The Forward Press 2026 MD 2 - CAV vs. ATO: Possession, Injuries, and Fighting Spirit

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Forward Press, covering the press conferences bracketing Ottawa’s 3-1 loss away to Cavalry on April 12th! Before we begin, a quick state of the union: Starting last week, the club has begun publishing the quotes from each press conference on their website, which should be hailed as a victory for the free press. It certainly makes our jobs a lot easier over here at CCSG, but does pose a fundamental dilemma for the future of The Forward Press. This project began as almost the sole bulk publisher of the remarks from the press conferences, but now with the club putting the record out in full, it has seemingly become redundant. 

However, I hope to keep The Forward Press working as an independent fan source in the media sphere, combining the quotes with an overview of the match that occurred during the week to provide context to the sound bites (text bites?), similar to the format last season. This will allow us to remain a voice in the press conferences to ask questions the fans want to know answers to and ensure that we make the most of the clubs shift in publications. The quotes pulled from the conferences will be choosier, and the entire transcript will be linked for your own perusal. 

That being said, Mejia joined the media late last week to discuss what was a flat loss to Forge on opening weekend, ahead of their trip to Calgary (the full quotes can be found here): https://www.cplsoccer.com/atleticoottawa/news/every-word-from-diego-s-pre-cavalry-press-conference.

Mejia began with fielding a question about the need to improve following their 2-0 loss to Forge: 

“It was a weird match, and I am pretty happy with the performance. We need to be more aggressive. We are creating new patterns for our players…we are on a good pathway right now. We need a little bit more time, but we are going to create something special for this year.”

An understandable position, given it was their first match of the season, following a topsy-turvy pre-season new to players and staff alike, with two brief training windows sandwiching a pair of games against Nashville which basically amounted to a trial by fire. 

He also touched upon what was the biggest talking point following the loss, the complete lack of shot attempts, dismissing it with the statistic that Forge only generated one shot attempt from open play, and the remaining nine coming from set pieces. While true, and bound to improve, their first shot on target against Cavalry only came after seventy-odd minutes of play, even with the lion's share of possession (Atleti was once again outshot on the whole). They did manage to score one however, an improvement from the blank last week, and we will see how Ottawa plays against teams that aren’t such tough outs as Cavalry and Forge. 

Another question broached the subject of Football Video Support (FVS), another hot topic following what has been a generally lackluster debut for the technology, with long delays, select angles for review, and opaque rationales for decisions. Mejia was clear that he doesn’t want to use the cards because they take a lot of time, and that the players should be able to play with fewer stoppages that interrupt momentum. However, he will intervene when necessary when he believes the calls are incorrect. 

As for injuries, Mejia had this to say: “We recovered some players. The only player that isn't available is Ralph Khoury; he suffered [discomfort] in his abductor, but I have all the other players available to play.”, as well as the fact that Innocent is also back in training, but starting on the bench for the time being (whether he is still nursing a knock is unclear). The ongoing injuries to Loic Cloutier and Richie Ennin were not mentioned, neither was the fact that Roni Mbomio is still unavailable due to his visa issues (likely a standing absence until we hear news otherwise). 

The game itself was played on hard, cold turf, in often blowing snow, as Mejia selected an almost unchanged XI from last week, with the exception of Timoteo slotting in for Aguilar and drawing into Left Wing as Antinoro moved to CAM. Cavalry struck twice within twenty minutes through Klomp and Paton, and then again in the 67th from Ntignee. Ottawa was stifled offensively until late, when Habibullah came off the bench and scored a consolation with two minutes to go in normal time. Like last week, they dominated possession but were restricted to zero shots until almost three-quarters of the game had gone, showing a general lack of offensive chemistry going forward, not to mention a frailty at the back. Meijia opened his post-match press conference by defending his team (the full quotes are here - https://www.cplsoccer.com/atleticoottawa/news/antinoro-and-atleti-don-t-care-abot-the-noise-post-cavalry):

“Possession is the way that I choose to play, but it's not possession for the sake of possession. It's the way I choose to create opportunities…it's the way I feel the game…It's normal to start like this. We changed half the roster, so it's normal. I'm happy with the way my team competes. We need to work more and have more time with the new players to create something special.” 

Putting aside the understandable frustration at an impotent attack, Mejia raises a good point – Ottawa had to rebuild their roster almost entirely after their success last season. By my count, they signed 12 new players for this season, accounting for two of the starters this week and four substitutes, and lost 13 through retirement, the expiry of loans, or releases. This is a staggering turnover, certainly more than Cavalry or Forge, two teams that can expect roster continuity year over year (although no other team seems to enjoy this luxury). While one obviously hopes chemistry will improve, and sooner rather than later, possession-based approaches take time to implement with new players, and certainly paid dividends last season, so we will have to wait and see whether it can work again without some of our premier goal-scorers from 2025.

Anitnoro joined his manager in facing the media, and was asked about the frustration of the opening two games: 

“It's obviously frustrating because we're used to winning and we always want to win. The most important thing for us is how we play. Half the roster has changed, and it takes a while to understand and get into the groove of how we played last year...

We know the areas we need to improve…We know what we have to do. We have the belief in the system and believe in each other. It's two games into the season, and there are 26 games left. We know we're going to figure it out, we know we have to improve, and we'll be ready for next Sunday.”

In a follow-up: “Offensively, we need to create more. We have to make fewer mistakes. We have to play simple. It all comes from believing in the system and from everyone being on the same page. Once that starts, we are all going to be playing better, and the results will start to come.”

There were also some echoes of last season, of their us-versus-them mentality:

“People on the outside don't think we are going to do the same thing as last year, but we really don't care about the outside. As long as the people who are in the Family, who are together, believe in this process, we know we're going to be okay.”

Admirable fighting words, and one hopes they portend well for the future. Up next, Ottawa travels to La Belle Province for their first tilt against Supra, at 2PM, Sunday April 19th, and CCSG will be right along with them for our first road-trip of the season! VAMOS!

About Alexander:

When he isn't busy playing or watching sports (or going to school), Alexander is managing his Atlético Ottawa database, which he started in 2020, and tracks everything you can think of about the club and its players. He also runs a BlueSky account dedicated to analyzing and rating CPL and NSL players using statistics, CPL by the Numbers.