AGR's High Press: Ottawa keeps finding goals from unlikely sources | Forge's midfield thrives in key win vs. Pacific
Despite a smaller slate of matches, matchday #14 of the CPL continued to deliver entertaining results and movement in the table, as all three games this past weekend produced a winner.
With two of those wins coming from road teams, that had a big impact on the table once again, continuing a busy summer of movement in that regard.
Yet, while the games were entertaining, the big storyline was regarding some of the players who saw the field, as this was a good week for some of the league’s youngsters.
Perhaps, credit can be given to CanMNT head coach, Jesse Marsch, for that, as he’s recently said that he’d like the league to promote more young talent to help the long-term future of the Men’s National Team, affirming that he sees the potential in the league long-term. He backed up his words, too, making the trek out to Hamilton to see Forge host Pacific on the weekend, which one can imagine will be the first of many games he sees in the league.
That likely only helped the mentality of any young players across the CPL, who know that the CanMNT head coach will be keeping a closer eye on them going forward, and perhaps that showed with the spirited performances that were put in this past weekend - it helps a player’s motivation to know that higher-ups are watching.
But it’s a key reminder of the importance of the CPL, as it has a big role in developing talent, something that might not be felt as much today but will hope to have a positive effect in the next half-decade and longer.
Ultimately, teams are looking to win, but doing so while developing youth is a strong model to build around long-term, and that’s not lost on those around the league.
With that in mind, here’s a look at what stood out in the latest CPL matchday in this week’s ‘High Press’.
Ottawa’s attack shines vs Vancouver:
After an up and down couple of weeks, Atlético Ottawa put in a statement performance this past weekend, as they cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win over Vancouver FC on the road.
Thanks to that, they maintained their five-point lead atop the table, doing well to keep the gap between them and a surging York United side.
Yet, this Vancouver performance was exactly what the doctor ordered for Ottawa, who put in one of their most complete showings in a tough road environment, and were rewarded for it.
The game started slowly, as both were unable to break things open in the first half, but that was to Ottawa’s benefit, who were able to conserve energy and wait for the perfect opportunity to break things open.
Then, when that moment came to Ballou Tabla in the 57th minute, they made sure to take it, and never looked back from there, as Rubén del Campo followed up with a goal in the 69th minute before Sam Salter finished the game off in the 91st minute.
GOAL🦕@atletiOttawa have opened the scoring against Vancouver FC, as Ballou Tabla capitalizes on a mistake at the back to make it 1-0
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) July 13, 2024
🔴Watch #CanPL LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/5fqDPZzS8x
Combined with a strong defensive performance that saw them give up just seven shots and 0.47 xG en route to the clean sheet, there was a lot to be pleased about for Ottawa in this game.
Yet, the defensive success doesn’t remain a surprise. Ultimately, this team remains true to their Atlético Madrid DNA defensively, and that they’ve only conceded 13 goals in 14 games shows that.
They know how to keep games close defensively, doing well to lock things down, giving themselves a chance to win games with their offence.
And that’s where they’re continuing to have the most success - at the other end of the pitch, as this three-goal outburst has kept them atop the CPL’s goals for charts with 26 in 14 matches. Not only that, but their goals have continued to come from various sources, too.
Del Campo continues to lead the way, sitting tied for first in the CPL with seven goals. But even beyond him, the attack has remained balanced, as three players have three goals, three others have two, and four others have one, as 11 players have found the net for Ottawa this season.
GOAL🦕🦕@atletiOttawa have found their second vs Vancouver FC!
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) July 13, 2024
Rubén del Campo slots home his 7th of the #CanPL season on his own rebound, giving his team a 2-0 lead
🔴Watch #CanPL LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/ohi5oBd74F
By comparison, no one else in the CPL has more than nine goalscorers in their squad, showing that Ottawa’s success hasn’t just come from those at the top of the lineup.
And that’s a huge change from last year. There, for example, Ottawa had just four players score more than three goals by the end of the season - Zach Verhoven (3), Carl Haworth (3), Sam Salter (7) and Ollie Bassett (11). That they’ve already matched that amount of three goal scorers is huge, as one could realistically see them finish with as many as double that based on how they’re trending at the moment.
Especially given that Bassett has slowed down lately, picking up just one assist and no goals in his past five games, one could imagine he might be due to heat up soon, giving another source of offence for Ottawa to rely on. Sitting with just two goals, Bassett will want to get more involved offensively, so look for him to find some form in the next few weeks.
Yet, that just shows how loaded this Ottawa attack is, as Manny Aparicio (3), Amer Didić (3), Alberto Zapater (3), Salter (2) and Tabla (2) are the other names who have scored multiple goals other than Del Campo and Bassett.
GOAL🦕🦕🦕@atletiOttawa have sealed their win with another goal, as Sam Salter has made it 3-0 to extend Ottawa's lead atop the table to 8 points
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) July 13, 2024
🔴Watch #CanPL LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/NY50ZDFv1J
But that helps explain why Ottawa have been so dangerous offensively this year. Often, it can be tough for one name to carry the load on his own, making it useful to have several key offensive contributors, as Ottawa have shown this year. 
Forge’s midfield shines vs. Pacific:
Despite going down 1-0 in the first half of their clash against Pacific, Forge managed to complete a second-half comeback thanks to two goals from Kwasi Poku, picking up a crucial 2-1 win.
With that, they vaulted right back into third place in the table, two points behind second-place York with a game in hand.
After a big win over Toronto FC in the first leg of their Canadian Championship semi-final in midweek, it was a good week for Forge, who put together two of their best performances across those matches.
A big key to that success in the Pacific game, however? Certainly, Poku was a big headliner, as he scored goals five and six on the season to continue his strong run as a striker, but a lot of Forge’s success came from deeper in the pitch, as Alessandro Hojabrpour and Kyle Bekker were instrumental to Forge’s play in possession.
In particular, Bekker orchestrated play with his passing, completing 52 out of 57 passes, including five out of seven long balls, helping unlock Forge in wide areas.
And that’s crucial, as Forge can be quite lethal in those sorts of areas of the pitch, as they’ve got an array of dangerous players who can whip in a good cross, such as David Choiniére, Tristan Borges and Béni Badibanga.
Plus, as has been a big surprise to see, they’ve got a player who has proven to be pretty good at putting those crosses away in Poku, which is impressive given his lack of experience as a striker. Yet, as seen on his first goal in this Pacific game, in which he guided a Borges cross in off the post with his left foot, and several other occasions he had in the match, he has quick reflexes, knows how to time his run and can finish.
GOAL 🔨@ForgeFCHamilton strike back early in the 2nd half vs. @PacificFCCPL as Kwasi Poku finds the back of the net for 1-1 within 77 seconds of the restart 😎
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) July 15, 2024
🔴 Watch the @tonybet_canada #CanPL MOTW on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/MazxuNhEbc
But Poku can only be dangerous as the service he receives, and the midfield ended up being responsible for the success Forge had in the wide areas, as Forge sent 47.1% of their attacks down the right, and 35.6% of their attacks down the left. Without the service of Hojabrpour and Bekker from deeper areas, they were unlikely to exploit those wide areas of the pitch as they ultimately did.
That’s not too surprising to see, however, as Forge is a strong possession-based team, leading the league in possession with an average of 56.8%. And they don’t just recycle the ball aimlessly, either, as they’re very calculated in how they lure teams in and break their lines.
GOAL 🔨🔨@ForgeFCHamilton go up 2-1 over @PacificFCCPL late on as Kwasi Poku gets his second of the night with a great opportunistic, in-the-box pounce on a loose ball 🦊
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) July 15, 2024
🔴 Watch the @tonybet_canada #CanPL MOTW on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/5Sl4Z91ZY0
So while Bekker ended up being the key figure in that regard in this game, credit has to be given to Forge as a whole for how strong they were in possession, keeping 62.4% of the ball and completing 91.5% of their passes against Pacific, as they were able to control the tempo thanks to that, even when trailing.
It’s not easy to defend a team that can control play like that, and Pacific felt that, as they’d have typically backed themselves to see out a 1-0 lead with how they’ve defended this year, but even they broke in the face of Forge’s possession play. 
Jesse Marsch pushes for CPL to go younger:
While it was intriguing to see Marsch attend a CPL match, especially one between two top sides who tend to play a lot of young players, the bigger excitement was surrounding some of his quotes from the past few weeks, in which he’s called for the CPL to skew younger.
Especially after seeing that some of the CanMNT’s breakout stars this summer such as Moïse Bombito and Tani Oluwaseyi have come through far later in their developmental arcs than hoped, Marsch has pondered ways to ensure the next generation of Oluwaseyi and Bombito’s are playing in the CPL.
#CanMNT head coach Jesse Marsch on the role of #CanPL in developing his player pool 🇨🇦
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) July 10, 2024
▶️ Watch 𝙑𝘼𝙈𝙊𝙎! Presented by @Degree on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/m0wUGWincH
To be fair, however, it’s worth noting that when Bombito and Oluwaseyi were both 18 in 2018 (they’re both born in 2000), the CPL was yet to kick off. Because of that, it’s important to remember that the next generation of Oluwaseyi and Bombito’s already have an advantage, as some of them might be already playing in the CPL.
Now, though, they must get the chance to play, allowing them to get the development opportunities that Oluwaseyi and Bombito weren’t able to get, which forced them to head to the US and through the college system before getting their MLS opportunities.
The good news is that several youngsters have been shining with those opportunities, as 10 U21 Canadians have played 400 minutes already this year, putting most of them on pace to push for 1000 minutes by the end of the year.
Those names, which are Pacific’s Paul Amedume (467 minutes), Emil Gazdov (826) and Eric Lajeunesse (1108), Cavalry’s Lucas Dias (501 minutes, but recently had his loan from Sporting CP come to an end), Valour’s Abdul Binate (789) and Juan Pablo Sánchez (502), Forge’s Kwasi Poku (894), York’s Noah Abatneh (1057) and Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy (418) and Ottawa’s Gabriel Antinoro (458) have all been key pieces on their teams, too, which is intriguing to see.
"It is unacceptable that a player like Moise Bombito is not discovered until he is 23 years old: I've coached some of the best CBs in the world... and his talent level is in that category"#CanMNT head coach Jesse Marsch on talent scouting in Canada 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/cEPiRYxYNc
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) July 16, 2024
For example, Pacific’s trio, Poku and Abatneh are all key contributors to some of the league’s top teams, showing that teams can win while giving youth a chance.
Plus, several names are yet to fully step up, as well. For example, at Vancouver, 16-year-old Grady McDonnell has slowly started to carve out a role on that side, while fellow 16-year-old Shola Jimoh of York United recently scored his first professional goal this past weekend in their road win over Cavalry FC and could be set to earn a bigger role.
Now, after Marsch’s comments, expect more youngsters to push, which will be something to keep an eye on going forward.
Ultimately, the goal is to push as many of these players into the National Team long-term, ensuring that they can take advantage of the extra development opportunities they’re able to receive by being in professional environments already.
From there, the goal is simple - continue to push more and more names, creating a strong pool of players who can push to higher levels and try to one day play for Canada, turning the CPL into a viable Canadian talent production pipeline. 
Who caught my eye? Amer Didić
Quietly, Amer Didić has had another strong season, this time for new club Atlético Ottawa, but unlike at Pacific FC, where he formed a strong partnership with the experienced Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, he’s done well to mentor some younger centre backs on Ottawa, spending most of his time this season with 23-year-old Luke Singh, and as seen this past weekend against Vancouver FC, 20-year-old Tyr Walker.
Despite that, he’s continued to maintain a high level of play while providing important leadership in Ottawa’s back line, and he showed that with a strong showing against Vancouver, completing seven clearances, making two interceptions and adding two recoveries.
That’s been huge for Ottawa, who have relied upon him heavily, and he’s responded with a quietly strong campaign filled with strong performances like this recent Vancouver one.
What I’m watching this week: Cavalry vs Forge
The last time these two teams met, the pressure was on Cavalry, who stepped up with a big 1-0 home win over Forge in June. But they were unable to build off that, as they’ve amassed a record of 1W-2D-2L (5 PTS) in the five games they’ve played since.
Because of that, the pressure is even higher on Cavalry this time around, as this game feels like a must-win for their title hopes, even if their playoff hopes still remain pretty strong for now.
As a result, it’ll be intriguing to see how they handle that challenge, especially against a Forge side that appears to be heating up and will have revenge on their minds after the June loss.
A matchup that never fails to live up to the billing, this latest meeting should live up to that usual hype, making it exciting to see what unfolds when both teams take the field on July 21st.
