Final Score: Vancouver FC 0-3 Atlético Ottawa
Goalscorers: Tabla 57′, del Campo 69′, Salter 90+1′
Game of the 2024 season: 52
CPL match: 536

Match in a minute or less

Top of the table Atlético Ottawa remain the league’s only undefeated team away from home in the Canadian Premier League in 2024 as they defeated Vancouver FC 3-0 in Langley on Friday.

A second-half flurry of goals was the difference, as Ballou Tabla, Rubén del Campo and Samuel Salter all found the back of the net. Nate Ingham, meanwhile, made three saves as he kept his third clean sheet of the season.

The win extends Atleti’s lead at the top of the CPL table to eight points to begin the weekend of action. Vancouver, meanwhile, are third for the time being but now have just a single victory in their last seven matches — and have allowed a league-leading 25 goals against.

Three Observations

Ottawa continue to impress away from home with clinical second-half performance against Vancouver FC

For the sixth straight time this season, Atlético Ottawa went away from home in CPL action and will return to the nation’s capital with at least a point. For the fourth time in those six straight matches, they do so with all three.

Even in 2022, when they set a league record for away points in a season with 28 en route to lifting the CPL Shield as regular season winners, they had just three wins, and suffered a loss, through their first six road matches. They already have 14 points in six road games this season, six more than any other team in the league.

After a cagey first half, they had to bide their time before an opportunity arose on Friday. But in the 57th minute, what initially looked like a broken play proved to be just the opening they needed to strike.

“The whole week we have been working on that kind of pressing when the opponent is facing their own goal,” said Ballou Tabla. “I think you saw the goal, it’s not the prettiest, but we take it and we go forward from that.”

Atleti had ten interceptions on the night, and won possession six times in the final third, four of which came off an impressive performance from Aboubacar Sissoko.

Ballou Tabla opens the scoring 🤩

Atlético Ottawa takes the lead 1-0 👀 #CanPL | 📺 @onesoccer pic.twitter.com/84NbZUgZS4

— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) July 13, 2024

Crucially, after that opening goal, they kept pushing. Ottawa took advantage of transitional moments and added a second just twelve minutes after Tabla opened the scoring, and Dani Morer and Sam Salter came off the bench to combine in stoppage time to contribute a third.

On the other end of the pitch, Atleti held Vancouver to just 0.44 expected goals and recorded their road clean sheet of the season — having allowed just three goals against now in six road matches.

“Today we set certain goals, and we’ve achieved them all, so we can be very happy,” said Atlético Ottawa manager Carlos González.

Atlético Ottawa demonstrate defensive depth, with Tyr Walker, Liberman Torres stepping in and impressing

After starting the same centreback pairing in 12 of their 13 matches this season, Carlos González elected to give Luke Singh his first rest of the campaign, and brought in Tyr Walker for just the 20-year-old’s second start of the year.

Walker was paired with Amer Didić on the night, with Liberman Torres playing as a holding midfielder directly in front of them in a new tactical wrinkle from González. The trio could be seen under near-constant communication through the early stages of the match as they played out of the back, pointing where they wanted one another to go as they built chemistry, but more often than not able to find ways through the Vancouver press.

For his part, Walker hardly looked like a player who had not stepped on the pitch in over a month. He was dominant at the back both with and without the ball on Friday night. Walker completed 41 of 50 passes, won eight of 11 duels and made four tackles.

“I’m nearly as happy about the win, as I am about the performance of Tyr,” said González. “I’ve seen him working hard in training sessions. He hasn’t had the opportunity because Luke [Singh] and Didić were in a good moment, and he has kept working you know from resilience and ambition.”

Walker’s aggressive style could have gotten him in trouble around the half-hour mark, as he brought down Miki Cantave in the box, but he was otherwise nearly flawless on the night.

The role as a defensive midfielder, meanwhile,  seemed to suit Torres quite well, as the 22-year-old, normally a central defender, showed excellent composure on the ball during Atleti’s buildup completing all 35 of his passes attempted on the night. He also picked his moments well to step further forward and press Vancouver FC.

Torres was ultimately replaced by Alberto Zapater in the 60th minute, but proved he can be a solid option in that position going forward for González.

“You know at the beginning maybe he was a little bit nervous at certain moments, but we saw that he started to play well with secure passes, winning duels,” said González. “And he started to grow into the game. So very important to add new additions to the team and continue to build this internal competition between them.”

Vancouver FC bemoan ’embarrassing’ mistakes as team shows defensive fragility again

For the fifth time in 14 matches this season, Vancouver FC allowed three or more goals as a second-half collapse saw them ship three goals, and several more quality chances, to an Atlético Ottawa team all too eager to accept these gifts.

Vancouver FC have now allowed a league-leading 25 goals this season, and for all the tremendous strides they have taken this year overall in just their second season as a club, their defensive fragility remains a thorn in their side. When they make one mistake, it tends to compound into multiple, and that was the case again on Friday night.

Local player Ben Fisk, a native of Vancouver, was visibly upset when we spoke to media after the match, making it clear this was an unacceptable performance from the team — especially at home.

“It’s embarrassing, I mean my friends and family are out there paying money to see that,” he said. “So I don’t think anything needs to be said. I think we all need to take a look in the mirror and just be better.”

In particular, Vancouver were frustrated with their management of the ball in their own third on the night. All three Atlético Ottawa goals came off of intercepted passes out of the back or Vancouver players being dispossessed in their own third.

“I’m not happy with the way we tried to build out of the back,” said Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi. “We gave too many balls away. Our central defenders were sometimes too casual, or they tried too hard to create the passing sequences that are not necessary. You look at the best central defenders, they win the ball, they give the easy pass, but our central defenders will try to do more than necessary, and they got themselves in trouble.”

Vancouver FC will be doing some deep soul-searching this week, as they look to make sure the rest of this crucial upcoming homestand has better results. Four of their next five, including next week against second-place York United, will be played in Langley.

But with two straight lopsided losses at home, having fallen 4-0 to Halifax Wanderers in their last match in Langley, they know the effort has to significantly improve in order to take advantage.

“The last two games at home have been two of the worst days of my career,” said Fisk. “So it’s got to be better. But yeah, if we take advantage of it we have an unbelievable opportunity, five games at home through the summer, we’ve been waiting for that all season.”

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Ballou Tabla, Atlético Ottawa

Tabla tapped home his second goal of the season to open the scoring on Saturday night, and played a key role in the buildup del Campo’s goal as well. He had three chances created and won six of ten duels during a dynamic attacking performance.

What’s next?

Vancouver FC continue their homestand as they take on York United on Saturday, July 20 (3:00 p.m. PT / 6:00 p.m. ET). Atlético Ottawa, meanwhile, return home to face Valour on Sunday, July 21 (2:00 p.m. ET).

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