The Forward Press MD 17 and 18 - ATO vs SUP/VFC: Patience, Adjustments, and Instincts
Welcome to this edition of The Forward Press, in which we cover the press conferences following ATO’s comeback win against Supra and that statement victory against Vancouver FC. As of writing, the video of the Cavalry press conference has not been released, so maybe we can just forget about that for now!
Back to business, on August 16th CCSG travelled to Laval and watched Atleti fall 1-0 behind to Supra with less than half an hour to play, but Ralph Khoury and Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau combined twice to snatch three points from the Quebecers in the dying moments of regular time. The local golden boy had the mic first following his heroic efforts and was asked about his thoughts on his tying goal. All of his comments were translated from French.
“Like I’ve said before, I’m always waiting for my moment . . . I’m always ready for the smallest opportunity. When the ball from Dani [Aguilar] came to the middle, it went to Ralph [Khoury], and I was set for when it came to me. I am a very instinctive player, so it was just a reaction, and honestly I didn’t even aim it; it just went off my head and into the corner! You always need to be ready, and if I react before the defender I’m golden!”
His instinct seems to be just what Ottawa needs because, in his last four games, including the loss against Cavalry, he has racked up five goals and two assists, which, without looking it up, might just be up there with the most prolific four-game stretches in ATO history. He was then asked about the belief in the squad to get results even when trailing behind:
“I think that we know ourselves, we know we have players that can make a difference for our attack, and that helps, because even if we fall behind we always know we have a chance to score . . . If you concede one, you know that as long as you can score one, it’s a tie game, and after that you never know what can happen. I don’t know if it’s a matter of experience . . . but our coach plays a big part in that, because he is always telling us to never give up, and he gives us that confidence.”
His final question pertained to Khoury, his Robin in that match, who scored the winning goal and also assisted Chateau’s goal. He pointed out that Khoury isn’t a midfielder by trade, even though that’s where he was forced to sub into due to the current spate of injuries. He continued by saying that having a midfielder with an attacker’s instincts was just what the team needed at that moment, and went on to promise that Khoury would be a great piece of the puzzle in the future.
Gustavo Leal then took the mic to wrap up the session, and he opened with his thoughts:
“The result in the Canadian Championship, it was not what we were expecting, but now we have just one tournament to play [in], and we need to keep all of our focus on the league. I know that in August we have a lot of games, so it’s difficult . . . you recover players, you adjust what you need to improve the team . . . today I could see the new behaviours on the pitch, the new structure . . . we have two games in a short period of time, but I think that after [that] we have more time to improve some points. Today, I think was so important.”
He was also asked what made such a marked difference between the cup match and the win in the league, and he mentioned that they had made efforts to tighten up defensively, especially when defending deep and withstanding possession-based attacks. Finally, Leal had some comments about the playoff push:
“It's so important; you don’t just have 11 players ready to play, but you need a strong group, and I think that we have [one of those]. For example, today we didn’t have a lot of players [due to injury], but even without these players, we had enough power to win the game. I think that is really important when you have players that can play more than one position, and we also have good youth players. For example Reinaldo [Abraham] made his debut, Ralph [Khoury] played for the first time in a new position as a midfielder, and scored a goal. So, step by step, we are developing these young players to be one really strong group.”
Shifting gears, Atleti then went on to play Vancouver FC three days later and thrashed them 4-0 . Jean-Aniel Assi, who scored two outstanding goals from wing-back in that performance, had the stand in French, and first had to clarify what he had eaten that morning!
“I don’t know, I think my Mom should make it all the time, it was what my Mom had been cooking all week! It made me score, so I’ll tell her to make it more often! When she’s here, I score goals like that, and maybe it was the food she cooked for me!”
Jon Hopkins of CCSG had the next question, and he asked Assi about the lessons it takes to earn a spot on a professional team’s starting XI:
“I’d say that [playing in] Europe really helped me, arriving a year ago in a team I already was familiar with, and they gave me a [chance]. This year, we got a new coach. The formation is similar, but the style of play is a little different, and I adapted to both coaches. When I sub in, I do what he asks me to do, and when I start, I do what he asks me to do. It’s more about always working hard, working in training, having focus during the matches for the 90 minutes. You never know when your moment will come, when your time will come. When it comes around, you can’t hesitate. I don’t score very often, and I’m really happy, but the most important thing is that the team won, and we improved in the standings.”
Valuable lessons for any professional, in any field. In understandably light spirits, Assi was then asked about the potential of a hat trick:
“I think when I scored the second goal Ballou [Tabla] came to me and said you need to score a third one! I said I'm tired! I need to run, I need to defend, I need to attack! I said the last one I won’t be able to score, but I can give it to my teammates!”
Assi wrapped his session up there, and the coach took over the mic. Leal first gave his impressions on what was probably his side’s most impressive result thus far:
“I am really happy. I think that we were looking for a game like today. I think that before, against Pacific, against HFX, we won but the game was not like we wanted. The last game against Supra was much much better, we found the balance between defence and attack, and tonight was really, really good. I think that the guys are more concentrated in the game, during 90, 100 minutes, we are stronger in the defensive moments, we are taking better decisions with the ball, and tonight we had a really good game . . . step by step, game by game, we will improve the points that we need to improve, and we need to arrive in the playoffs 100% to get the targets that we had.”
One of the talking points before the match was the fact that Ballou Tabla had been left out of the starting XI, something that hadn’t happened since October 19, 2024. His replacement was Kamron Habibullah, who up until that point had only started once in 21 games, and who paid back the coaches' trust in full by delivering two assists. Leal had a few words to say on that decision:
“Kam has been doing a really good job here with us, but Ballou [Tabla ] doesn't give him opportunities to play! It’s so hard when you fight for one position with Ballou, but Kam deserved these minutes, this opportunity, and tonight was the perfect day to give him this opportunity, and he enjoyed it. I am really happy because I know that we don’t have just 11 players to play . . . we have [lots of options off the bench].”
The last verbatim answer was in response to a question about Assi’s performance, but Leal took the opportunity to talk about the transition between Mejìa’s reign and his:
“Game by game we will improve. We need time to work with the guys. I know that we are still in a transition period, so we need to do some changes with the players. We need to change some ideas between me and Diego [Mejìa]. It’s so hard for players, because Diego had really good ideas, strong ideas, and the guys were with him for one and a half years, with a lot of success. It’s hard when you need to change something, but week by week the guys are trusting in the new ideas, we are building strong relationships between the coaches and the players, and I think it is easier to work when you have that. The consequence is the game that Assi had tonight.”
Definitely an insightful look into regime change. Finally, he had some intriguing comments about his team’s first clean sheet since May (!). Leal mentioned that his philosophy breaks down the overall match into individual battles: player vs player (for example, left-winger vs opposing right-back), position vs position (left winger vs opposing left winger), and also the battles to win more duels, to achieve higher pass accuracy, and so on. It may sound obvious, but he said that winning the majority of those smaller battles gives you a better chance to win, and losing them the opposite. While possibly blindingly simple, it is an interesting look into how Leal thinks.
As mentioned above, the VOD for Cavalry hasn’t been made public, so perhaps the answers will be included in the next edition of the FP, or maybe not! Depends on how this Friday’s match against Inter Toronto goes, which will be played at home at 7 p.m., and how charitable I am feeling. See you there, and VAMOS!
About Alexander:
When he isn't busy playing or watching sports (or going to school), Alexander is 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 and NSL players using statistics, CPL by the Numbers.
