| Atlético Ottawa | Valour FC |
|---|---|
| YC 8′ Milovan Kapor | YC 4′ Fraser Aird |
| YC 29′ Viti Martínez | YC 29′ Austin Ricci |
| YC, RC 64′ Milovan Kapor | G (PK) 65′ Fraser Aird |
| G 78′ Andrew Jean-Baptiste | |
| YC 81′ Mastanabal Kacher | |
| G 90′ Dylan Carreiro | |
| G 90+1′ José Antonio Galán Pedrosa |
Another game and another red card for Atlético Ottawa. This time, it proved to be a lot more fatal.
Yikes! That wasn’t good.
The game started with an interesting tactical formation, putting Kourouma at fullback. I wasn’t bothered by this. They needed to replace Neufville’s speed at fullback, and create from the wings. It was a huge ingredient of Ottawa’s success in the first half of the first game. I was happy that Mista wasn’t going to be too conservative in his game plan. The experiment lasted all of 10 minutes though, as Kourouma was being taken advantage in his unnatural position by Cebara.
The highlight of the game for Ottawa was when Facchineri showed his best Batman impersonation by hanging upside down from Ricci.
Ottawa was lucky to not go down 2 or 3 goals in the first half. They weren’t generating any opportunities. Acuña barely had any touches on the ball. The team didn’t try to apply any pressure on the ball in the first half. Valour was entirely predictable, but Atlético was caught napping too many times.
The most clear example of this was off a free kick in the 40th minute. While setting up the wall, Valour quickly played the ball short at the right corner of the penalty box. The chance was within centimetres of going in. These chances were bound to go in eventually.
In the second half, they did. Four times.
Acuña was switched off for Antoine Coupland. The 16 year old, making his debut for the club, brought on some much needed energy. Play from Ottawa was much better to start the half. They were passing with a lot more intent, though they still weren’t as crisp as they had been in the first half. Facchineri was looking a lot more comfortable on the field, making great runs and through balls to his attackers.
A huge chance was generated in the 57th minute. Shaw’s cut back to his left foot to set up his shot in the box, but a huge save by Pantemis temporarily put the danger away. A second chance opportunity was immediately realized, when Ben Fisk shot one off the bar from outside the box.
This momentum was immediately thwarted when Milovan Kapor inexplicably brought down his man in the box. There was no controversy with this call. In my opinion, you have to let your goalie try to make a save here. You can ill afford to go a man down again. This was a momentum killer.
Nacho was forced to step up. Honestly, with the way he was playing, I felt like he could really save this. He made top class saves throughout the game. He was truly impressive. Alas, he couldn’t make the save, and he couldn’t stop the bleeding that was about to ensue the rest of the half.
Jean-Baptiste, Kacher, and former Atlético Madrid product, Galán all scored to sufficiently bury Ottawa.
In all, this game was not acceptable from Ottawa. This is a short tournament, and goal difference will matter. Throughout the game, I noticed players lunging for the ball all over the field. This lead to disorganization, many breakdowns, and slow reaction. Too many passes were made without enough on them leading to turnovers. This was a stark contrast from their first match.
But anyway, get this out of the way. It’s over. We all have stinkers. There won’t be room for many more of these types of games for the rest of the season, but Ottawa has a good opportunity playing an Edmonton team that lost in their first game to Forge FC. Hopefully, Acuña will come back to form, and we can look forward to having Neufville back in the lineup.
Game Notes:
- Mista, for a second week in a row, did not utilize all of his substitutes. This game he actually only used two substitutes (Antoine Coupland and Ajay Khabra, who took off Acuña and Fisk, respectively). With a condensed schedule, I don’t know why Mista is so reluctant to use his bench.
- Speaking of substitutes, for the second game Acuña subbed off pretty early in the game. The depth of this team is already being questioned, after only coming to the tournament with 20 bodies. They will need to keep these players fresh, and not sure what the rationale is for using only 2-3 substitutes.
- I am happy to see that Mista wasn’t afraid to use his youth. Both Facchineri and Coupland made appearances this game. I was afraid after the match against York9 that he would hesitate to use these players.
- Facchineri, aka Batman, really made an impression, and despite a 4-0 loss, deserves another chance to start, especially with Kapor suspended. He, along with Nacho, were the only ones that had good games.
- It could be because Facchineri doesn’t usually play fullback, but the one area I think he can improve on is his gap control. There were a couple of times he was caught between the ball handler and another runner. This may not be entirely his fault, since the entire team was often caught in between somewhere and nowhere for several plays. Otherwise, he plays with a lot of poise and I think is an excellent edition to the team. Vancouver Whitecaps have someone to be excited about!
- Next up: Edmonton FC on Sunday at 12PM ET.