RECAP + HIGHLIGHTS: Valour FC vs. Atlético Ottawa | August 10, 2025

Atlético Ottawa are now ten unbeaten in CPL action after a 2-1 victory over Valour in Winnipeg on Sunday.

Sam Salter's league-leading 12th of the season stood as the winner, after David Rodríguez had opened the scoring. Themi Antonoglou added a late goal for Valour, his first of the season.

For a second consecutive match, Valour started short-term emergency call-up goalkeeper Callum Weir in net, setting up with a back three to match that of Atlético Ottawa.

The 21-year-old was called into action immediately, as Sam Salter cut down the right and sent a low shot that was denied well by the Valour keeper some 20 seconds into the match.

Valour took that warning shot to heart, however, and did a much better job of cutting out Atlético Ottawa's threats and taking away the space available to the visitors -- and playing physically when Atleti were on the ball.

Ottawa's best chances came from set pieces, which they earned several of in good positions around the Valour box. However, they were not able to convert on any of those chances through the early part of the match.

In the 32nd minute, however, Atlético Ottawa demonstrated their quality with an incredible team goal. A lovely ball from Sergei Kozlovskiy through the half space found Sam Salter down the left wing. He spun and cut the ball back to Ballou Tabla -- who teed up Rodríguez for the opener.

Weir made a huge save on Antinoro in the 42nd minute to keep the match within a goal after the Atleti wingback was played brilliantly by Rodríguez.

Valour created a few dangerous opportunities late in the half, as Safwane Mlah dribbled through Atleti defenders, but saw his shot blocked and out for a corner. Atleti held a narrow 1-0 lead heading into the half after a cagey opening 45.

Antinoro had another great chance early in the second half, as Rodríguez picked him out again, but this time sent his shot in from very good spot in the box over the net.

Valour started to grow in confidence as the half went on, however, and had a great chance to equalize in the 61st minute through Raphael Ohin after a lovely one-two -- but his shot was brilliantly denied by Nate Ingham.

Moments later, Valour had an even better chance, as on the second phase of a corner kick Gianfranco Facchineri headed the ball across goal brilliantly into the path of a wide open Myles Morgan, who chose power over accuracy on his header -- which was driven wide from close range.

That miss proved incredibly costly as two minutes later, Salter added a second for Atleti. Antinoro cut down the right wing, and played the ball across for Salter, who shifted by his defender cleverly and slotted home his league-leading 12th of the season to make it 2-0.

In the 73rd minute, Atleti added another exciting attacker into the fray, with loanee Antonio Álvarez coming off the bench to make his CPL debut.

Valour, however, added some intrigue in the late stages of the match. A lovely clipped ball from Bruno Figueiredo was played right into the path of Themi Antonoglou wide open in the box. He brought it down and dribbled past Ingham, tapping it into the net to cut the score to 2-1.

The Winnipeggers continued to push for a late equalizer deep into stoppage time, with their best chances coming from Facchineri headers in the box off of corner kicks. But he was unable to make either of his chances in front of goal count.

With the win, Atlético Ottawa keep pace with top-of-the-table Forge -- now just one point behind the Hamilton club. This sets up quite the match at Hamilton Stadium next Sunday as Forge host Atleti.

BOX SCORE

Lineups

Valour FC: Weir; Egwu, Romeo (Alarcón 70'), Facchineri; Twardek (Faria 90'), Ohin, Mlah (Ressurreição 80'), Antonoglou; Morgan (Pop 80'), Figueiredo, Williams (Voytsekhovskyy 70')

Atlético Ottawa: Ingham; Kozlovskiy, Abatneh, Cloutier; Antinoro, Castro (Sissoko 72'), Aparicio, Coulanges (Zapater 65'); Rodríguez (Álvarez 73'), Tabla (Dos Santos 65'), Salter (Patterson 83')

Goals

32' — David Rodríguez (Atlético Ottawa)
64' -- Samuel Salter (Atlético Ottawa)
86' -- Themi Antonoglou (Valour FC)

Discipline

27' — Yellow: Rocco Romeo (Valour FC)
39' -- Yellow: Ballou Tabla (Atlético Ottawa)
45+1 -- Yellow: Joaquim Coulanges (Atlético Ottawa)
45+2' -- Yellow: Raphael Ohin (Valour FC)