Final Score: Atlético Ottawa 1-1 Pacific FC
Goalscorers: Sissoko 29′; Dyer 53′
Game of the 2024 season: 96
CPL match: 580

Match in a minute or less

Neither Atlético Ottawa nor Pacific FC were able to solve the other side more than once on Sunday afternoon at TD Place, as they settled for a 1-1 draw in the capital.

The home side came out of the blocks more aggressive, Ballou Tabla hitting the post early, and just before the half-hour mark they finally scored. Manny Aparicio fed Tabla, who drew defenders toward himself before slipping it through to Aboubacar Sissoko just inside the box. Sissoko finished well toward the right side of the net, putting Ottawa in front 1-0.

Pacific adjusted at halftime, though, and found their equalizer less than 10 minutes after the break. Dario Zanatta lofted a cross in from the left flank and found the head of Moses Dyer, who nodded home his fourth goal in as many games to level the score.

The match thus finished 1-1, which gave Pacific some more breathing room in fifth place and simultaneously clinched a playoff berth for Atlético Ottawa, who remain in second.

Three Observations

Atleti officially book playoff return despite frustrating second half

Two years on from winning the regular season title, and one year on from missing the playoffs entirely, Atlético Ottawa are officially postseason-bound once again after adding a point on Sunday.

It was a bit of a frustrating game in the end for Ottawa though; they outshot Pacific 12 to nine, had just under 54 per cent possession, and found 33 touches in the box, but they couldn’t find a second goal, struggling to get the ball to their main targets in the second half.

The name of the game was the counter-attack for Atleti, who were particularly effective that way in the opening 45 minutes, but perhaps less so after Pacific scored their equalizer and stopped allowing themselves to get stretched out.

Ottawa have demonstrated that they can be dangerous in a variety of ways this year, but on Sunday their weapon of choice was verticality.

They opted to attack primarily via quick-paced transitions, relying on the pace of Ballou Tabla and Rubén del Campo to get Pacific’s defenders turned toward goal and chasing.

In the first two-thirds of the pitch in particular, Ottawa did an excellent job of moving the ball forward rather than sideways, slicing through lines with accurately threaded passes.

They were only rewarded once, though. The Sissoko goal in the first half was an excellent piece of ruthless attacking football, but Atleti were unable to replicate it — save for a Tabla chance early in the second half where he had a one-on-one look at the keeper and sent his shot over the bar.

That’s why Ottawa were easily the unhappier side after the game, having had several opportunities to take all three points.

“I am very disappointed,” head coach Carlos González said. “I felt that we did enough things to win the game, I think that we created enough chances. I think the only part in which we lacked a little bit of level was maybe in the last third, in the clinical finishing actions. In the first half we have a couple of clear chances to put the game into our side, and in the first 10 minutes of the second half we had two or three important ones. That was the moment to close the door and say, ‘The three points stay here,’ but we didn’t.”

There were plenty of positives for Atleti in this game, and none more so than Tabla’s first-half performance being some of his finest work yet this season, but they need to put opponents away by finishing their chances.

Pacific proving resilience, ability to adjust with another comeback draw

It has not been an easy week for Pacific FC, who played a derby at home last Saturday (a 3-0 win over Vancouver FC), went to Halifax on Wednesday and played to a 2-2 draw with the Wanderers, and now likewise took a point from the nation’s capital against the CPL’s second-place team.

In back-to-back matches, the Tridents have conceded the opening goal, but both times they’ve proven an ability to fight back. Indeed, they did so twice in Halifax — including Thomas Meilleur-Giguère’s 97th-minute equalizer — and in this game they also found their way back in, and did well to hold on for the point under late pressure.

The first half was not particularly good from Pacific; they found themselves exposed on the counter quite frequently, and the opening goal was an uncharacteristically weak piece of defending as too many players jumped to challenge Ballou Tabla, allowing Aboubacar Sissoko to walk into the box alone with plenty of space to line up his finish.

However, they adjusted well at halftime. Armando Sá, the club’s senior assistant coach and the acting head coach on the touchline the last two matches with James Merriman suspended, made a clever change, bringing on Adonijah Reid and Steffen Yeates in place of Sami Keshavarz and Andrei Tircoveanu.

In doing so, Pacific changed from a 4-4-2 diamond shape to a 4-3-3, and instead of a central strike pairing of Moses Dyer and Dario Zanatta, Dyer would occupy the middle alone between Reid and Zanatta in wider positions.

The change paid off almost immediately — Zanatta picked up the ball out wide on the left, and whipped it into the box where Dyer was able to play in between the two Atleti centre-backs. Dyer, left surprisingly unmarked, scored the header for the comeback goal Pacific were desperate for.

After that, Pacific also defended better; they were happier than Ottawa with a draw from this match and demonstrated as much after the 1-1 goal. They allowed Atleti to possess the ball and play toward them, which took away the opponents’ ability to stretch the game and attack in transition.

“The plan in the first half was to try to control the game, because Ottawa were playing very low, it was very difficult to play in wide areas,” Sá explained after the match. “But the players took time to come into the game. The second half, we decided to change a little the situation of the game, we went a different way.

Something about the way Pacific have seized points on the road in the last week is reminiscent of last year’s team, who limped into the playoffs but ended up making a decent run, eliminating York United and Halifax before coming very close to the Final but losing to Cavalry.

They’re far from secure in their postseason berth for this year, but the way they’ve proven difficult to beat means they won’t be a pushover if they do get into the playoffs.

Moses Dyer’s form turning Pacific’s season around

In the first 20 games of the regular season, Pacific scored just 14 goals, which had them on pace for the lowest-scoring 28-game campaign in Canadian Premier League history. They fell out of the top five in Matchweek 16 and were in serious danger of missing the postseason for the first time since 2019.

In the last four games, Pacific have scored nine goals, and all of a sudden they’re in the driver’s seat for the fifth and final playoff spot.

It’s rare in football that one ingredient can change a team’s fortunes so dramatically, but there aren’t many other explanations for Pacific’s turnaround: Moses Dyer might have saved their season.

The club acquired him on Aug. 16 in a swap deal with Vancouver FC, sending Ayman Sellouf the opposite direction. After two somewhat quiet appearances to begin life with the Tridents, he has since exploded, scoring in four consecutive games — including Sunday — and with eight in total this year, it’s not unfair to count him as a Golden Boot candidate (behind Rubén del Campo with 11), given the rate he’s currently scoring at.

“I just get more chances here,” Dyer said when asked how he’s started so well at his new club. “I think Pacific, we play better football and we create more for our attacking players here. I’ve been enjoying it so much more, feeling so much more comfortable here as well in my play and in my finishing. I think the start has been good, but at the same time we haven’t made the playoffs yet so it doesn’t really matter yet.”

Also helping Dyer is the connection he’s establishing with Dario Zanatta. The latter recorded his first assist of the year on Sunday with his ball to Dyer, and both players have been driving the Tridents’ attack together since Dyer’s arrival.

“We’re both quite direct,” Dyer said of his connection with Zanatta. “We both like to go into goal the same way. The second he gets the ball, I know exactly what he wants to do; he wants to either go to goal himself or put the ball in for me, and I’ve just got to be ready for that. Early in the second half he put a good cross in and I wasn’t there, and I apologized. Then the next one, I was there to score.”

At this point, Dyer’s goalscoring form is arguably the biggest story in the Canadian Premier League. If Pacific do get into the playoffs, they can thank a fairly risky midseason transfer decision for helping them turn things around.

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Kunle Dada-Luke, Pacific FC

Dada-Luke was critical to Pacific’s defensive play in this match, controlling the right side well and winning a handful of tough battles with Matteo de Brienne. He won eight out of 10 duels, made three successful tackles and two interceptions, and also won three fouls. On the attacking side, he made eight final third entries and created one chance.

What’s next?

Atlético Ottawa remain at home next weekend, hosting Halifax Wanderers FC on Sunday, Sept. 29 (2 p.m. ET/3 p.m. AT). Meanwhile, Pacific will head to Winnipeg for a night matchup against Valour FC on Monday, Sept. 30 (7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT)

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