Match Preview: 3 things to watch in Atletico Ottawa vs. HFX Wanderers (1PM ET)

CanPL

Watch Atletico Ottawa vs. HFX Wanderers FC on OneSoccer, starting at 1PM ET / 10AM PT.

After both coming off 1-0 victories on the opening weekend of the season, Atlético Ottawa and HFX Wanderers will meet in their second matches of the season, on Saturday afternoon at TD Place in Ottawa.

3 THINGS TO WATCH:

Carlos Gonzalez hoping to build on 1-0 win in first match: Last weekend, in Carlos Gonzalez’s first match in charge of Atlético Ottawa, his side earned a 1-0 victory over a strong Cavalry side. Brian Wright scored the winning goal with a late penalty in front of a good crowd in the nation’s capital, and Nathan Ingham kept a clean sheet in his debut for the club — two parts of what Gonzalez described as the “perfect” start to life in the CPL. “I was proud of the competitiveness that we showed on the field, I think that the team was very solid, very compact — we played a very tough game against a team that’s going to be fighting for the playoffs and high positions in the league,” Gonzalez said on Friday. “Of course we have to improve a lot of things, but I think it was a great start. Also there was a great atmosphere with our fans — I think everything was nearly perfect. We are demanding, so we cannot say perfect, but I think that everything surrounding the first match was very good.”
Joao Morelli had Ottawa’s number a season ago: Joao Morelli won the Golden Boot and Player of the Year awards, scoring 14 goals in 21 league matches and becoming a vital player for HFX Wanderers. Remarkably, six of those goals came against Atletico Ottawa alone. Morelli scored twice on August 2, twice more on August 29, and added a third brace against the capital city club on September 11. Despite his track record, Atletico Ottawa boss Carlos Gonzalez isn’t worried “I think that Morelli of course is a great player, but Halifax has a good attack so we cannot only focus on one player, because if not we will make mistakes with other players,” said Gonzalez on Friday. “I think that we have to be in control of the game and play the game that we want, so that the strikers on the other team are not comfortable in any moment.” After Morelli scored a penalty against York United in the season-opener, Wanderers head coach Stephen Hart came to the Brazilian’s defence, reminding everyone that Morelli isn’t just a one-dimensional player, but arguably the best attacker in the league when he’s fit and firing. “He missed a lot of games last year, a lot of people don’t talk about that. I think some of the things that were said about the goals only coming against one team and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah has spurred him on. He has that intrinsic motivation to be at his best, and I’m grateful for it and his teammates support him very well.”
Can Ottawa get Ballou Tabla more involved on the wing?: Ottawa’s biggest offseason signing, Ballou Tabla, looked sharp in his debut last weekend on the occasions when he got the ball, but those opportunities were sometimes few and far between against Cavalry. Playing in a less familiar right wingback role, Tabla hit the crossbar with an early shot in the first half, and had a couple of good runs on the wing, but wasn’t as involved or high up the pitch that someone with his talent needs to be. Carlos Gonzalez said in his pregame press conference that the team needs to work on getting him the ball more often. “The problem was not because he was isolated, it’s because we didn’t bring the ball to him. We worked on certain situations, on how to get the ball to the flanks, and during the game because of different circumstances we weren’t able to turn the play from one side to the other side. Let’s see if we can improve in those situations during the next matches.”