The Forward Press for Matchday 15 vs HFX: Second-Half Preparation, Maturity, and Injury Updates
Welcome to the Forward Press, where CCSG walks you through all the action from the pre- and post-match press conferences. This week's edition, for the 2-0 win against Halifax, which was also ATO’s 50th ever CPL victory, features Head Coach Diego Mejia in the pre-match, as well as Assistant Coach Diego Campos, and goalkeeper Nathan Ingham, for the post-match. Enjoy!
The match against Halifax served as the curtain raiser to the second half of the season, and, expectedly, the lead off to the pre-match press conference was a perfect opportunity to get a read into Diego Mejia’s thoughts about getting off to a strong start. Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic for OneSoccer was the one to ask about the manager’s hopes and expectations for the second half:
“It’s a great opportunity for us to start the second part of the season with a good result…it is important in the first matches in the second round that we apply the new patterns and try to look for the new behaviours”
The new behaviours in question come from teams in the CPL now approaching Ottawa using a low-block defensive formation, something Mejia noted and is expecting more going forward, and he is clearly prepared to attack these new opposing systems; preparation would be a major theme throughout both the pre- and post-match scrums. He was also asked about ATO’s position so far this season:
“(If) someone told me (when I took this job) at the beginning of the season, and turned to the second half of the season at the top of the league, I'm playing semi-finals in (the) Canadian Championship, for sure I would take that…we are in the place we want, that we dreamed in the past, so we need to try and take the opportunity and consolidate the project, I say that this team will need to fight for everything.”
Given that the CPL is unique in the sense that teams play each other four times each during league play, more if you include Canadian Championship ties, preparation and adaptation play a huge role in how managers must approach their gameplans. This motif dominated both press conferences, with Head Coach Mejia, Assistant Coach Diego Campos, as well as Keeper Nathan Ingham all fielding questions touching on the topic. Mejia even stated, when pressed about the 1-1 result vs Forge last week, that “The most important thing when you are planning (is) that you don't improvise the gameplan".
Diego Campos, filling in for Mejia both on the touchline and at the post-match presser with the latter currently serving a two-match suspension, was asked by Gangué-Ruzic about preparing for a tough match:
“…we know that sometimes the rivals have good players, experienced players, and we expected a tough match, and that's what actually happened. HFX has a very good team, they have some very good players, they are intense and like to press, we knew that they were going to wait for one mistake…but we had a very good first few minutes, we found a good scenario for us, and we took advantage of that. It was a very mature match for us…the players are understanding very well the way we want to play, but also the intensity and the times when we have to push, press, defend…they are becoming very good at that too, and that is very important to us.”
AJ Jakubec for TSN 1200 was also keen to know about the planning that went into the match, especially given the first half was uncharacteristically fluid:
“…we have to give credit to the players, that they followed the gameplan, what we talked about, we expected this type of match…today the players were very focused from the beginning, and that’s why we could create some chances, and score first, that's something the team maybe had been struggling with in some matches, but today we have to give credit to the players.”
Jakubec followed up with a question about the importance of the backline to the way ATO have chosen to play this season, and Campos was firm in his stance that Ingham and the defenders are the “first attackers”. He mentioned that they have “the courage”, which he stated was more important even than quality and technique, that it contributes to the way they play, and lacking it leads to struggles.
Nathan Ingham, joining Campos after the match, had a very insightful answer about the confidence that the coaching staff has instilled in the players:
“Yeah exactly that, I think it comes from trust, (the) coaching staff gave us a plan, they've been like: ‘Listen, here's the gameplan, if you make a mistake doing this, it's on me, it's not your fault. This is what I want you to do, and if that's playing through tight spaces, playing around, whatever the case, if you make mistakes doing the right thing, it's not a mistake.’ He (Mejia) lives and dies by that, (we) trust him and he trusts us in return, and it goes a long way. There's a fearlessness there but it stems from the coaching staff giving us good ideas…we've bought into it, and we know that if we make a mistake its not going to be our last game, and I think a lot of coaches can learn from that, and it put us in a really good place.”
This last bit is especially pertinent, given that, regardless of who Ingham is referring to, it is clear that Mejia at least has confidence in his chosen starters, and the lack of rotation week to week is an indication that he has given them a lot of leash to go out and play, with the knowledge that they won’t be dropped after a few mistakes.
Mejia was also asked by Nicolas St-Pierre of Unique FM during the pre-match meeting about the last outing against Halifax, where the Maritime side handed ATO their only loss of the entire season thus far. Mejia had some strong words about that match, calling it “one of the worst matches” of the season, and called out the “easy losses” and many mistakes during that fixture. He did acknowledge that Halifax capitalized on their opportunities in that game, but he expected a different and better match this time around, and expressed confidence in Ottawa to shut down Halifax’s weapons. He would be proven right.
Given Ingham’s status as an associate captain and veteran in the locker room, he fielded numerous questions about the performance on Friday from a player’s perspective, and he was full of glowing praise up and down the lineup. He began with a basic question about finally putting together two good halves, posed by AJ Jakubec:
“It was a great start, for a young group, a really mature performance, and hopefully we can build on that and have a few more of those. I think we felt hard done by (with some previous first half performances)..., I think that has happened on one or two big occasions, I felt that today was a bigger occasion as well, and we dictated (the game) from the beginning, and showed a lot of maturity, and showed why we are top of the table...”
ATO have put together five clean sheets in six games in league play, and Gangué-Ruzic put a question to Ingham about his thoughts on the impressive performances, who was effusive in his praise for the team and their style of play:
“It's fun, it's so intertwined, our offence, our defence, numbers are on the ball, when we lose it you can recover it quickly, you wear teams down, the more you wear teams down the more tired they are…it’s why you’ve seen us do so well in second halves. It’s been great, obviously the form were in, defensively it’s hard to pick apart… it is really just the full team performance, and it's because we're getting goals, some of these teams we’re scoring a handful and we’re just crushing them, and then you're keeping the ball and crushing them… we’re just doing so many things well it's fun to see, this young group has bought in, they have that spark in them, and they have a bright future.”
Finally, Gord Smith of TSN 1200 inquired about Ingham’s role in mentoring young players. The associate captain expressed a sense of fun about getting to help fix some of the bad habits of the younger pros, and that he is always excited to see them start to pick up good habits for the future. Ingham also mentioned that the younger cohort have been very open to receiving constructive criticism from him and the other veterans on the roster, and that “...as a group we've gotten so much better, and it's been really rewarding for a lot of reasons.”
Moving onto some miscellaneous topics, there were a number of milestones reached during the match, among them Manny Aparicio reaching 50 games played for the club, and Sam Salter matching Ollie Bassett’s all-time club goal-scoring record. Ingham was asked about what that meant for both players, and speaking about Salter, he expressed admiration at how he has grown as a player over the years, his “quiet leadership” in the locker room, as well as about after-training workout sessions with the younger players. On Aparicio, he praised his ability to be the engine in midfield, and was thankful that his (Ingham’s) efforts to recruit his Ex-York teammate were successful. He capped off his answer by offering both players his congratulations.
Ingham also matched the club’s all-time appearance record, and is set to break that mark within the week. Jakubec posed him a question about what it means to set that milestone:
“Yeah it’s great, it sneaks up on you, you know… I felt like I came to this team late, but the league is still young still, and I've been a bigger part of it than maybe I gave myself credit for coming into this year, and it's fun to be recognized. The GM (J.D. Ulanowski) called me into his office a couple of weeks ago to tell me I was inching up on it, I was a little surprised, and I reflected on it all week…I've found a home here, and I don't plan on leaving.”
He continued on the subject of his historical performances as part of another question about his play during the match:
“…for my own performance I feel like I've been growing in my early years, 2019 and 2020, then found a stride in 2021 and 2022…I was playing very good football, then you know it just got stagnant (in 2023), I knew my performance was good but not great…I think I was still helping the locker room in a lot of ways, but I wasn't stealing as many games as I would've liked…I was always good for a couple big saves, but I felt like I wasn't improving. For Rom to come in (Romauld Peiser, ATO Goalkeeping Coach), he’s gotten me back to my old self, and then on top of that I've grown a ton…”
In the most important news of the whole matchweek, Diego Campos assured media and fans that the Tyr Duhaney-Walker substitution at half-time was only precautionary, for “tiredness.” Ingham also mentioned that his own going down for injury was only a result of aggravating a knock sustained in the York match, and he joked that he shouldn’t expect to be wearing a mask any time soon. During the pre-match conference Mejia let the media know that he had all players available to him for selection, barring Monty Patterson. There was no injury report this week, but Amer Didic was listed for last week’s match against Forge, and it can be assumed that he was also not ready, as he wasn’t among the subs. Jonathan Grant, who hasn’t played an official match for ATO since he signed for the club in 2024, also was out, without a mention by manager or club.
Finally, Mejia was asked about his reaction to his suspension for yellow-card accumulation before the match:
“I am ashamed with that situation, because I always lead the matches with a lot of energy, a lot of passion…I was never a disrespectful guy, I never tried to do bad things or say bad things, I always try to talk with a lot of respect, but I have an amazing staff ( aming Campos, Peiser, Beckie), they have the same ideas, they know the model really well.
He went on to joke about how maybe it will be better for him to watch the game from the stands, in the shade, and with a hot dog and a beer. Mejia will still be suspended for the next match on Saturday, July 26, away against Pacific. Join us at the GCP for our watch party, featuring the return of Create-A-Kit, and ATO’s next home game will be on August 3rd, at 16:00, against York United. Vamos Atleti!
About Alexander:
When he isn't busy playing or watching sports (or going to school at uOttawa), Alexander is busy managing his Atlético Ottawa database, which he started in 2020, and tracks everything you can think of about the club and its players. He also runs a BlueSky account dedicated to analyzing and rating CPL players using statistics, CPL by the Numbers.
