Final Score: Atlético Ottawa 0-0 Forge FC
Goalscorers: N/A
Game of the 2023 season: 84
CPL match: 451

Match in a minute or less

In a clash of third and fourth place, Atlético Ottawa and Forge combined for a cagey 0-0 draw at Ottawa’s TD Place on Saturday, further tightening an already compressed CPL table.

After a quiet first half, one where both teams combined for just five shots, the game opened up a bit in the second stanza. Despite that, however, other than an Aboubacar Sissoko half-chance for Forge, and an Ollie Bassett volley for Ottawa, neither team would be able to muster up enough to breach the target on the day.

As a result, it leaves the CPL table wide-open heading into the final match of the weekend, a clash between first-place Cavalry and second-place Pacific on Sunday, with just four points separating first and sixth place as of writing.

Three Observations

Pivotal top-of-the-table clash yields playoff-like intensity:

It’s crunch time in the CPL.

With just seven matchdays remaining, it’s now a full-on sprint toward the playoffs, as teams battle to earn their spot among the top five by year-end. Along with the possibility to win the regular season trophy, and book the Concacaf Champions Cup berth that comes with it, there’s a lot at stake for the teams in the race.

Because of that, it means that a game between two teams directly involved in the race is usually quite important, as it can allow a team to gain some key ground in that race.

This game was no exception to that rule, as in a battle of third versus fourth, this would’ve been a huge result for anyone who could’ve claimed the win in the end, and both teams knew that heading into it.

That was shown on the field, too, as the game ended up having a playoff-like intensity, just showing what it meant to both sides.

Yet, that just shows why this stretch of CPL games promises to be so exciting. Now, it’s do-or-die time for teams, and if this game is to mean anything, it looks like sides are willing to leave it all out there just to keep themselves in the race.

With just four points separating first and sixth as of writing, that means that any team in this title race could conceivably be lifting a trophy on the final day, or miss out on the playoffs altogether, just showing what’s at stake for teams at the moment.

“Yeah, that’s what we’re in now,” Forge’s head coach, Bobby Smyrniotis, said afterwards. “We’re in the final stretch, and everyone’s still playing to try and be at the top and to try and get themselves in the best position for the playoffs, and to get yourself as close as you can to the top to get that title and Champions Cup spot.”

“I said it after last week, it’s like everyone’s starting at zero right now. We’ve got seven matchdays left, and whoever wins the most and goes on the best streak will be the one that finishes on the top. But here’s the thing, there’s also nothing guaranteed for anyone right now, no playoff spot, no anything.”

“Throughout the season, there have been weeks where a team’s been ahead, we were there somewhere earlier, Pacific’s been there, Cavalry’s been there, yet it keeps changing, so I wouldn’t be surprised if things change from now until the games are done in October.”

“Yeah, absolutely, this was a playoff game, 100%,” Ottawa’s bench boss, Carlos González, added on his end. “And I’m happy with this, as this means that the team physically is in a good moment, and that they’re all ready and feeling fit for this critical moment of the season.”

“I think that we had a great pace on the ball, I think that we ran well today, and I thought off the ball we were good in anticipating situations and getting into duels in good positions.”

For what it’s worth, the players are relishing this challenge, as well. And why wouldn’t they?

At any level, the best time of the year is the end of the season, and games like this are exactly why.

They might not be end-to-end thrillers or offensive goalfests, but they just mean more.

Because of that, it puts importance into every duel, every pass and every action, on and off the ball. Then, tactically, it puts an onus on remaining committed to the game plan, as any little mistake can be exposed, creating a decisive moment.

Therefore, while a match like this one may have lacked goals, it certainly didn’t lack drama, as it felt like every action had meaning behind it, and the players backed up that sentiment afterwards.

“It’s great,” Ottawa’s goalkeeper, Nathan Ingham, admitted. “It’s just top-level football. I addressed the team before the game, before we went out, and I said ‘Hey, the air is getting a little cold, summer’s almost over, and we’re still playing important games’, and it’s a privilege to be a part of that, so be proud to be a part of these games where you’re going up against a top team, as they feel the same way about us, so it’s going to get physical and it’s going to be a hard 90 minutes.”

“If there was a goal in that game, it was going to be from someone switching off, so focus was the key, and yeah, everyone was tuned in from both sides for the whole game, so it would have taken a bit of brilliance to break the deadlock, and that’s good to see, as it’s fun to be a part of these games.”

“Yeah, these battles with Ottawa, they’re always going to be like this,” Forge defender, Dominic Samuel, added. “Heading toward the last stretch of games, they’re all going to be playoff games, especially with the points being so close, everybody’s looking to pick up maximum points.”

“So every game is going to be a playoff game, they’re all going to look like one, as everybody wants to be at the top, everybody wants that first spot.”

Ottawa shows “great image” in the heat of battle:

The last two times that these two teams met in Ottawa, it hadn’t gone great for the home side.

First, there was last year’s CPL final. There, despite entering as the regular season champions, Ottawa were left disappointed in their hunt for a double, as an early goal sunk them en route to a frustrating 2-0 loss.

Then, in their first meeting at TD Place this season, Ottawa ended up throwing away three points, as they allowed Forge to snatch a late 1-0 win despite dominating most of the game.

Yet, that’s mostly been the story of the matchup between these two teams, one that has been dominated by Forge. That’s reflected in the all-time record, heading into this game, Forge had a record of 11W-2D-1L against Ottawa.

Because of that, Ottawa was eager to match Forge’s intensity in this game. Knowing their history against the three-time champions, they felt that this was a chance for them to prove that they weren’t going to be walked all over.

Considering they finished with a draw, just the second time they’ve ever done that against Forge at TD Place, they feel that they did that, too.

Ultimately, they lacked the quality required to win the game, finishing with just 0.37 xG on six shots, but they were otherwise excellent on the day, especially defensively.

As a result, while most coaches might’ve been frustrated to have dropped points at home, this wasn’t a game that Carlos González will be losing much sleep about.

“I can be very proud,” González said. “Because I think that the image that the team showed today was a great image, one where we saw that the team is growing in the face of every situation, as we competed really well.”

“We didn’t win today because of a reason, and maybe that reason was in the last third we were not sharp enough, we were not vertical enough, and we didn’t show the desire that we should’ve in those moments, but apart from that, I think that the team did a brilliant job putting in the effort, individually and collectively.”

Yet, that’s just a testament to the leadership in this team. No matter the scenario, they never get too high, and never get too low.

That’s why they’re just one point off first after starting the season with just one win, two draws and four losses in their first seven games, as they look to take each game at a time.

Therefore, while a match like this one may feel like a missed opportunity given that they were at home, they’ll take the positives from it, knowing that on most days, they’ll be getting more.

Either way, one thing’s for sure – this Ottawa team still has a lot of unfinished business to complete, and they’ll look to keep getting after it right until the final game, fittingly against Forge, where they believe that they have every reason to end that day with a trophy in their hands.

“Yeah, it always comes down to the last day,” Ingham confidently stated. “That’s the nice thing about having an experienced locker room, especially now with some older guys coming in midseason along with who we had from last year, because it’s always going to come down to the last day.”

“So if you get beat, you just got to regroup and get after it. Anyone could have looked at the bad start we had or the good start York had and predicted that one team’s gonna be ahead of the other, but last year it came down to the last day of the year, the year before that, too, it’s always the same.”

“So I don’t think about it too much, I just know that on October 7th, on the final day, we’re planning to lift a trophy, so we’ll forge on towards that.”

“Excellent” defensive performance earns valuable road point for Forge:

In terms of road performances, it doesn’t get much better than that for Forge.

Really, other than being unable to see a win over the line, there was a lot for them to be pleased about on the day.

Given that they won the xG battle 0.72-0.37, kept Ottawa to just six shots (including just one in the box), and spent more of the game in Ottawa’s attacking half, that’s a lot of things for them to be positive about on the day.

Not only that, but they did well not to let the game play into Ottawa’s hands, either. A team that likes to absorb pressure and pounce in transition, Forge also did well to not give up the ball cheaply and were diligent in how they organized themselves in defensive transitions.

For a team that has struggled defensively as of late, conceding seven goals in their last three games, it was a good bounceback performance in that area, one that Smyrniotis was quite pleased to see in the end.

“That’s one of the strong points of (Ottawa’s) game, they’re a good team on the ball, they can keep the ball, but they get a lot of their attacking energy on counter-attacks and, and moments such as your own set pieces and so on,” Smyrniotis explained. “So that’s somewhere where we needed to be dialled in, we needed to make sure that we not only matched the energy that they were going to put in going forward, but also to get our numbers back, because once you do that it starts becoming a little bit difficult for any team.”

“And I think from a defensive aspect, the guys did an excellent job today, again, in attack we wanted a bit more, but we’ll leave with a point, regroup, and go for three points next week.”

That doesn’t mean that Forge was completely pleased with their performance, either – they felt that they could’ve done a better job of making Ottawa move in the final third, and had a lack of incision in their passing – but they’ll take that given that they still left with a point in the end..

Part of that was personnel, no doubt – wide players David Choinière and Tristan Borges were missing from the squad, which could’ve helped Forge make Malcolm Shaw’s life a bit tougher at wing back, where he was deployed instead of his usual striker position.

At the same time, given that their main goal was not to give up much cheaply, especially in terms of creating transition moments for Ottawa on sloppy turnovers, they’ll take that, knowing that on most days, they’ll offer more threat going forward.

“I thought we should have been better in going in behind that space, as we didn’t do it enough,” Smyrniotis said. “Sometimes, it’s a matter of personnel, and today we were missing two very creative players in that attacking part of the field in David Choinière and Tristan Borges, who were both unavailable today, and that changed things up a little bit.”

“But, to be honest, we also got into the midfield pockets very well when we thought they’d be able to congest that, but I think we just needed to have a little bit more forward momentum, some more forward runs, and be a little bit more incisive with our passes.”

Goals may win games, but defence wins championships, something that Forge certainly knows well given their three North Star Shields, which is why they’re pleased to see a return to their usual service in that regard.

“It was tough,” Samuel finished. “We just had to stay organized and just kept pushing, communicated well, and I think we locked them down pretty well today, limited them to very few chances.”

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Miguel Acosta, Atlético Ottawa

Making his first start since July 23rd, Acosta did well to get stuck right into a match of this intensity, putting in a shift on both sides of the ball. And other than a close call that nearly led to an own goal, he was pretty flawless in those efforts, too.

As a result, he finished with 54 out of 62 completed passes (87%), three dribbles, seven passes into the final third, seven long balls, four tackles, four clearances, four recoveries and nine out of 13 duels won in an active performance at right back.

What’s next?

Another top-of-the-table clash awaits Ottawa next week, as they get set to host current leaders (as of writing) Cavalry at TD Place on Saturday, September 2nd (2:00 p.m. MT/4:00 p.m. ET). As for Forge, a trip to BC is on the cards for them, with their next match coming on Sunday, September 3rd against Vancouver FC at Langley’s Willoughby Community Park (2:00 p.m. PT/5:00 p.m. ET).

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