The Forward Press: Kévin Dos Santos Update and to Rotate or Not to Rotate?
In less days than goals scored against Valour Wednesday, Atlético Ottawa once again take to the pitch against the Winnipeg outfit. Coach Carlos Gonzalez said the matchup will be “completely different,” as Valour will no doubt look to take revenge for the embarrassment they faced in the Canadian Championship midweek. With questions swirling around rotating his lineup after the high-octane match on Wednesday and the next CanChamp fixture also less than a week away, Gonzalez sat down with the media for his pre-match presser. Here are all the details you need to know as ATO take on Valour once again this Sunday afternoon:
The Quotes: Carlos Gonzalez
On weathering a vengeful Valour: “I think that they're going to look for a reaction. They are going to look for improving the performance that they did. And we have to be in alert again because I expect a different team, probably with similar faces, but with completely different mentality and trying to react from last game…I expect a completely different game, different competition, and it's going to be very tough always that you play against same team in a short amount of time.”
On finding a starting goalkeeper: “With Nate [Ingham] and Rayane [Yesli], we know that we have top goalkeepers, and at the end of the day, both are going to have the important part during the season…At the moment, Nate is our first goalkeeper. Rayan is competing in an excellent level and is making that the level of Nate is increasing. From now on, we're going to give the Championship probably to Rayan. And we will see in the future if we have to take different decisions.”
On Kévin Dos Santos and squad updates: “He's going to be injured for a while because he has a knee injury. We're still looking for what's the exact type of injury and what are going to be the periods in which he's going to be back, but he's going to be a couple of days, or weeks, or let's see. Let's hope that not many, many months out of the team…The rest of the team is completely available and I'm very happy for that.”
On Rubén Del Campo’s sudden form: “I suppose that he has changed small details. I see him with the attitudinal change in the training sessions in which he's more relaxed. He's understanding that this is a matter of time and a matter of doing things well every single day and things will go in the right way. But, you know, mainly not only Rubén, but also Sam [Salter]. He's working so hard and they are having a very healthy competition between them.”
Gonzalez said he is proud of the way his team has been building in the past weeks and wants to continue to build that chemistry. For that reason, he steered away from addressing the potential rotation of his side in a week that also has a CanChamp match looming. Instead, Carlos will stick with his big guns, including a return to the net for Nathan Ingham after back-to-back impressive performances from Rayane Yesli. As for the youth? Gonzalez said their involvement will not come from results going well, but instead to those who “train hard,” and “take advantage of their opportunities.” Of rotations, CarGo said, “I don’t like that word…I'm always grateful and thankful to have that type of players that are ambitious and want to play more.”
Having so many games in such short notice can be both a gift and a curse. Sure, it can provide an opportunity for a team short on chemistry to string together and build upon results in rapid succession. But while we can anticipate the lineup on Sunday as not too different from what we saw midweek, we likely won’t see the same result that saw the Valour net bulge on seven occasions…but you never know. Kickoff for Sunday's match will be at 2pm and we hope you’ll come out and join the CCSG before and after at the Glebe Central Pub too. See you there!
