Match Analysis: Pacific FC 0-2 Atlético Ottawa – CPL Semifinal (Leg 1)
October 15, 2022 – Canadian Premier League (CPL) – Atletico Ottawa News Release
Canadian Premier League
2022 CPL League Champions 2022 CPL Playoffs CPL Playoffs Match Analysis News Pacific FC
Final Score: Pacific FC 0-2 Atlético Ottawa
Goalscorers: Tabla 79, Verhoven, 90+4â²
Canadian Premier League Playoffs
Semifinal Leg 1
Match in a minute or less
Another tremendous defensive performance gave Atlético Ottawa the platform to stun Pacific FC in the first leg of their 2022 semifinal tie. Late goals from Ballou Tabla and Zachary Verhoven secured a 2-0 win for Ottawa, their first-ever at Starlight Stadium.
While Pacific controlled most of the ball, Ottawa held them to just two shots on target over 90 minutes. When the hosts did break through, Atleti keeper Nate Ingham made a couple of fantastic stops.
The win gives Ottawa a big advantage heading into the second leg, which will be played next Sunday, October 23, at their home ground TD Place Stadium. It is worth noting that away goals are not in effect, which would have made that advantage even bigger.
Three Observations
Atlético Ottawa returns to the capital with a massive advantage after vintage road performance
Make that nine wins on the year away from home for Atlético Ottawa, who dispelled any questions of whether or not their gameplan and identity would withstand the rigours of the playoffs. After winning the regular season title last week, Atleti made a statement on Saturday night about their intentions to go for the double.
“What we tried to do after the celebration of last weekend was to reset our minds and to forget and to take advantage of the momentum that we have in the team,” said Atleti coach Carlos González, later adding, “I’m happy because we controlled [Pacific] quite well, I’m happy because we punished them in the moments that the game was starting to be a little bit more open.”
The side, who have been called everything from “boring” to “lucky” over the course of this year continue to prove their doubters wrong. It is clear, that even with all of this success, this chip on the team’s shoulder has not gotten any smaller either.
“Everyone was saying we were the least experienced playoff team and that it is a different level, and that we have to rise to the occasion,” said goalkeeper Nate Ingham. “But we felt good coming into it, we have an experienced locker room, we knew we had to raise the level and we knew what we had to do, and we executed our game plan close to perfect. I am ecstatic with how the boys worked today, and worked for each other.”
He mentioned that experience is critical, especially during playoff matches where details are so important. Ottawa has been so successful all year by rarely making major mistakes, and the organization and cohesion of the squad are a big part of that.
“This is the beauty of having an experienced locker room,” said Ingham. “The left back and the left centreback are having a little chat and myself and the centrebacks are having a little chat, and the striker and the midfielder are having a little chat, and Brian [Wright] and Ballou [Tabla] are having a little chat and we are trying to work things out for ourselves, and then after five minutes our coach will come in and talk bigger points.”
Ottawa now returns to the nation’s capital in incredible spirits. They are expecting to be greeted by a special atmosphere, one that they hope will carry them to a first-ever final, one that would also be played at TD Place Stadium no less.
“We hope that there is a big crowd,” said González. “I think that we are giving many reasons to the soccer community in Ottawa to come and support the team, so we are winning for them.”
Atleti forced Pacific into uncomfortable attacking areas, limiting clear cut chances
The key to Ottawa’s defensive dominance during this match was an ability to disrupt Pacific’s attacking strategy throughout the match. The hosts, playing a lineup blessed with several excellent technical players, looked to move the ball quickly in combinations along the ground.
Instead, Ottawa cut out any space for those players in the middle of the final third, and allowed incredibly few passes along the ground into their box during the match. This forced Pacific’s attackers into uncomfortable positions, often taking low-danger shots from distance, or making crosses into the box with no clear target.
“The game plan of them was that, if you see the eleven, the starting eleven, today, they didn’t have a clear reference in the box,” said González. “It was more about midfielders, and getting to the inside and creating situations of triangles, of passing and moving, so they were looking for that type of game…At the end we were strong and very solid in the inside channel, where they were putting a lot of density of players.”
While Pacific did have 13 shot attempts during the match, only two of those came inside the box, adding up to just 0.43 expected goals.
“I don’t think Pacific had a ton,” said Ingham, adding “they just crossed the ball and didn’t get on the end of it. People don’t like our style but, it works for us. Call it whatever you want, I think it was a job well done from us away from home.”
Ottawa largely forced Pacific to the outside in the attacking third. Without Djenairo Daniels, who missed the match through injury, they really didn’t have any players to get on the end of the 25 crosses they fired into the Atleti box. Ottawa also won 60.9 per cent of the aerial duels contested during the match.
“That’s what it is all about, take care of your goalmouth,” said Ingham. “Look at their attacking group today, and look at our defensive group today, and tell me how many crosses it would take for one of them to win the ball over our group. It’s not happening.”
Below is a look at all of Pacific’s passing actions from the match. Notice how almost none of their crosses or passes into the Ottawa box were completed successfully.
Courtesy: Opta
One potential defensive disadvantage for Ottawa heading into the next match is the fact that they will be without defender Diego Espejo due to yellow card accumulation. The club, however, is not particularly worried.
“Not a big issue,” said González, “we have Drew Beckie that is going to play there and is going to do a great job. He has shown through the season that he can play in the right, in the left, in the middle.”
Pacific FC dominates possession, territory, but lack quality in the final third
All year, clubs have come away from encounters against Atlético Ottawa shaking their heads at how they lost on the day. Pacific was no different on Saturday night, losing 2-0 despite having the vast majority of the ball, and getting that ball into good areas.
At the end of the first 90 minutes of this semifinal, Pacific had 64.1 per cent possession, 219 passes in the final third, 19 touches in the Ottawa box, and 73 final third entries. That all added up to exactly zero goals, and just two shots on target.
“We dominated the game, but that is Ottawa’s plan, they sit back, sit back, sit back and hit you on the counter,” said Pacific defender Nathan Mavila. “I thought besides those two goals we were quality, we just lacked a bit of quality in the final third for the goals and not much I can say.”
Pacific manager James Merriman was perhaps a little bit more unforgiving in his assessment of his side’s performance. He challenged his side’s attacking players, who he felt was lacking in a number of areas during the match.
“We need to take chances one v. one, we need to go to goal with everything and the belief that we can score goals,” he said after the match. “We need to be creative, we need to change speeds, we need to attack with those mindsets, and see those pictures into the final third. If you aren’t going to do that you aren’t going to score goals, and that’s what happened today.”
Pacific knows they have a big mountain to climb to get back into this tie, but in some ways, they have been here before. After losing 1-0 in their home leg against Herediano in the Concacaf League round of 16, they went down to Costa Rica and picked up a 1-0 win in regulation. While they ultimately lost on penalties, that performance back in August gives them hope that next Sunday won’t be mission impossible.
“That was a big experience for us, because it was a hostile environment, they are a very, very good team and we had to defend well in moments, while also trying to know that we have to attack and take a goal,” said Merriman. “We will take our learnings from that game, and we will apply them to this game. If anything we are more comfortable in this environment in Ottawa. We need to be extremely aggressive, and go absolutely fearlessly into playing them at home.”
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Zakaria Bahous, Atlético Ottawa
The introduction of Bahous helped to change the game for Ottawa in the second half. The midfielder won 12 of his 17 duels, including all three in the air, made eight passes into the final third and picked up an assist on Verhoven’s critical second goal.
What’s next?
The second leg of this semi-final goes next Sunday, October 23 at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa. That match will kick off at 2:00 p.m. ET/11:00 p.m. PT.
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