The Forward Press MD 14 - ATO vs PFC: Chateau's Match Winner, That Debut Feeling, and Team Talks
Welcome back to The Forward Press for the first time in two months! Given the World Cup, technical difficulties with the website, certain clubs not uploading VODs, and probably Mars being in retrograde, we haven’t been able to publish these past weeks, but hopefully things have settled down, and we will return to our regularly scheduled programming!
This edition of the Press covers MD 14, in which ATO managed to come back against a dreadful Pacific side that had managed to eke ahead 2-1 after a rather dubious penalty, and then poor defending left Ottawa at risk of gifting the B.C. side their first win all season. A gorgeous through ball from García and heroics from a new signing, only announced the day before, snatched three points for the home side and restored them to third in the CPL.
Said debutant, Ottawa native Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau, had the mic to begin the session, and the first question thrown his way by AJ Jakbuec of TSN 1200 pertained to the player's thoughts on his first appearance:
“It’s the kind of stuff dreams are made of. As I was telling a few of the boys, it’s been a tough past six months for me on a personal level, just with not getting the opportunities I know I deserve. But at the end of the day, everything happens for a reason, and that reason is me being here now, and I’m happy I’m scoring goals for my hometown team, playing in front of my family and friends.”
Chateau was also asked a similar question in French later in the session, specifically regarding his reaction to receiving the news of his signing:
“...I didn’t really know how to react . . . like I said it was a difficult period for me . . . It was a massive relief. I’ve always had belief in myself and my abilities, but I could never have imagined a better debut. Everyone is nice, we’ve got some good players here, and I’m happy we can push forwards, try to capitalize on our chances, and win games.”
Gord Smith of TSN 1200 also took the opportunity to ask him what it was like playing for his hometown club:
“It’s been tremendous so far. I haven’t been home for that long, maybe a week now, but I can’t say enough good things about the guys, about the staff so far. Everyone has welcomed me with open arms . . . the coaches really know what they are talking about, and you can tell there is a good culture here. You’ve got lots of [different languages, different backgrounds], but everyone here gets along. It's been fantastic so far.”
Of course, while he will remember his debut, fans will remember his mazy run through the Pacific midfield and defence that ended up, via a few helpful deflections, with a daisy-cutter into the bottom-right corner, sealing the win for Ottawa in the 96th minute. When reminiscing on his goal, he remembered that all he was looking to do was to get the ball onto his left foot, and he initially thought he had messed the chance up. He then saw the ball reappear at his feet and simply decided to swing at it. You know how that story ended!
Skipping ahead a little bit, Gustavo Leal was also asked about the winner and the player who provided it:
“I think that he’s a [team player]. He’s the type of player to help us out all the time, in the defensive moments, in the offensive moments . . . We know that he has a really strong left foot, and I told him in the first [training] session he did, like, four or five really strong shots, and after that he didn’t use his left foot . . . In yesterday’s training session, we did some finishes, and again, really, really strong. I asked him, ‘Tomorrow, if you have opportunities, you need to use your left foot because you have a really strong shot.’ Today, that happened, and it was really good for everybody!”
Of course, Chateau’s cameo didn’t start with sunshine and rainbows, and for the first 32 minutes of his 33-minute appearance off the bench, he didn’t touch the ball once. He was given the chance to talk about what that was like by Mike Laviolle of ONFR+ (translated from French):
“I just got here, and as players we still have to learn how to play together . . . It happens; it's impossible that we know everything immediately. I’m the type of player who knows that he won’t always get the ball, but I will still make those runs, I’ll still try to stay in the game, and in terms of attacking impact, look at Haaland! He can touch the ball only five times and score twice. That’s why I will always make those deep runs, and I’ll wait for that special moment.”
And what a moment it was! That concluded affairs, and next up was Gustavo Leal, fresh off his first win as ATO manager. AJ Jakubec again had the first round of questions, and started by getting the gaffer’s thoughts on the win:
“This game had a lot of feelings. I think that we had a good first half. I think that the first few minutes of the second half . . . we had one good action in the high press with Manu Aparicio, and after that, in the next action, they had a penalty and scored a goal. And then the match was a bit more complicated. I think that [this result] is so important for us, these three points . . . we need to enjoy this result and now start to work next week and think about Vancouver.”
Leal also had some interesting thoughts on his first two games in charge:
“The last match was better than this match, but in the last match we didn’t win. This match we didn’t play so well, but we won. Sometimes it’s important that you do win the game [without playing your best], we needed these points because the [CPL] is totally open, we are arriving in the [second] half of the tournament, so I think that we are finding the way, not just to win, but also to control the games.”
While the flowers may go to Chateau, Gord Smith singled out Christopher Kalongo for his performance as well, in which he made six saves, two of which came right before the match winner, and his pass from the back led directly to the match winner. In fact, of all non-goal scorers, Kalongo had the next-highest match rating of any Ottawa player, and Leal jumped on the opportunity to sing his (and others’) praises:
“I think all of our players are ready to do their job when we need [them to], not just today but in other matches also. We needed some [plays] from Kalongo, and he did it so well. We have a lot of good points [to take away from this match], not just the victory, but about Kalongo, about the players that came [off] the bench, [about] García that played in the first half as a 9 and the second half as a winger . . . We are finding some solutions inside our group, and I think that step by step we are improving a lot of things.”
Smith’s follow-up question asked Leal what he said to the team to spark the comeback:
“To me, after the decision of the referee [with regards to] the action with Manu in the high press, after the penalty, the guys lost concentration. So in the [hydration] break, I told them to ‘Keep calm, and let's play. We have just one way to win this game: if we keep the focus and do what we know.’ I think that the guys received the message, and after that, it was really [much] better.”
Let’s hope that Leal can work that same magic in catalyzing a season-long comeback for Ottawa as well! While they may be third in the table, they could be as many as 16 points behind league leaders Forge by the time they play their next match, and nine behind second-place Cavalry. Before the result against Pacific, ATO had only managed two wins in seven, and next up is their bogey team,Vancouver, on August 1st at 6 PM, away in Langley. Come watch that match with CCSG at the GCP, where we will be hosting our annual Create-A-Kit event! Ottawa’s next home tilt is a week after that, on August 8th, against HFX. 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.
