| Atlético Ottawa vs. Forge FC May 24 at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT TD Place in Ottawa, Ont. Watch Live: OneSoccer Tickets available here |
|---|
Diego Mejía will bid farewell to TD Place on Sunday as Atlético Ottawa host Forge FC in the nation's capital.
Atleti announced on Saturday that their head coach, who led them to a North Star Cup last season, is departing the club at the end of May to "pursue an exciting professional opportunity."
Mejía will coach his final home match on Sunday, before his swansong on May 30 at Starlight Stadium.
He and Atlético Ottawa face quite the opponent in that match, as through six matchweeks in the Canadian Premier League, Forge FC have looked pretty unstoppable.
They are unbeaten, have conceded no open-play goals, and just one overall, have scored eight, and sit top of the CPL table, two points above Cavalry FC in second.
But on Sunday, they enter a stadium where they have not won since May 27, 2023 -- TD Place. Both meetings in the nation's capital last year between these two clubs ended in 1-1 draws.
Forge, however, did win the season opener between these two clubs, a 2-0 victory at Hamilton Stadium courtesy of Brian Wright's penalty and Benjamin Paton.
Mejía was not on the sidelines due to a suspension as Atleti picked up just their second win of the season this past weekend in a 1-0 victory at home over the Halifax Wanderers on Jonantán Villal's first CPL goal.
Combining that win with their famous triumph over Toronto FC the week before in the TELUS Canadian Championship, the team feel like they have turned a corner. A win against Forge would be a massive statement that that is indeed the case.
However, in league action they are still waiting for the kind of dominating performance that they made a habit last season en route to a CPL Championship. As a case in point, they have had fewer expected goals than their opponent in each of their six matches so far this season, including their two wins.
Overall this season, they have a -7.77 expected goal differential, reasonably above their already not ideal -5 goal difference.
Forge, meanwhile, will be coming off a 12-day break, having not played since last Wednesday when they defeated FC Supra du Québec 1-0 in their annual school day match.
The Hammers have won all three of their league road matches so far this season, picking up wins in Langley, Victoria and Halifax.
This match represents the quarter mark of the 2026 CPL season for both, and they will be hungry for a huge three points that would go a long way toward both club's ambitions this season.
NEWS & NOTES
- Atlético Ottawa announced the departure of midfielder Marko Stojadinovic who has since signed with Toronto FC II in MLS Next Pro.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Atlético Ottawa: Crampton; Mbomio, Abatneh, Kozlovskiy; Assi, Castro, Aparicio, Timoteo; Antinoro, García, Tabla
Forge FC: Bertaud; Rama, Nimick, Batisse, Jevremović; Aromatario, Paton, Jensen; Borges, Wright, Massunda
KEY QUOTES
"They have players now that are in a good moment, as always. We know Forge really well, we know that Forge is a really good team. But I think that they face us in a good moment. So it will be a really good match." -- Atlético Ottawa head coach Diego Mejía
"They've definitely got a lot better, just a little more experienced. I know they got a lot of new guys this year. That a lot left last season, so they probably were meshing a little bit more since the last time we played. So we're expecting a good game this weekend." -- Forge FC defender Ben Paton
