Atlético Ottawa came away on Friday from Starlight Stadium — the Langley, B.C. home of the Canadian Premier League leading Pacific FC — with a well-deserved point after an exhilarating 2-2 draw that had a little bit of everything for soccer fans.
With the draw, Ottawa earned a crucial point, but remain in seventh place in the CPL standings with a win-draw-loss record of 3-3-6 (12 points). And Pacific FC, unbeaten in their last five matches, had their four-game win streak snapped.
Atlético midfielder Ollie Bassett said in a postgame press conference that he was pleased with the result and believed it would be a stepping stone for his team for the rest of the season.
“I think it’s a good point overall,” said Bassett. “They’re a team that’s high in confidence right now, they’ve been on a good run of form and I think they competed really well in both halves of the game. To concede from two set-pieces and to play with 10 men the last 10 minutes — having to fight back from that and walk away with something from the game — I think it’s something we can build on for the rest of the season.”
Another positive for Ottawa was scoring two goals against the best defence in the CPL, which had conceded only nine goals in 11 matches prior to hosting Ottawa.
In addition, Atlético head coach Carlos Gonzalez had to make significant the squad rotations defensively, with defender Luke Singh away representing Trinidad and Tobago at the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Given that challenge, conceding only two goals against the CPL’s best offence (which had scored 21 times in 11 matches before Ottawa) was equally impressive.
The outcome speaks volumes about Atlético’s excellent defensive organization, their strong tactics and formations, and their consistent effort to reduce mistakes that have cost them points in many games throughout the season — something a frustrated Gonzalez observed after last week’s 4-3 loss to Hamilton’s Forge FC.
Despite having only 25 per cent possession in the first 20 minutes, Atlético were able to capitalize on their only scoring chance.
Atlético striker Samuel Salter calmly slotted a pass into the corner of the net to open up the scoring in the 19th minute after receiving a crisp cross from Bassett. Before finding the open Salter, Basset displayed his immense speed and skillful ball control by running nearly the entire length of the pitch, passing defenders with the ball on his feet after a Pacific corner was cleared away from danger.
The goal, which displayed Atlético’s ability to be dangerous in transition and the club’s quality link-up play, gave the visitors some much needed early momentum.
“First of all, the players showed desire and energy — to run 90 metres and step into the other team’s box with that speed,” González said of his team’s counter-attacking ability. “We knew that in certain moments Pacific were going to be in situations with not enough balance of defenders over there, so we’d have the spaces to break in to. I think we did great. We take advantage of that situation after a corner and it went well.”
Salter has stepped up in the absence of Malcolm Shaw, who is also representing Trinidad and Tobago in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Salter has scored two key goals for Ottawa in his last three games. He now has three goals this season and has been critical to Atlético’s success on both sides of the ball.
‘We knew that in certain moments Pacific were going to be in situations with not enough balance of defenders over there, so we’d have the spaces to break in to. I think we did great.’
— Carlos González, head coach, Atlético Ottawa
Ottawa has also experienced some success recently in scoring the first goal but has not been as great at converting that into wins.
In the first four games of the season, Ottawa never scored first and picked up only two of a possible 12 points.
In their last eight matches, Ottawa has scored the first goal six times, including in each of their last five matches. Still, they only picked up 10 points (three wins, one draw, and two losses) from those six matches. In the other two games against Forge and Cavalry, Ottawa created plenty of chances but wasn’t clinical enough to find the net.
Struggling to win games after scoring first and not capitalizing on their scoring chances in the box and in the final third of the pitch— are major issues plaguing Ottawa this season. They scored first against Pacific, but couldn’t secure the win.
Even with a revamped back line, Atlético’s strong defense and great goalkeeping from Nathan Ingham were able to nullify all of Pacific FC’s scoring chances and preserve their lead … at least until late in first-half stoppage time.
Eventually, Pacific’s consistent barrage of attacks broke down Ottawa’s defensive wall.
A well-placed corner kick by Pacific forward Ayman Sellouf connected with the head of teammate Thomas Meilleur-Giguere, who used his height to jump over all Atlético defenders and direct the ball past Ingham to tie the game in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
It was crushing to concede one that late in the half for Ottawa, after an otherwise perfect defensive performance to the game’s mid-way point.
The second half started fast and both teams exchanged goals in under five minutes.
After a few shots on goal which Ingham confidently turned aside, Pacific was granted another corner kick.
Sellouf hit the ball brilliantly and it curled into Ottawa’s goal past Ingham without taking a deflection off an Ottawa player. Pacific had taken the lead directly off a corner, something you almost never see in a professional football match.
Atlético, used to trailing in matches after conceding first in six of their 12 games this season, did not give up being down a goal. Like in their first two matches of the season, when they conceded first and rallied back to earn a tie with a strong second half, Ottawa pressed hard for an equalizer.
A dirty foul, which saw Salter get shoved to the ground inside Pacific’s 18-yard box, gave Atlético its first penalty kick of the season. Ottawa had the chance to level the game for the second time.
Bassett stepped up to the spot and made no mistake, burying the penalty into the bottom right corner, past Pacific goalkeeper Kieran Baskett. In response to chirping from Baskett before Bassett took the penalty, Bassett held up a “four” after the penalty to ensure the keeper knew Bassett was a perfect 4/4 from the spot in his career.
Both teams created a handful of high-quality scoring chances using their accurate passing, but neither team was able to find the winner. In the 83rd minute, Atlético defender Diego Espejo, in an effort to catch up to Pacific forward Djenario Daniels who was all alone against Ingham, was forced to tackle Daniels in the box. He was sent off with a red card and Pacific was awarded a potentially match-winning penalty kick.
Pacific midfielder Josh Heard stepped up to take the penalty but was denied by Ingham, who guessed correctly and dove to the right to stop the shot.
Next up for Ottawa is a home match against Valour FC on July 9. Atlético may be without two defenders in that game: Singh on international duty and Espejo, who will serve a suspension. How will Gonzalez fair?
