2024 CPL Regular Season — Match #77
Halifax Wanderers vs. Atlético Ottawa
August 24, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. AT
Wanderers Grounds, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here

A crucial stretch of games begins for the Halifax Wanderers this weekend, as they host Atlético Ottawa at the Wanderers Grounds on Saturday.

Two teams at opposite ends of the table, it promises to be a fierce battle between two teams eager to win, for different reasons.

On one side, there’s the Wanderers, who have reached a massive portion of their schedule. With four of their next five games at home, they’ll be looking to rack up some wins and move up the table, as they currently sit in eighth place with 16 points.

Coming off a three-game road trip where they emerged with zero points, they return home eager to get some wins on the board as they try and keep pace in the race towards the playoffs.

Currently sitting seven points behind the fifth and final playoff spot, they remain very much in the postseason race, especially if they can make the most of this upcoming stretch, but some tough games await them, starting with this Ottawa side who themselves are in the midst of a title race.

“With where we are, you can do two things,” Wanderers head coach, Patrice Gheisar, explained this week. “You can feel sorry for yourself, dig a hole and wish that nobody could see you, or you can stand tall and have a hell of a story to share next year that yes you dug a hole, but not only did you get out of it, you stood taller than you ever have.”

Speaking of Ottawa, they themselves are coming off a key result, as they beat Pacific 3-0 on the road last weekend to snap a three game losing streak of their own, allowing them to remain within two points of first-place Forge FC in that aforementioned title race.

With Forge and third-place York facing off on Friday, they’ll enter this Halifax clash knowing the result of that match, which is key for them, as they could potentially leap into first if that result goes their way and they then snatch a win over Halifax.

At the same time, they won’t want to look too far ahead, as they’re focused on building off the positives of their recent Pacific win, where they looked like the side who has spent a large chunk of the season at the top of the table.

If they’re going to find a way to beat a Wanderers side that’s never easy to beat at home, they’ll have to re-find that form and replicate it once again across 90 minutes, which will give them their best shot at winning.

‘I think that we have to try to to find our momentum,” Ottawa’s head coach, Carlos González, said this week. “After this big win on the road, we go on the road again to Halifax, and it’s a great opportunity again to show a solid version of the team, a version of of the team that can be team that can play for for important things.”

In terms of player availability, Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé remains unavailable for the Halifax Wanderers due to a red card suspension, while Jefferson Alphonse’s availability is in doubt after coming off injured against Valour. Meanwhile, Atlético Ottawa will be without Maxim Tissot and Kévin dos Santos, who remain out due to long-term injuries but are inching closer to returning to Ottawa’s squad, while Kris Twardek will be a game-time decision as he continues to deal with a knock.

All CPL matches are available to stream on OneSoccer, FuboTV, or on TELUS Optik TV Channel 980.

3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Can Halifax find solutions in possession against Ottawa? Not only will Ottawa be pleased with their three-goal outburst in their road win over Pacific, but they’ll be especially content with their defensive play, as they grinded out a clean sheet off the back off an impressive defensive performance. Doing well to defend compactly and in unison, they made space hard to come by in possession for Pacific, limiting dangerous opportunities. Because of that, one would expect them to want to build on that defensive form, especially against a Halifax side who can be dangerous in possession. In particular, look for Ottawa to continue and experiment with the new-look formation they employed against Pacific, in which they defended in a 5-4-1 that morphed into a hybrid 3-4-3 and 2-5-3 in possession. As for the Wanderers, they’ll look to be creative with their offensive deployment, as they look to find a spark offensively after scoring just two non-penalty goals in their last three games. For example, they’ll look to use their speed out wide, and move the ball quicker in central areas, with the goal being to draw Ottawa’s players out, helping them create the speed they’ll need in order to be dangerous offensively. “It’s really about focusing what we can do, which is scoring first, as our group grows in confidence when that happens,” Gheisar said. “And we need to make sure that we’re mindful of transitions and set pieces, which is something that they (Ottawa) were very good at last week, specifically.”

• Wanderers looking to recapture home form: When the Wanderers made the playoffs in 2023, a big reason for that was their home form, as they picked up 28 points from 14 home games, doing well to rack up victories at Wanderers Grounds. So far in 2024, they’ve struggled to repeat that, however, picking up just 12 points from their first eight home games, meaning they’ll now need to pick up 16 points from their last six home games (5 wins, 1 draw) just to match that total. Instead of focusing on that, however, they’ll look to take things one game at a time, especially knowing how many home games they have over the next stretch. From there, their goals are simple – to score more goals, as they try and turn draws into wins. They haven’t lost a lot at home, doing so just twice in those eight games, but three draws have proven costly, but having scored just 12 times in those eight home games, they’ll want to be much more potent offensively if they’re to pick up some home wins. Otherwise, look for the Wanderers to extract some revenge on Ottawa, who beat them 3-1 in their home opener this year, in a game that the Wanderers will want back after they went down a player earlier. Two teams who have always played each other quite close in their all-time series, a result like that will sit fresh atop Halifax’s mind as they get set for this match.

• Keeping structure a big goal for Ottawa: Sometimes, playing on the road can be a key benefit for a slumping side, and Ottawa proved that with their recent win for Pacific. A big reason for that? It’s a good chance to reset and to find balance, as the elements of road travel can create structure, on and off the field. Because of that, Ottawa will want to maintain that structure they showed against Pacific, as a stiff challenge awaits them. Especially after a tough travel week, as they’ll have essentially gone from coast-to-coast in a seven-day span, that structure could pay off for them in a tough environment, helping them overcome the challenges of this tough week. At the same time, Ottawa will welcome this challenge. Despite their recent slump, they find themselves exactly where they wanted to be at this period of the season – locked in a title race, and will want to enjoy the challenge that provides. This game is a prime example of that – otherwise, a draw in this game might prove to be satisfactory, but with the form of those around them in the table, anything but a win might see them lose key ground, so look for them to do what they can to chase what would be a massive result for them. “We’ve already started a period which is the critical period of every season,” González said. “It’s the period in which you win titles or not depending on how you perform. Our target was to be in this period with the chance to win, and I think we’ve done that.”

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Halifax Wanderers: Fillion; Fernandez, Nimick, Loughrey, Timoteo; Callegari, Daniels, Ferrin; Probo, Coimbra, Rea

Atlético Ottawa: Ingham; Morer, Singh, Didic, Iliadis, de Brienne; Bassett, Zapater, Aparicio, Tabla; del Campo

ALL-TIME SERIES

Halifax Wanderers wins: 6 || Atlético Ottawa wins:8 || Draws: 4

Last meeting:

June 2, 2024 — Atlético Ottawa 2-2 Halifax Wanderers

KEY QUOTES

“We’re looking at every game being a playoff game. We can no longer afford to drop points, we can no longer reflect without actually putting forward the results and making sure we can manage what we can manage. That’s all super important to do, as in this amazing league we have seen that anything is possible when anyone plays, especially when we’re at home, so we’re looking at this as a marquee game for us.” — Halifax Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar

“At the end of the day, it affects us, we cannot say that it doesn’t affect us, because we’re changing time zones (multiple times) across the week, and that affects what ave to try to do. What we are doing is we are trying to do is compensate, we know there is fatigue from the previous trip, there is going to be fatigue from this next trip, what we have to try now is to find balance during the week and recover the team and and create the conditions so that the team is fresh for the next game. I don’t think that we have to look for excuses at the moment, we have to see opportunities. That’s the main focus of the team, we’ve done everything that we can control, and we’ve done it in an appropriate way, so I think that we’re going to see a good version of the team on Saturday.” — Atlético Ottawa head coach Carlos González