2023 CPL Regular Season — Match #54
Atlético Ottawa vs. Valour FC
July 9, 2023 at 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT
TD Place in Ottawa, Ontario
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Atlético Ottawa and Valour will meet for the tenth time in CPL action on Sunday afternoon at TD Place as part of a super Sunday in Canadian soccer. It will be the first game of a CPL doubleheader that also includes a 905 Derby at York Lions Stadium between York United and Forge FC, while Canada take on the United States in a Gold Cup quarter-final that evening as well.

It is the second meeting between the two sides this season, after a 1-1 draw at IG Field in the second week of the season. Diego Gutierrez scored just three minutes into that match in Winnipeg, igniting the home crowd early, but Gianni Dos Santos scored half an hour later to earn the capital city club a point on the road.

In the nine previous CPL meetings between the two sides, Valour has won four of them, Ottawa has won twice, and the remaining three matches ended in draws. They also met in the 2021 Canadian Championship, a match that was won 3-2 by Valour at TD Place thanks to two goals in four minutes from Austin Ricci in the second half. One of the standout matches of the 2022 CPL season was the 6-1 thrashing Valour gave Ottawa at TD Place in late-April.

Excitingly for Ottawa fans, both of their new summer signings thus far — experienced midfielder Alberto Zapater and striker Rubén del Campo will be available for selection for the first time. Ottawa will also receive a boost as Malcolm Shaw and Luke Singh return to the squad after representing Trinidad and Tobago at the Gold Cup. They both returned to training early this week, and may be called upon. Singh especially could start in the place of the suspended Diego Espejo, who misses this game after a red card last week in Langford.

While Valour don’t have any new players joining the team at the moment, they are boosted by the return of a few players from injuries. After missing four matches, Matteo de Brienne returned to the pitch last weekend against Cavalry, playing about half an hour off the bench, and could see his minutes increase if head coach Phil Dos Santos elects to put him into the starting lineup this week. Andrew Jean-Baptiste is also slowly but surely getting back into the lineup — but is yet to start a match this season. The recent regular pairing of Abdou Samaké and Guillaume Pianelli are expected to start the match at centre-back again this week, but Dos Santos confirmed to CanPL.ca this week that Jean-Baptiste will get his opportunity to start in the coming few weeks as he re-establishes himself in the squad after missing several weeks with a groin injury.

After Vancouver FC won against Halifax on Friday night, the reigning regular season champions Ottawa find themselves at the bottom of the table, although with two games in hand over VFC. Valour currently sit in sixth place, one point back of the Wanderers for the fifth and final playoff spot. They’ll be looking to leapfrog the east coast side against an Ottawa team that also really needs to turn some good performances into more favourable results in the standings.

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3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Goalkeeper of the Month Rayane Yesli looking to continue strong start to 2023: Sunday’s match will be the 14th of Valour FC’s CPL regular season, and likely the 14th that goalkeeper Rayane Yesli has started. An ever-present for Valour to start the new campaign, Yesli currently leads the Canadian Premier league in clean sheets with five, and has also made a league-best 42 saves. Yesli is one of just three goalkeepers in the league who has played every minute of every match thus far in 2023, along with Halifax Wanderers goalkeeper Yann Fillion and reigning CPL Goalkeeper of the Year Marco Carducci with Cavalry FC. The Valour goalkeeper, in his first season as a starter in the CPL after taking over from former CF Montréal loanee Jonathan Sirois toward the end of last season, was recently named the league’s Goalkeeper of the Month for June as well, some recognition for a season thus far that has him firmly in the race for the end-of-season yearly award as well.

• Will new Ottawa signings make their debuts?: Two new Atlético Ottawa players will be available to make their Canadian Premier League debuts in this match after the transfer window opened and the signings could officially go through — Alberto Zapater and Rubén del Campo. Zapater, 38, brings nearly two decades of experience at the highest levels in Europe — including over 400 appearances with Spanish club Real Zaragoza, as well as stints with Genoa in Serie A, Sporting CP in Primeira Liga and Lokomotiv Moscow in the Russian Premier League. A central midfielder, Zapater’s addition is an important one as Ottawa needed to bring in some more solidity in midfield. The club have also signed the 23-year-old striker del Campo, who worked with Ottawa boss Carlos Gonzalez in the Atlético Madrid academy before playing professionally in Portugal and the lower divisions in Spain. Both players are available for selection this weekend, and fans at TD Place will be hoping to catch a glimpse of their new signings.

• Valour still looking to put all of the pieces together and turn good performances into wins: A frustrating theme for Valour FC this season has been that they are struggling to put the ball into the back of the net. The Winnipeg side have scored just eleven times in 13 matches, the fewest goals in the CPL — with a penalty by Diego Gutierrez, a wondergoal from Matteo de Brienne and an own goal from York United’s Jonathan Grant among them. Valour are creating opportunities to score, but a lack of clinical finishing has let them down on numerous occasions. “I think we do get in very good spaces,” said Dos Santos after his side’s last game against Cavalry FC last weekend, a 2-0 defeat in which Valour had the better chances of the two sides. “It’s that final product, it’s that final ball, it’s players believing a little bit more, players capitalizing on their chances.”

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Atlético Ottawa: Ingham; Acosta, Ouimette, Singh, Sacko; Haworth, Zapater, Bassett, Verhoeven, Antinoro; Salter

Valour FC: Yesli; Baquero, Pianelli, Samaké, de Brienne; Gutierrez, Campbell; Niyongabire, Sanchez, Siaj; Novak

ALL-TIME SERIES

Atlético Ottawa wins: 2 || Valour FC wins: 4 || Draws: 3

Last meeting:

April 22, 2023 – Valour FC 1-1 Atlético Ottawa

KEY QUOTES

“Playing against Valour is always a tough game. Last season it was like that, this season is going to be like that also. The first game we played in Winnipeg was a hard battle, and also Valour, they usually make games uncomfortable to the opponent. I feel that I’m going to find a similar game on Sunday, but we look forward to do a good game in which we find ways to break them and in which we can have three points.” — Atlético Ottawa head coach Carlos Gonzalez

“When a team has a clear identity on how they play, especially coming at home, I don’t expect them to change much, I expect them to be that aggressive team that when we try to play inside their block they’re not giving us a lot of space, not giving us much to play through. We’re going to need to be patient in our game and try to break them down, being very careful with how we keep the team balanced to make sure we don’t get exposed as well.” — Valour FC head coach Phillip Dos Santos