Atlético Ottawa defeated Vancouver FC 1-0 at TD Place on Saturday, Aug. 31, to remain within two points of first-place Forge.
It didn’t take long for Atlético Ottawa to get what would be the winning goal, as Ilias Iliadis opened the scoring for the hosts inside two minutes, as he curled the ball directly into the net off a corner kick for an Olimpico, his second such goal in the last three games.
Ottawa nearly doubled their lead in the 55th minute, as Ollie Bassett stepped up to take a penalty won by Aboubacar Sissoko, but his spot kick attempt was saved by Vancouver’s Callum Irving.
It was the seventh time VFC were held scoreless in 21 CPL games this season, meaning they’ve been shut out an average of once every three games, despite scoring an average of 1.85 goals per game in the 14 games they’ve found the net in.
“That first goal, it was a kindergarten error,” Vancouver’s head coach, Afshin Ghotbi, said. “It was 100 per cent our problem, it wasn’t a great corner, so I don’t know what happened on that play, we were in the wrong position and we reacted the wrong way.”
“When the other team is playing in a block of three central defenders and then with another three good (defensive players) in midfield, that’s a wall of six players (centrally),” Ghotbi explained. “There’s no space (in the middle), so you have to look for space out wide, as the side of the midfield will always be free, and if you can get to those spaces quickly and then create 2v1s in the side channels, then that’s where the opportunities will come from.”
“I was disappointed that we didn’t find those gaps in the first half, but in the second half I thought that we we did a little bit better, and we can still improve in that part.”
Vancouver will return home to host York United at Willoughby Community Park on Friday, Sept. 6 at 7 p.m.
