August 18, 2025...Preview: Atletico Ottawa vs. York United FC - CPL Match #9 (from canpl.ca)
PREVIEW: Atlético Ottawa vs. York United FC — CPL Match #9
2025-04-18
by Benedict Rhodes, CanPL.ca Contributor (@BTFR17)
2025 CPL Regular Season — Match #9
Atlético Ottawa vs. York United FC
April 19 at 1 p.m. ET
TD Place in Ottawa, Ontario
Watch Live: OneSoccer //
After the rivalry between Ontario clubs Atlético Ottawa and York United reached new heights in 2024, they will
battle it out at TD Place on Saturday in their first meeting of 2025. The game will kick off a Saturday tripleheader
in the Canadian Premier League, which will also feature the Halifax Wanderers FC home opener against Pacific FC
and Forge FC hosting Valour FC in Hamilton.
Diego Mejía is off to an undefeated start to his first year as Ottawa’s head coach, drawing his opening match against
the Wanderers at home before thrashing Vancouver FC 4-1 in Langley last weekend. David Rodríguez was the star of the
show in both matches, scoring in each, but against Vancouver in particular he cemented himself as a player that fans
need to turn on their televisions to watch. He’s rapid, and the ball seems to be glued to his feet as he runs
at defenders, often leading the new-look Ottawa attack into goalscoring opportunities.
For Ottawa, continuing this attacking resurgence will be key, while also balancing out the defensive stability that
teams with their trophy ambitions require. So far, so good for the capital city club, but they will face another
tough test on Saturday against a rebuilt York United side.
The Nine Stripes have a new head coach as well after promoting Mauro Eustáquio to head coach, and he too has had
a decent start to 2025. After a 2-0 away win against Vancouver in week one, thanks to a brace off the bench from
Julian Altobelli, they took a lead into halftime in their home opener against Halifax last time out. A poor second
half, however, saw them lose their lead within ten minutes of play resuming, before Tiago Coimbra stole three points
for the Wanderers late in the game.
Eustáquio stressed in his media availability on Thursday the importance of his side having a stronger mentality,
especially when they have the lead like that, and that will be put to the test on Saturday. With three out of four
good halves of football under their belt, there are signs that this York United team could be poised to challenge
the top clubs in the Canadian Premier League this season, so the the next evolution is finding consistency
and continuing to raise their level as a group.
Both sides are expected to be at full strength in terms of player availability for this match, with the exception
of York United defender Frank Sturing, who is still carrying a minor injury.
All CPL matches will be broadcast live on OneSoccer, available as a linear channel on Telus’ Optik TV (Channel 980)
as well as online at OneSoccer.ca, through the OneSoccer app and on the fuboTV Canada platform.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
Will Player of the Week David Rodríguez continue to shine?: Through two weeks, it is difficult to argue that the best
player in the Canadian Premier League has been Atlético Ottawa midfielder David Rodríguez. Rodríguez, who is on loan
from Mexican affiliate club Atlético de San Luis, has been a breath of fresh air for an Ottawa side that is undergoing
a tactical evolution under new head coach Diego Mejía to become more attacking. Rodríguez might just embody that
as much or more than anyone in CPL history, often picking up the ball in midfield and immediately charging at the defenders
to try and create an opportunity for himself or his teammates — as seen by his goal and assist last weekend against
Vancouver. Few players in the CPL combine his level of ruthlessness and ability, and if he can maintain it over a full
season, will be in the conversation come the CPL Awards at the end of the year.
Is there any bad blood from the 2024 Playoffs still?: The leadup to the 2024 CPL Playoffs was a feisty one for
Atlético Ottawa and York United, with head coaches Carlos González and Benjamín Mora trading jabs in the media in the final
weeks of the regular season, and not backing down as an eventual playoff quarter-final loomed. The intensity rubbed off
on the players as well, and the match itself was a thriller that resulted in Ottawa advancing from the league’s first-ever
penalty shootout, but a lot has changed for both clubs since then. Both sides have new coaches, although York promoted
assistant Mauro Eustáquio to the top job, and York in particular overturned a lot of its roster. Will the remaining players
and coaches bring that same intensity that made last year’s run-in so entertaining? We’re about to find out on Saturday.
Shola Jimoh returns to the site of his biggest-ever goal: Shola Jimoh’s breakout 2024 campaign in the Canadian Premier League
perhaps peaked late in York United’s aforementioned playoff quarter-final in Ottawa, when the then-16-year-old attacker
scored one of the biggest goals in club history to tie the match late and send it to extra time. As the now-17-year-old
Jimoh looks to build on last year’s successes, he is already off to a strong start, with an assist on the winning goal
in York’s opening match of the season two weeks ago amongst two substitute appearances. He could be due for his first
start of the season on Saturday afternoon in Ottawa, or perhaps saved for late in the game again when he can strike fear
into tired defenders.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Atlético Ottawa: Ingham; Walker, Didic, Abatneh, Levis; Aparicio, Castro, Rodriguez; Antinoro, Salter, Tabla
York United: Pavela; Singh, Higgins, León; Ferrari, Adekugbe, Yeates, Ferrazzo; Bitar, Reid, Ferrin
ALL-TIME SERIES
Atlético Ottawa wins: 2 || York United 7 || Draws: 11
Last meeting:
Oct. 27, 2024 — Atlético Ottawa 2-2 York United (5-4 on penalties) — 2024 CPL Playoff quarter-final
KEY QUOTES
“I think it will be a tough game. They are a very good team, they have very good players, so I think that the match will
be very good for the fans. We work in our model to try to find the the weakness of the of the rival and try to attack them,
so I think that you will watch a good game.”— Atlético Ottawa head coach Diego Mejía
“We’re trying to build a different type of identity and a different type of playing style this year. So far in, I would
say a game and a half, it’s looking good and we have to keep on building and learning the new style, learning what the coach
wants, and trying to implement it every weekend.”— Atlético Ottawa midfielder Manny Aparicio
“I think the focus is on ourselves. There’s no easy games in the CPL, we all know how balanced each squad is and how the quality
is pretty much the same. Every team, they’re going to have their tools to try and expose us, and we just have to stick
to ourselves.”— York United head coach Mauro Eustáquio
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