minute of this season barring injury.
Manny Aparicio: Never Stop, Never Stopping
I have made a number of comments this year about just how important Manny Aparicio is to this team. As much praise as I have levied towards our attacking players, it’s been a consistent through line that the midfield pivot is what has allowed us to succeed to the extent that we have. On Saturday, we saw Manny Aparicio in his purest form romping around ATCO Field. Yes, he may have only won eight of the twenty duels he contested, and he did give away five free kicks (and it was astonishing that he didn’t get booked given how frequent he gave those away late in the second half), but that activity in the middle of the park is so difficult to replicate that the good almost always outweighs the bad.
The interception he made to set up the insurance goal in the 61st minute will fall almost squarely on the shoulders of Marco Carducci, but it still speaks to Manny’s industriousness and activity in the press that he was that high up the pitch to begin with. As this team has begun to press more actively, a player of Manny’s skillset is so valuable in the middle of the park given the amount of ground he covers in any given game week. Maybe you’ll look at this week’s heatmap and see that it’s concentrated predominantly in ATO’s half of the pitch, but given the game state, both with the early goal and pressure mounted by Cavalry in the first half as well as ATO’s decision to absorb pressure following the second goal, this is exactly what was asked of him. As an outlet for the pressured defenders, he made the right choices in distribution to avoid giveaways in the press, and with such a stable partner in Coque Castro right next to him, the license for Manny to roam is exactly what it was last year with Zapater being his primary partner in the middle of the pitch.
My only question about Manny is if Diego Mejía will continue to bring him forward into the number 10 role on occasion. The team does not seem to be as effective in the middle of the park when Manny is higher up the pitch, as the team started to look chaotic in a bad way once that change was made later in this game. Though, I suppose it can be easily accounted for by a Cavalry team that was pressing to get any sort of result possible down two goals in the dying minutes of a home match.
Even the most casual of observers will have noticed that I haven’t written anything in about a month. My bad. Essentially, I’ve been putting off writing because I made a commitment to myself to only write about things that actually inspire thoughtful reflection that doesn’t make me feel like I’m repeating what I just wrote the week before. Needless to say, even in and amongst a successful run of results, I was seeing the same things I’d been seeing all year from the team (complimentary).
This team getting six full points in Calgary for the first time since 2022 changed that ever so slightly. In the grand scheme of things, this is a tremendous result, it grants us a little bit more room between us for the all important top two positions and gives us a great bit of confidence going into an all important fixture against Forge, at home, to finish off the first half of the season. But first, a date with York to try and reach the semi-finals of the Voyageur’s Cup for the first time. Oh, and these two goals mark a total of $600 donated towards Kind Space as a part of Prideraiser, if you needed just another thing to put a smile on your face.
About Patrick
Having joined CCSG in 2022, Patrick started his footy 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.
