Match Preview: Atlético Ottawa vs. Halifax Wanderers FC

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CPL Atletico Ottawa

Match Preview: Atlético Ottawa vs. Halifax Wanderers FC

April 4, 2025 - Canadian Premier League (CPL)
Atletico Ottawa News Release


For a third straight year, the Canadian Premier League season begins in the nation's capital on Saturday, as Atlético Ottawa welcome the Halifax Wanderers to TD Place to open the 2025 campaign.

There's a distinct sense of optimism in both camps, after an off-season of relatively significant change for both Ottawa and Halifax.

For Atleti, Saturday's game will herald the beginning of the Diego Mejía era; the Mexican gaffer takes over as head coach, promising to bring a new attack-minded style of play to the capital. Ottawa's squad certainly has talent up front, beginning with the explosive Ballou Tabla. Meanwhile, new striker Monty Patterson has been touted as the lethal finisher the club needs.

The Wanderers have a strong core remaining from the past two seasons under coach Patrice Gheisar, especially in the centre of the park where Lorenzo Callegari and Andre Rampersad form part of perhaps the deepest midfield group in the CPL. There's exciting new blood in Halifax too, though, particularly at the back, where towering centre-back Thomas Meilleur-Giguère has joined from Pacific, as has former Atlético Ottawa goalkeeper Rayane Yesli.

Both these teams are keen to start off on the right foot in 2025, after not quite meeting their internal expectations a year ago. Ottawa went into 2024 with the eyes of the league upon them, having signed an unprecedented cast of CPL stars to form what some had dubbed a 'superteam.' Although they finished third and were only narrowly beaten in the semi-final by Forge, Atleti fans were disappointed not to see any silverware.

Halifax's 2024 was perhaps more disappointing; they were coming off a 2023 campaign in which they'd shocked the league, finishing with the joint-second-most points for a club-record finish. They took a serious step back the next year, however, and missed the playoffs, falling victim to their own mistakes all too often as they were the only CPL team eliminated from playoff contention before the final day.

History gives Atleti a narrow edge in this fixture, with eight wins to Halifax's six - plus six draws between them. Last year's campaign saw Ottawa go undefeated against the Wanderers, although the final three meetings were all split decisions, as Atlético picked up a sole win at the Wanderers Grounds in late April.

Neither Atlético Ottawa nor Halifax have ever lost when they've played in the first match of the CPL season, but Atleti are 3-1-0 in their home openers at TD Place - with two of those wins, plus the draw, against the Wanderers.

Will the Mejía-led Ottawa continue their winning tradition on opening weekend? Or could the well-drilled Wanderers play spoiler to the party?

Halifax Wanderers captain Andre Rampersad battles with Atlético Ottawa's Ballou Tabla in 2024. (PHOTO: Matt Zambonin/Freestyle Photography)

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

Mejía calls for 'aggressive' football in Ottawa: Since his arrival in Ottawa, Diego Mejía has been hinting that Atlético will be playing a different kind of football this year to the style favoured by his predecessor Carlos González. He has consistently used words like "aggressive" and "protagonist" when describing how he wants his side to play. The challenge for Ottawa will be establishing a new tactical identity under a new coach quickly. The squad has no shortage of players well-equipped for an attack-first mindset, from Manny Aparicio in midfield to Ballou Tabla up top, but new faces in the team will need to adapt to the CPL. Fortunately, Ottawa's quartet of arrivals from Atlético San Luis - the experienced Juan Castro, and trio of loanees Iker Moreno, Kevin Ortega and David Rodríguez - should be comfortable in a setting led by a compatriot with Liga MX experience.

Wanderers' midfield depth gets first demo: One look at the Halifax roster and it's immediately evident where this club's greatest strength will be: right in the middle. Already last year they boasted one of the best midfield groups in the CPL, with perennial MVP candidate Lorenzo Callegari, veteran captain Andre Rampersad, and creative Italian Giorgio Probo. Plus, they had bite in the form of Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé, and more attacking threat in Vitor Dias and Sean Rea, neither of whom reached their greatest heights in 2024. This year, that talented group has expanded to add box-to-box dynamo Isaiah Johnston, as well as talented youngster Alessandro Biello on loan from CF Montréal. The problem, though? Not all of them can play at once. Patrice Gheisar has a tough job picking three or four from that group in his starting XI; Saturday will be the first public test of whether the Wanderers have found the right combination. If not, they've got plenty of options to change the dynamic off the bench.

Holes in lineups for both coaches to fill: Though both Ottawa and Halifax have brought in an exciting cast of new signings, each team enters 2025 with absences that loom large. For Atlético, perhaps the biggest loss is former CPL Player of the Year Ollie Bassett, but they've also lost talented young left-back Matteo de Brienne and reliable goalscorer Rubén del Campo. In total, Atleti's departures account for 20 of their 42 goals last season, which won't be easy to replace. The Wanderers said goodbye this winter to two of their biggest stars from the last two years, in forward Massimo Ferrin and defender Dan Nimick - who moved to York United and Forge, respectively. Ferrin and Nimick both scored 14 goals in the CPL across the 2023 and 2024 campaigns, and will leave holes in the forward and defensive lines. Meanwhile, Halifax also need to decide who will line up for them at right-back, after departures of Zach Fernandez, Riley Ferrazzo and Clément Bayiha.

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Atlético Ottawa: Ingham; Didić, Abatneh, Walker; Sissoko, Aparicio, Zapater, Tabla, Levis; Salter, Patterson

Halifax Wanderers: Yesli; Meilleur-Giguère, Pearlman, Mekideche; Baï, Callegari, Johnston, Rea, Timoteo; Bahamboula, Coimbra

ALL-TIME SERIES

Atlético Ottawa wins: 8 || Halifax Wanderers wins: 6 || Draws: 6

Last meeting:

Sept. 29, 2024 - Atlético Ottawa 1-1 Halifax Wanderers

KEY QUOTES

"I had the opportunity to see Halifax in their preseason match, they have a very good team. I think it will be a very hard match, but we are at home, and I think that we will have control of the game. We need to be a team with the transitions, but I hope that we have control of the ball." - Atlético Ottawa head coach Diego Mejía

"I don't think we want to go in at game one trying to say, let's change our identity and play direct and counter. It's game one; everyone's got excitement. You worked on a lot of different things, so you want it to come forward. We've got to go in with no fear, and seeing what's happened we cannot weigh in that if we win this game, we're going to win the CPL, and if we lose we're out of the playoffs. We go in and every week, things evolve. There's something to be said about us playing good football and not getting the points; we want to play good football and get the points." - Halifax Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar

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