The Forward Press: Family Ties Grow as ATO leave it late at TD
It was Noah Abatneh off the cross at the death on Easter Weekend, as ATO rode to new life against York United, claiming all three points.
The dub and the 3,337 in attendance on Saturday afternoon were treated to basketball-like soccer as two refreshingly open teams traded blows from the tenth minute till the 97th. While elsewhere in the sports world the Sens may have lost their first skirmish in the Battle of Ontario, despite a “Go Sens” from Manny Aparicio pre-match, the CPL’s first Battle of Ontario yielded a different winner – one which Aparicio had a much larger hand in.
Diego Mejía once again entrusted a front three of STR (The name which I have given to the combination of Salter, Tabla and Rodríguez until a clever CCSG member can think of a snazzier acronym), and once more sat Aparicio and Coque behind the trio, though out wide, Antinoro was balanced by newcomer Iker Moreno rather than Kevin dos Santos, perhaps to provide more defensive nous. Along the back line, Mejía found room for Cloutier, Abatneh and Didić.
As the CPL has come to expect from the ATO-York fixture, it was a magnificent watch from a neutral perspective, with both teams seemingly on the front foot as each traded opportunities, especially in a breathless final ten or fifteen minutes, which Riley Ferrazzo described post-match as ”frantic”. David Rodríguez rounded the keeper, only to find the side netting, while moments later, young Sholah Jimoh beat Ingham but couldn’t beat the woodwork. The ensuing counter-attack drew the foul which would, 50 seconds later, culminate in the ball settling in the back of the York net. It was a difficult finish for Abatneh as he peeled away from the pack and fired home on the volley – one he spoke about as he joined the presser full-time.
“Everyone went closer to the goalie, and I read that the ball was going to fall back a little bit. So I just stayed there and then made contact with the ball as best as I could, and it was lucky to go in.”
Against Vancouver in the previous week, ATO squandered at least five chances, in a match that could easily have seen the VFC net overflowing with goals, and though it was less obvious, ATO continued this trend against York, coming forward on a number of occasions and missing another four big chances, as ATO ground a result out the hard way. Sam Salter made something from nothing for his first of the season, followed by a wonderstrike from former York9 captain Manny Aparicio, and a volley at the death from Noah Abatneh, which he humbly labelled as “lucky”. He highlighted how the team isn’t yet the finished product but is showing promising signs, especially in the ability to conjure goals.
“It's good that if someone were to make a mistake and we concede a goal, we know that we can get at least one or two back. I think we still have a lot of defensive things to sort out, but I think it's been going well, and we're seeing progress, and we just have to continue playing like that.”
By the way, Abatneh revealed post-match that Alberto Zapater had predicted his goal ahead of the match, and probably expected Aparicios' strike as well.
“[Zapater] was like, “there's the rule of the ex…you're going to score.” And I was like, “yeah, I guess I'm going to score. So it ended up happening.”
Though the squad will be pleased at the result, both Mejía and Abatneh acknowledged that this team is yet to be the finished product, and one wonders if this basketball-style of football, while hugely entertaining to the neutral, may not be sustainable for the full season; as great as it is to see an ATO team that has scored nine goals through eight different goalscorers. Mejía commented on the goalscoring as Atleti aspires to find its ‘best version’:
“We always work in different patterns to try to score. So today wasn’t our best version, but I think that the team tried to understand these patterns that gives us a lot of advantage in the league.”
In his first few matches at the helm, Mejía seems to have found a formula he likes through his attackers, with all of his front-three now having found the back of the net following Salters scrappy strike on the weekend. Though he has given 708 minutes to the trio from a possible 810 minutes through three games, it should be noted here that Mejía is not against rewriting the game plan: “I always, with my team, analyze the rivals and try to find the advantage that they give us.”
David Rodríguez continues his run in the unchanged starting three, racking up the most minutes of the front three (244) carrying the weight of creator, with Aparicio making an interesting pre-match comment on how Rodríguez “drives the pockets” between defenders.
”It’s something we don’t get to see much of in the CPL, or haven’t seen much of yet, and if he keeps doing that he is going to cause chaos for defences.”
Rodríguez created a team-leading four chances on the weekend, though came away with no goal contributions for the first time this season. It was his willingness to drive forward, especially late in the match, which has been reflective of Mejía’s philosophy and created this basketball-game pace, which has been such a breath of fresh air to watch, especially with the results falling the way that they are as of now.
Last-gasp winners against fierce rivals don’t just bring points and bragging rights to teams, but also bring teams and fans together in celebration. The passion was both visible and audible late on Saturday, when Abatneh’s strike wormed into the bottom corner of the net, not just from the goalscorer but from his teammates and coach as well. Against VFC, Diego Mejía called on growing together as a family in his pre-match speech. Aparicio echoed this when asked about it ahead of the York match.
“It's the staple behind everything. We try to build that family feeling, that togetherness in the changing room, and after that comes the tactical and everything on the field. If we can build that core, that strong base of the team, it becomes easier in every other aspect.”
When speaking about his relationship with Mejía, Abatneh slipped into similar feelings, once again conjuring that word ”family”.
“We're not a team, we're a family. We're very close, we're very together as a group. So this goal, you have seen, we've all celebrated together.”
On that wholesome note, we hope to see the CCSG fam at the next Watch Party on Saturday, April 26 at 5pm, as Atlético Ottawa travel to ATCO to take on current CPL Champions Cavalry FC for the first time this season. Hope to see you there!
About the Author
Ben Ralph is a die-hard football fan and a journalism student at Carleton. He has been supporting Everton through the ups and downs (but mostly the downs) and could not believe his luck when he stumbled across Atlético Ottawa in 2021. Now part of the Atleti faithful, his dream has always been to write football stories, and he is excited to join other fans as writers for CCSG. His football journalist idols are Adam Hurrey, James Richardson, and Charlie Eccleshare from The Football Cliches Podcast.
